Lydia Davis Quotes

36 quotes in 669 categories

• We feel an affinity with a certain thinker because we agree with him; or because he shows us what we were already thinking; or because…
• We all have an ongoing narrative inside our heads, the narrative that is spoken aloud if a friend asks a question. That narrative feels deeply…
• You know the pain is part of the whole thing. And it isn’t that you can say afterwards the pleasure was greater than the pain…
• The moment when a limit is reached, when there is nothing ahead but darkness: something comes in to help that is not real. Another way…
• I attempt all day, at work, not to think about what lies ahead, but this costs me so much effort that there is nothing left…
• No one is calling me. I can’t check the answering machine because I have been here all this time. If I go out, someone may…
• To observe the world carefully, to write a lot and often, on a schedule if necessary, to use the dictionary a lot, to look up…
• Why don't you like the foods I like?" he asks sometimes. "Why don't you like the foods I make?" I answer.
• But it is curious how you can see that an idea is absolutely true and correct and yet not believe it deeply enough to act…
• Do what you want to do, and don't worry if it's a little odd or doesn't fit the market.
• I never dream in French, but certain French words seem better or more fun than English words - like 'pois chiches' for chick peas!
• I think the close work I do as a translator pays off in my writing - I'm always searching for multiple ways to say things.
• I would recommend, definitely, developing a 'day job' that you like - don't expect to make money writing!
• My stories are sometimes closer to poems or meditations, but often there is at least a little narrative in them.
• I am basically the sort of person who has stage-fright teaching. I kind of creep into a classroom. I'm not an anecdote-teller, either, although I…
• I do see an interest in writing for Twitter. While publishers still do love the novel and people do still like to sink into one,…
• I don't pare down much. I write the beginning of a story in a notebook and it comes out very close to what it will…
• I started writing the one-sentence stories when I was translating 'Swann's Way.' There were two reasons. I had almost no time to do my own…
• Often, the idea that there can be a wide range of translations of one text doesn't occur to people - or that a translation could…
• There seemed to be three choices: to give up trying to love anyone, to stop being selfish, or to learn to love a person while…

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