Quote by Claire Messud

I'd wish for my work to be remembered rather than myself.

— Claire Messud

I have said it somewhere - our literary lived lives are as important as our literally lived lives.

— Claire Messud

“Life is about deciding what matters. It’s about the fantasy that determines the reality. Have you ever asked yourself whether you’d rather fly or…

— Claire Messud

Life's funny. You have to find a way to keep going, to keep laughing, even after you realize that none of your dreams will…

— Claire Messud

It's the strangest thing about being human: to know so much, to communicate so much, and yet always to fall so drastically short of…

— Claire Messud

The fictional narratives that television, film, and the news provide for girls and young women are appalling.

— Claire Messud

“I don't want to sleep,' my mother said. 'I want -- for God's sake, I want to wake up.”

— Claire Messud

“It was supposed to say “Great Artist” on my tombstone, but if I died right now it would say “such a good teacher/​daughter/​friend” instead;…

— Claire Messud

“Live, my dear Nora. Satisfy your hunger. There's food all around you, you know.' 'What kind of food, I'd like to know?' 'Ah'-he smiled-…

— Claire Messud

I digress a lot - it's how I experience the world. I would like to write in a way that will convey that to…

— Claire Messud

We think that - as kids, you know - that kids make up stories and live in a sort of fictional place, but that,…

— Claire Messud

“It makes sense that if you stand almost daily in the middle of a perfect crescent of shore, with a vista open to eternity,…

— Claire Messud