quotes by Jonathan Franzen

"For every reader who dies today, a viewer is born, and we seem to be witnessing . . . the final tipping balance."" "
— Jonathan Franzen (How to Be Alone)

"I find it a huge strain to be responsible for my tastes and be known and defined by them."
— Jonathan Franzen (Strong Motion)

"Once or twice every night, serving dinner at the big round table, Enid glanced over her shoulder and caught him looking, and made him blush. Al was Kansan. After two months he found courage to take her skating. They drank cocoa and he told her that human beings were born to suffer. He took her to a steel-company Christmas party and told her that the intelligent were doomed to be tormented by the stupid. He was a good dancer and a good earner, however, and she kissed him in the elevator. Soon they were engaged and they chastely rode a night train to McCook, Nebraska, to visit his aged parents. His father kept a slave whom he was married to."
— Jonathan Franzen (The Corrections)

"I wanted all of her and resented other boys for wanting any part of her."
— Jonathan Franzen (The Discomfort Zone)

"The world was ending then, it's ending still, and I'm happy to belong to it again."
— Jonathan Franzen (How to Be Alone)

""For every reader who dies today, a viewer is born, and we seem to be witnessing . . . the final tipping balance.""
— Jonathan Franzen