“She would have to be a saint because that was the occupation that included everything you could know; and yet she knew… — Flannery O'Connor Martyr Copy Share Image
“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not… — Flannery O'Connor Amenable Copy Share Image
All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most… — Flannery O'Connor Action Copy Share Image
“The writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live, and so far… — Flannery O'Connor Writer Copy Share Image
It is always difficult to get across to people who are not professional writers that a talent to write does not mean… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
Many of my ardent admirers would be roundly shocked and disturbed if they realized that everything I believe is thoroughly moral, thoroughly… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“[Writing about her address to a ladies club]: The heart of my message to them was that they would all fry in… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“I'm always highly irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality… — Flannery O'Connor Escape from reality Copy Share Image
“He had never thought himself a great sinner before but he saw now that his true depravity had been hidden from him… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“I am largely worried about wingless chickens. I feel this is the time for me to fulfill myself by stepping in and… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way, and it takes every word in the… — Flannery O'Connor Abstract Copy Share Image
The type of mind that can understand good fiction is not necessarily the educated mind, but it is at all times the… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“The straightforward manner is seldom equal to the complications of the good subject. There may never be anything new to say, but… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
In a sense sickness is a place, more instructive than a long trip to Europe, and it's always a place where there's… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
When you leave a man alone with his Bible and the Holy Ghost inspires him, he's going to be a Catholic one… — Flannery O'Connor Being real Copy Share Image
“Thomas had inherited his father’s reason without his ruthlessness and his mother’s love of good without her tendency to pursue it. His… — Flannery O'Connor Love Copy Share Image
“There is nothing like being pleased with your own work - and this is the best stage - before it is published… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
The Bible was the only book he read. He didn't read it often but when he did he wore his mother's glasses.… — Flannery O'Connor Bible Copy Share Image
Mrs. Hopewell had no bad qualities of her own but she was able to use other people's in such a constructive way… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls… — Flannery O'Connor Chance Copy Share Image
“Julian thought he could have stood his lot better if she had been selfish, if she had been an old hag who… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
When you can state the theme of a story, when you can separate it from the story itself, then you can be… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
You don't serve God by saying: the Church is ineffective, I'll have none of it. Your pain at its lack of effectiveness… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“Our spiritual character is formed as much by what we endure and what is taken from us as it is by our… — Flannery O'Connor Religion Copy Share Image
“Dear God please give me some place, no matter how small, but let me know it and keep it. If I am… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in… — Flannery O'Connor Books Copy Share Image
... Simone Weil is a mystery that should keep us all humble, and I need it more than most. Also she's the… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
One old lady who wants her head lifted wouldn't be so bad, but you multiply her two hundred and fifty thousand times… — Flannery O'Connor Book Copy Share Image
“Mrs. Turpin felt entirely hollow except for her heart which swung from side to side as if it were agitated in a… — Flannery O'Connor Heart Copy Share Image
He loved her because it was his nature to do so, but there were times when he could not endure her love… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
Nothing needs to happen to a writer’s life after they are 20. By then they’ve experienced more than enough to last their… — Flannery O'Connor Creative Copy Share Image
“The novel is a more diffused form and more suited to those who like to linger along the way; it also requires… — Flannery O'Connor Books Copy Share Image
Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“When I think of all I have to be thankful for I wonder that You just don't kill me now because You've… — Flannery O'Connor Grateful Copy Share Image
The less self-conscious you are about what you are about, the better in a way, that is to say technically. You have… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
It is hard to make your adversaries real people unless you recognize yourself in them - in which case, if you don't… — Flannery O'Connor Adversaries Copy Share Image
The novelist is required to open his eyes on the world around him and look. If what he sees is not highly… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
Your criticism sounds to me as if you have read too many critical books and are too smart in an artificial, destructive,… — Flannery O'Connor Book Copy Share Image
I have enough energy to write with and as that is all I have any business doing anyhow, I can with one… — Flannery O'Connor Blessing Copy Share Image
![“[Writing about her address to a ladies club]: The heart of my message to them was that they would all fry in Hell if they didn't quit reading trash.” quote by Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/73b/flannery-o-connor-639_reading-trash_writing-about-her-address-to-a-ladies-cl_1736199.png)
