Novel Quotes - Page 27

• Novels tend to end as the Paternoster begins: with the kingdom of God on earth.

  Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

  Literature, Earth, Kingdoms

  7 Copy quote

• Expand the definition of 'reading' to include non-fiction, humor, graphic novels, magazines, action adventure, and, yes, even websites. It's the pleasure of reading that counts; the focus will naturally broaden. A boy won't read shark books forever.

  Jon Scieszka

  Book, Reading, Adventure

  "National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Must Go!" by Jon Scieszka, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 18, 2010.

  52 Copy quote

  Show source

• Continuous present is all we have, and stream of consciousness - which in a novel is arguably just as artificial as the stilted dialogue that you get in most conventional novels. They're all stratagems to try to get closer to the texture of lived life.

  Will Self

  Trying, Texture, Consciousness

  4 Copy quote

• Many of my works fall into the category of "Zeitgeist novels." Yet I hope that they aren't only reportage, but also attempts to convey the sense of the present to the future.

  Will Self

  Fall, Zeitgeist, Categories

  "In the beginning" by Will Self, www.theguardian.com. June 16, 2007.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I spent many years of my life as an economist and demographer. I was finally distracted by writing my novels and poetry. I'm enormously happy that was the case. I feel that with writing I have found my metier.

  Vikram Seth

  Writing, Years, Found

  4 Copy quote

• When you write a movie, you have a hundred collaborators. But when you write a novel, it's yours.

  Sidney Sheldon

  Movie, Writing, Actors

  4 Copy quote

• I think that's because believable action is based on authenticity, and accuracy is very important to me. I always spend time researching my novels, exploring the customs and attitudes of the county I'm using for their setting.

  Sidney Sheldon

  Attitude, Thinking, Important

  10 Copy quote

• For all the social changes in China can be traced to their early beginnings in the days when the new tools or vehicles of commerce and locomotion first brought the Chinese people into unavoidable contact with the strange ways and novel goods of the Western peoples.

  Hu Shih

  People, Chinese, Tools

  7 Copy quote

• Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.

  Jane Smiley

  Comforting, Enlightening, Currents

  Jane Smiley (2008). “13 Ways of Looking at the Novel”, p.279, Anchor

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel.

  Jane Smiley

  Reading, Sound, Hot

  57 Copy quote

• Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.

  Jane Smiley

  Hard Work, Thinking, Alzheimer's

  "With the benefit of foresight..." by Jane Smiley, www.theguardian.com. May 18, 2002.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.

  Jane Smiley

  Writing, Icons, Reminders

  "In the beginning" by Jane Smiley, www.theguardian.com. February 22, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• If to live is to progress, if you are lucky, from foolishness to wisdom, then to write novels is to broadcast the various stages of your foolishness.

  Jane Smiley

  Writing, Progress, Lucky

  Jane Smiley (2014). “Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel”, p.14, Faber & Faber

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• 'Ape House' is an ambitious novel in several ways, for which it is to be admired, and it is certainly an easy read, but because Gruen is not quite prepared for the philosophical implications of her subject, it is not as deeply involving emotionally or as interesting thematically as it could be.

  Jane Smiley

  Philosophical, Interesting, House

  "Ape House by Sara Gruen - review" by Jane Smiley, www.theguardian.com. March 25, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• In the traditional urban novel, there is only survival or not. The suburban idea, the conformist idea, that agony can be seen to and cured by doctors or psychoanalysis or self-knowledge is nowhere to be found in the city. Talking is a way of life, but it is not a cure. Same with religion.

  Jane Smiley

  Doctors, Self, Talking

  "Our lady of east LA" by Jane Smiley, www.theguardian.com. April 21, 2007.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Novelists of a conservative or more purely aesthetic bent hold up better on the surface, but their novels go in and out of fashion according to relevance or irrelevance.

  Jane Smiley

  Fashion, Irrelevance, Novelists

  Jane Smiley (2008). “13 Ways of Looking at the Novel”, p.434, Anchor

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• When 'The Awakening' was published it was considered so scandalous it was banned in the author's home-town library, and she herself was barred from the Fine Arts Club in the same city. What the novel has to offer, among other things, is honesty.

  Jane Smiley

  Art, Honesty, Home

  4 Copy quote

• After you've read a novel, you only retain a vague memory of its contents. You remember the atmosphere, the odd image or phrase or vivid cameo.

  Arthur Smith

  Memories, Atmosphere, Phrases

  "Arthur Smith" by Arthur Smith, www.theguardian.com. April 3, 2002.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• When I was young, I knew William Burroughs really well. And William's secret desire, which he never quite did, was to write a straightforward detective novel.

  Patti Smith

  Writing, Secret, Desire

  13 Copy quote

• My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.

  Wilbur Smith

  Real, World, Firsts

  "Wilbur Smith, author - portrait of the artist". Interview with Laura Barnett, www.theguardian.com. January 15, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• All novels attempt to cut neural routes through the brain, to convince us that down this road the true future of the novel lies.

  Zadie Smith

  Lying, Cutting, Convince Us

  4 Copy quote

• All my books are made up of other books. They're all deeply structured on other fiction, because I was a student in fiction and I didn't have much actual living to draw on. I suspect a lot of other people's novels are like that, too, though they might be slower to talk about it.

  Zadie Smith

  Book, People, Fiction

  4 Copy quote

• English writing tends to fall into two categories - the big, baggy epic novel or the fairly controlled, tidy novel. For a long time, I was a fan of the big, baggy novel, but there's definitely an advantage to having a little bit more control.

  Zadie Smith

  Fall, Writing, Epic

  7 Copy quote

• I just realized quite early on that I'm not going to be the type who can write a novel every two years. I think you need to feel an urgency about the act. Otherwise, when you read it, you feel no urgency, either. So I don't write unless I really feel I need to, and that's a luxury.

  Zadie Smith

  Writing, Thinking, Years

  "In Essays, Author Zadie Smith Reveals Her Process". Interview with Melissa Block, www.npr.org. November 11, 2009.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Novels are not about expressing yourself, they're about something beautiful, funny, clever and organic. Self-expression ? Go and ring a bell in a yard if you want to express yourself.

  Zadie Smith

  Beautiful, Clever, Self

  "White knuckle ride". Interview with Simon Hattenstone, www.theguardian.com. December 11, 2000.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source