Kris > Kris's Quotes

“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.”
― E. B. White, Letters of E. B. White

“I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it.”
― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or doing laundry.”
― E.B. White

“I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.”
― E.B. White

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
― E. B. White

“There's no limit to how complicated things can get, on account of one thing always leading to another.”
― E.B. White

“Be obscure clearly! Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.”
― E.B. White

“A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people - people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book."

[Letters of Note; Troy (MI, USA) Public Library, 1971]”
― E.B. White

“Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.”
― E.B. White

“There is another sort of day which needs celebrating in song -- the day of days when spring at last holds up her face to be kissed, deliberate and unabashed. On that day no wind blows either in the hills or in the mind.”
― E.B. White, One Man's Meat

“Résumé
Razors pain you,
Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you,
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful,
Nooses give,
Gas smells awful.
You might as well live.”
― Dorothy Parker, Enough Rope

“What fresh hell is this?”
― Dorothy Parker, The Portable Dorothy Parker

“Don't look at me in that tone of voice.”
― Dorothy Parker

“Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common.”
― Dorothy Parker

“I hate writing, I love having written.”
― Dorothy Parker

“You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think.”
― Dorothy Parker, You Might As Well Live: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker

“If wild my breast and sore my pride,
I bask in dreams of suicide,
If cool my heart and high my head
I think 'How lucky are the dead.”
― Dorothy Parker, The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker

“Constant use had not worn ragged the fabric of their friendship.”
― Dorothy Parker

“Brevity is the soul of lingerie.”
― Dorothy Parker, While Rome Burns

“Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.”
― Dorothy Parker

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”
― Dorothy Parker

“The best way to keep children at home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires.”
― Dorothy Parker

“But I don't give up; I forget why not.”
― Dorothy Parker

“Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.”
― Dorothy Parker

“Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
a medley of extemporanea,
And love is a thing that can never go wrong,
and I am Marie of Romania.”
― Dorothy Parker, Enough Rope

“[On Oscar Wilde:]

"If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.

[Life Magazine, June 2, 1927]”
― Dorothy Parker

“It's not the tragedies that kill us; it's the messes.”
― Dorothy Parker, The Portable Dorothy Parker

“It was beyond desolate: it was where desolation goes to be by itself.”
― Elizabeth Hand, Generation Loss

“When strangers on a train or a plane ask what I do for a living, I say, "I kill people." This response makes for a short conversation. No eye contact and no sudden movement from my seat-mate. Only peace and quiet. Rare is the fellow passenger who asks why I do it.

I suppose I got tired hanging out in a book all day waiting for a story to begin. I write the kind of novels I want to read. And why the theme of solving murders? Violent death is larger than life and it's the great equalizer. By law, every victim is entitled to a paladin and a chase, else life would be cheapened.

And the real reason I do this? My brain is simply bent this way. There is nothing else I would rather do. This neatly chains into my theory of the writing life. If you scratch an artist, under the skin you will find a bum who cannot hold down a real job. Conversely, if you scratch a bum... but I have never done that.

The heart of my theory has puritan roots: if you love what you do, you cannot call it honest work.”
― Carol O'Connell

“Crazy is a place," said Janos. "You go, you come back.”
― Carol O'Connell, Crime School