A writer’s job is to destroy and then to build the thing back up again by a chosen means. Barry Hannah Read Quote
Honestly, I envy painters, who can have a masterpiece in one morning. Or musicians, who can write something in 30 minutes and arrange it in an hour, sometimes. ‘Cause with this, with writing, you can occasionally feel like a caveman, like you’ve been working with pitch and tar on this brush. Barry Hannah Read Quote
I wouldn’t be happy had I only been a teacher, if all I had done was help young people, frankly. I don’t get nearly the joy teaching as I do out of creation. Barry Hannah Read Quote
I don’t go around thinking about regret; regret doesn’t consume me as a person… I’m not certain about whether any writer, any artist, any musician, can write without regret, so I don’t think perhaps it’s even particularly Southern. Barry Hannah Read Quote
I had absolute freedom to create things on my own and in silence. No rush, the artificial rush by media. Certainly no rush to grow up. We had plenty of boyhood, plenty of girlhood. Barry Hannah Read Quote
I was born in Clinton, Mississippi, which had 1,500-2,500 people when I was growing up – a village. Barry Hannah Read Quote
My aunts told wonderful stories. Not to me, but to each other. We had a very strong family. My mother’s sisters loved each other intensely. The uncles loved each other intensely. Barry Hannah Read Quote
My dad read history, about a book a day, but only after he retired as a successful bank and insurance man. Barry Hannah Read Quote
Most novels I come across have all the excitement of a long trip on a bus with a sensitive glee club. Yammer and chat. Barry Hannah Read Quote
I found out about reviews early on. They’re mostly written by sad men on bad afternoons. That’s probably why I’m less angry than some writers, who are so narcissistic they consider every line of every review, even a thoughtful one, as major treason. Barry Hannah Read Quote
