As a writer I'm essentially just trying to impersonate a first-time reader, who picks up the story and … - George Saunders

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Quote of the day

I don't believe in things like that - fairies or brownies or magic or anything. It's old-fashioned. ' 'Well, we must be jolly old-fashioned then,' said Bessie. 'Because we not only believe in the Faraway Tree and love our funny friends there, but we go to see them too - and we visit the lands at the top of the Tree as well!

George Saunders

As a writer I'm essentially just trying to impersonate a first-time reader, who picks up the story and has to decide, at every point, whether to keep going.

Firsts, Impersonate, Keep, Stories, Story, Trying

Same Author Quotes

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

Advice, Kindness, Life, Regret

Don't be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.

Amen, Confused, Die, Hurt, Life

I think it is time for a new pride in the intellectual life, and a new impatience with people who take pride in ignorance, or somehow use "elite" to mean "person who has taken the time to know" and then are eager to dismiss, say, striving, or the notion that improving one's self out of difficult conditions is a noble thing.

Ignorance, Impatience, Mean, Taken, Thing, Use

The thing I've discovered that is a help is that there isn't a simple virtue or a simple vice. They're always connected. If you have Tendency A, that you loathe, you can almost be sure that Tendency B, which you love, is somehow connected to it.

Discovered, Love Is, Simple, Thing, Vice, Vices

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded. . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Graduation, Human, Kindness, Life, Regret, Suffering