Ethan Canin

Art is so personal. I'm very comforted by the fact that certain movies that I love, other people hate. Certain books that…

— Ethan Canin

I work with wood a lot. I like building. I think of building. I would love to buy land on some water…

— Ethan Canin

You have to be smart enough to see the world for yourself and honest. The whole book-publicity thing is not really honest,…

— Ethan Canin

“The forgotten of this country have a consistent history of turning on their champions, and I suppose the way working men and…

— Ethan Canin

There are writers who draw immediate attention to the fact that it's fiction. And I like some of that, but it doesn't…

— Ethan Canin

Don't write about a character. Become that character, and then write your story.

— Ethan Canin

If someone doesn't like your fiction, it's really insulting.

— Ethan Canin

You're never so alive as after you thought you were going to die.

— Ethan Canin

I've written five books, a book every three years. I'm fairly lazy and it doesn't take that much...people who are not lazy…

— Ethan Canin

There are some advantages to being a writer: you do generally get better as you get older. I think I understand things…

— Ethan Canin

To have too much time is not good, you have to force yourself. And human beings aren't meant for true freedom. I've…

— Ethan Canin

I think talent has a huge amount to do with concentration, concentration rather than the athletic ability of your neurons. If you…

— Ethan Canin

“Now she was smiling. “And while you’re at it,” she said, “here’s another one for you. Theodicy. That’s another word Leibniz used.…

— Ethan Canin

Writing a book is like an unknown abyss, every time. Every book is different. Contrary to what unpublished writers think, it's horrible…

— Ethan Canin

You can tell within a sentence if something is fiction or non-fiction. You can tell in the artifice of the language or…

— Ethan Canin

“One of the hallmarks of our politics now is that we tend to elect those who can campaign over those who can…

— Ethan Canin

I think fiction is about small ambition, small failed ambition.

— Ethan Canin

Nothing is as important as a likable narrator. Nothing holds a story together better.

— Ethan Canin

“It happens.” He turned again to the garden. “To the brain, I mean. It’s the drink, naturally. And the hepatic function. But…

— Ethan Canin

If you write a page a day in couple months you have a good chunk of the book and then after a…

— Ethan Canin