Jeffrey Eugenides Quotes

Quotes about:

• Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Love, Life, Learning

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2003). “Middlesex”, p.479, A&C Black

  86 Copy quote

• You never get over it, but you get to where it doesn't bother you so much.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  I Hate You, Bother, Over It

  38 Copy quote

• There are some books that reached through the noise of life to grab you by the collar and speak only of the truest things.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Book, Noise, Speak

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2011). “The Marriage Plot: A Novel”, p.203, Macmillan

  19 Copy quote

• What if you had faith and performed good works, what if you died and went to heaven, and what if all the people you met there were people you didn't like?

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  People, Heaven, What If

  "Asleep in the Lord". www.newyorker.com. June 13 & 20, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• She wanted a book to take her places she couldn't get to herself.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Book, Wanted

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2011). “The Marriage Plot: A Novel”, p.42, Macmillan

  16 Copy quote

• There comes a moment, when you get lost in the woods, when the woods begin to feel like home.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Home, Woods, Moments

  15 Copy quote

• All wisdom ends in paradox.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Paradox, Ends

  9 Copy quote

• If love were endless, if it were on tap, it wouldn't hit us the way it does. And we certainly wouldn't write about it.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Writing, Doe, Way

  4 Copy quote

• We value love not because it's stronger than death but because it's weaker. Say what you want about love: death will finish it. You will not go on loving in the grave, not in any physical way that will at all resemble love as we know it on earth. The perishable nature of love is what gives love its importance in our lives. If it were endless, if it were on tap, love wouldn't hit us the way it does.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Love, Giving, Stronger

  7 Copy quote

• It was one of those humid days when the atmosphere gets confused. Sitting on the porch, you could feel it: the air wishing it was water.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Confused, Air, Water

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2003). “Middlesex”, p.388, A&C Black

  48 Copy quote

• I have a lot of novels that I haven't finished. I usually get 150 pages in and I realize it's not going anywhere. I don't publish everything I write. I must have six unfinished novels at least.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Writing, Pages, Six

  8 Copy quote

• Depression is like a bruise that never goes away. A bruise in your mind. You just got to be careful not to touch it where it hurts. It's always there, though.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Depression, Hurt, Mind

  49 Copy quote

• It was amazing how it worked: the tiniest bit of truth made credible the greatest lies.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Lying, Deceit, Made

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2003). “Middlesex”, p.418, A&C Black

  5 Copy quote

• To be inclusive you must accommodate different levels of sophistication.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Different, Levels, Sophistication

  8 Copy quote

• Capitalism has resulted in material well-being but spiritual bankruptcy.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Spiritual, Virgin Suicides, Well Being

  7 Copy quote

• Emotions, in my experience aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." ... I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Disappointment, Regret, Believe

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2003). “Middlesex”, p.217, A&C Black

  14 Copy quote

• I was thinking how amazing it was that the world contained so many lives. Out in these streets people were embroiled in a thousand different matters, money problems, love problems, school problems. People were falling in love, getting married, going to drug rehab, learning how to ice-skate, getting bifocals, studying for exams, trying on clothes, getting their hair-cut and getting born. And in some houses people were getting old and sick and were dying, leaving others to grieve. It was happening all the time, unnoticed, and it was the thing that really mattered.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Falling In Love, School, Cutting

  11 Copy quote

• I tell my students that when you write, you should pretend you’re writing the best letter you ever wrote to the smartest friend you have. That way, you’ll never dumb things down. You won’t have to explain things that don’t need explaining. You’ll assume an intimacy and a natural shorthand, which is good because readers are smart and don’t wish to be condescended to.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Smart, Writing, Dumb

  10 Copy quote

• Everyone struggles against despair, but it always wins in the end. It has to. It's the thing that lets us say goodbye.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Goodbye, Struggle, Winning

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2003). “Middlesex”, p.524, A&C Black

  9 Copy quote

• People don't save other people. People save themselves.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  People

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2011). “The Marriage Plot: A Novel”, p.124, Macmillan

  6 Copy quote

• Can you see me? All of me? Probably not. No one ever really has.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2003). “Middlesex”, p.218, A&C Black

  11 Copy quote

• She held herself very straight, like Audrey Hepburn, whom all women idolize and men never think about.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Men, Thinking, Virgin Suicides

  Jeffrey Eugenides (1993). “The Virgin Suicides: A Novel”, p.123, Macmillan

  22 Copy quote

• And in some of the houses, people were getting old and sick and were dying, leaving others to grieve. It was happening all the time, unnoticed, and it was the thing that really mattered. What really mattered in life, what gave it weight, was death.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Grieving, People, Sick

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2002). “Middlesex: A Novel”, p.401, Macmillan

  4 Copy quote

• Basically what we have here is a dreamer. Somebody out of touch with reality. When she jumped, she probably thought she'd fly

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Life, Reality, Dreamer

  Jeffrey Eugenides (1993). “The Virgin Suicides: A Novel”, p.38, Macmillan

  52 Copy quote

• It was possible to feel superior to other people and feel like a misfit at the same time.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  People, Misfits, Feels

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2011). “The Marriage Plot: A Novel”, p.116, Macmillan

  12 Copy quote

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