I spent part of my college years in a Marxist commune. I was not a Marxist. I wasn't even pretending to be… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Some novelists are luckier than others in the eras of their formative intellectual years, but all Weltanschauungs return, which means that most… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
it still astounds me, after forty years, that there is no good bread between Chicago and San Francisco. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
In his 30 years of broadcasting and publishing fiction, Garrison Keillor has set the laugh bar pretty high. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Twenty-five, he was. Twenty-five tomorrow. Some years the snow had melted for his birthday, but not this year, and so it had… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
I had spent years thinking about one thing while I was doing another. I had, in fact, prided myself on being able… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
If novels and stories are bulletins from the progressive states of ignorance a writer passes through over the years, observations and opinions… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Giving his lecture for the third time freed Dr. Lionel Gift from paying much attention to it. He had a naturally expressive… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
There is a sociology of horses, as well as a psychology. It is most evident in the world of horse racing, where… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
In December 1998, I considered myself an expert on love. I was almost a year into a relationship, one that had grown… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
When I came home for the summer after my first year of college, I told my mother that my best friend and… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Some novelists are luckier than others in the eras of their formative intellectual years, but all Weltanschauungs return, which means that most novelists have… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
There can never be such a thing as a free market, because it is human nature to cheat, monopolize, and buy off others so… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
The only siblings I have are half-siblings. My nuclear family would have been an extra-suffocating threesome. Instead, I have an interesting brother and sister,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
You know what getting married is? It's agreeing to taking this person who right now is at the top of his form, full of… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“We watched the swimmers and sunbathers and I thought about this. Had I faced all the facts? It seemed like I had, but actually,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“They throw themselves on the waters of the world, and they know they will be borne up.” — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
everything is toxic. That's the point. You can't avoid toxins. Thinking you can is just another symptom of the toxic overload stage. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“Shame is a distinct feeling. I couldn’t look at my hands around the coffee cup or hear my own laments without feeling appalled, wanting… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“She could not have created this moment, these lovely faces, these candles flickering, the flash of the silverware, the fragrances of the food hanging… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Horse racing is really much more intimidating than anything having to do with literature. When I had horses at the racetrack, I would wake… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
