Skip to content

Quote by James Salter

“DEAD FLIES ON THE SILLS OF sunny windows, weeds along the pathway, the kitchen empty. The house was melancholy, deceiving; it was like a cathedral where, amid the serenity, something is false, the saints are made of florist’s wax, the organ has been gutted.” quote by James Salter — Download Open image

““DEAD FLIES ON THE SILLS OF sunny windows, weeds along the pathway, the kitchen empty. The house was melancholy, deceiving; it was like a cathedral where, amid the serenity, something is false, the saints are made of florist’s wax, the organ has been gutted.””

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.4 out of 5 (6 ratings)

More by James Salter

It seems to me that literature is giving way a little bit to the immediacy of other diversions, other forms of entertainment. What will…

Image

Women fall in love when they get to know you. Men are just the opposite. When they finally know you they're ready to leave

Image

Not necessarily narrow so much as impatient, intense.

Image

I write in longhand. I am accustomed to that proximity, that feel of writing. Then I sit down and type.

Image

A writer writes a book. People read it. You don't know what they're reading, really. You read a review and think, "That is so…

Image

“Strauss’s, for instance, which begins in the heavens. The artist doesn’t ascend to glory, he appears in it, he already has it and the…

Image

Normally, what you’re envious of is a book, not a writer: standards, ideas, levels … almost nonexistent things.

Image

Sometimes I write with a particular person in mind. I think it's fair to say that I write for a perceptive reader. You have…

Image

Lots of scripts are written and not made, even scripts that people want to make.

Image

I'd given up everything to be a writer, and if I didn't then go on to do that - to write - then I…

Image

“One should not believe too easily in a life which can easily vanish.”

Image

“Life is separated by scars, like the rings in the inside of a tree.”

Image

Explore all 156 James Salter quotes