Amy Hempel Quotes

59 quotes in 923 categories

• Sometimes I can better describe a person by another person's reaction. In a story in my first book, I couldn't think of a way to…
• Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.
• I probably have less revision than those who have that wonderful rush of story to tell - you know, I can't wait to tell you…
• Then the children went to bed, or at least went upstairs, and the men joined the women for a cigarette on the porch, absently picking…
• Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.
• An idea might spark an essay, but never a story.
• I think of the chimp, the one with the talking hands.
• I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is trembling or if…
• I leave a lot out when I tell the truth
• I could claim any number of high-flown reasons for writing, just as you can explain certain dogs behavior... But maybe, it’s that they’re dog, and…
• The year I began to say vahz instead of vase, a man I barely knew nearly accidentally killed me.
• Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.
• We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.
• I assemble stories-me and a hundred million other people-at the sentence level. Not by coming up with a sweeping story line.
• I do feel that if you can write one good sentence and then another good sentence and then another, you end up with a good…
• I told him about the way they get to know you. Not the way people do, the way they flatter you by wanting to know…
• I know when a story is finished when there is not a single thing more I can think to do to it. And since I…
• I've always known when I start a story what the last line is. It's always been the case, since the first story I ever wrote.…
• I wanted to be a veterinarian, but slipped up when I hit organic chemistry.
• I had a mother I could only seem to please with verbal accomplishments of some sort or another. She read constantly, so I read constantly.…

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