Jane Smiley Quotes

102 quotes in 1619 categories

• With any novel that you begin, you can't foresee how difficult or easy it's going to be, and you can't really prepare yourself. You just…
• If novels and stories are bulletins from the progressive states of ignorance a writer passes through over the years, observations and opinions about horses are…
• We sort of read two or three big newspapers but we don't get the flavor of the local events, the local news as much.
• I learned why 'out riding alone' is an oxymoron: An equestrian is never alone, is always sensing the other being, the mysterious but also understandable…
• I readily admit it is easy to make of horses what we will. Silent, in some ways reserved, they allow us to train them, and…
• Is human nature basically good or evil? No economist can embark upon his profession without considering this question, and yet they all seem to. And…
• One of the profound effects of economics in our day is that the people with the money and the power have embraced the guilt-free, external-less,…
• Sometimes, a novel is like a train: the first chapter is a comfortable seat in an attractive carriage, and the narrative speeds up. But there…
• 'Ape House' is an ambitious novel in several ways, for which it is to be admired, and it is certainly an easy read, but because…
• Combined families often get bad reviews, but the family my children got when they traded away 'the suffocating four-person' nuclear one is one that has…
• A child who is protected from all controversial ideas is as vulnerable as a child who is protected from every germ. The infection, when it…
• Your sons weren't made to like you. That's what grandchildren are for.
• I discovered that the horse is life itself, a metaphor but also an example of life's mystery and unpredictability, of life's generosity and beauty, a…
• English majors understand human nature better than economists do.
• Candy is my fuel. Ice cream, too.
• There is a sociology of horses, as well as a psychology. It is most evident in the world of horse racing, where many horses are…
• Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.
• Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel.
• There are several methods for introducing your children to driving, and all of them are bad. Probably the worst is to put it off.
• All equestrians, if they last long enough, learn that riding in whatever form is a lifelong sport and art, an endeavor that is both familiar…

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