Ann Patchett Quotes About Giving

Quotes about: Giving

• Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings. Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps.

  Ann Patchett

  Reading, Character, Mean

  "And the Winner Isn’t..." by Ann Patchett, www.nytimes.com. April 17, 2012.

• No matter how much we love a book, the experience of reading it isn't complete until we can give it to someone who will love it as much as we do

  Ann Patchett

  Book, Reading, Giving

• Reading fiction not only develops our imagination and creativity, it gives us the skills to be alone. It gives us the ability to feel empathy for people we've never met, living lives we couldn't possibly experience for ourselves, because the book puts us inside the character's skin.

  Ann Patchett

  Live Life, Book, Reading

• Staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps.

  Ann Patchett

  Skills, Two, Giving

  "Ashton Kutcher’s ‘Raj’ Ad: Where Do We Draw the Line?" by Eleni Gage, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 3, 2012.

• For the most part wisdom comes in chips rather than blocks. You have to be willing to gather them constantly, and from sources you never imagined to be probable. No one chip gives you the answer for everything. No one chip stays in the same place throughout your entire life. The secret is to keep adding voices, adding ideas, and moving things around as you put together your life. If you’re lucky, putting together your life is a process that will last through every single day you’re alive.

  Ann Patchett

  Block, Moving, Ideas

• From my table inside I watch the glamorous women outside who are lunching on Spa Cobb salads without blue cheese or dressing. The man with the bread basket wanders from table to table, lonesome as a cloud. When he comes to me his basket is full and perfectly arranged. He gives me a smile of sincere pleasure when I tell him I will take both the sourdough roll and the cheese stick.

  Ann Patchett

  Food, Men, Clouds

• Carmen prayed hard. She prayed while standing near the priest in hopes it would give her request extra credibility. What she prayed for was nothing. She prayed that God would look on them and see the beauty of their existence and leave them alone.

  Ann Patchett

  Giving, Looks, Priests

• I love telling people what to read. It's my favorite thing in the world, to buy books and force books on people, take bad books away from people, give them better books.

  Ann Patchett

  Book, People, Giving

  Source: www.pbs.org

• I was very influenced by The Magic Mountain. It's a book that had a huge impact on me. I loved that as a shape for a novel: put a bunch of people in a beautiful place, give them all tuberculosis, make them all stay in a fur sleeping bag for several years and see what happens.

  Ann Patchett

  Beautiful, Book, Sleep

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