I was a straight arrow, a control freak. I didn’t do drugs or drink, and this was the ’70s. I didn’t like the loss of control. Which isn’t exactly right, because I didn’t know what happened when you did drugs. George Saunders Read Quote
So I may not have had a gothic childhood, but childhood makes its own gothicity. George Saunders Read Quote
When I’m explaining something to you, if I’m being long-winded, and twisty in a non-productive way, I could make you feel vaguely insulted. And you’d have a right to be. George Saunders Read Quote
If you haven’t read you don’t have the voice. The lack of voice eliminates experience. George Saunders Read Quote
My habit would have been to veer towards the dark – to prove I was something; edgy, or maybe to prove that I was cognisant of the dark side. Now, with age and confidence, I can say, yeah, that’s true, but I am cognisant of the fact that people can do things well. And can be more loving than you expect. George Saunders Read Quote
And I have finally realized that, you know, it’s not a given that my lifespan will accommodate my writing aspirations. It could be that it would take me 12 more books at six years each to get it – which means I would have to live to be 126. Which I fully intend to do, of course. George Saunders Read Quote
I still believe that capitalism is too harsh and I believe that, even within that, there is a lot of satisfaction and beauty if you happen to be one of the lucky ones, although that doesn’t eradicate the reality of the suffering. It’s all true at once, kind of humming and sublime. George Saunders Read Quote
I could actually care less about the poor. We have some living near us, and pee-yew. They are always coming and going to their three or four jobs at all hours of the day and night. Annoying! George Saunders Read Quote
That seems to be the definition of ‘novel’ for me: a story that hasn’t yet discovered a way to be brief. George Saunders Read Quote
There’s a really nice moment in the life of a piece of writing where the writer starts to get a feeling of it outgrowing him – or he starts to see it having a life of its own that doesn’t have anything to do with his ego or his desire to ‘be a good writer.’ George Saunders Read Quote
