Lyn > Lyn's Quotes

“If you are going to be underestimated by people who speak more rapidly, the temptation is to speak slowly and strategically and outwit them.”
― Doris Betts

“Often our students see nothing about religious faith except the lowest common denominator. They see nothing but TV evangelists and fools, and it doesn't occur to them that intelligent people might find this religious business worth living their lives by.”
― Doris Betts

“[when]asked, “What should I do if I want to become a writer?”
“Well,” Doris said, with that steely twinkle in her dark eyes, “My best advice for
you, honey, is to stop if you possibly can! And if you just can’t, then get ready to work
like hell. Hang onto your day job. And remember, you may not make a living, but you’ll
make a wonderful life.”
― Doris Betts

“Nothing in life gets dropped without someone else having to pick it up.”
― Amy Waldman, The Submission

“Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”
― Mark Twain

“He must shape simultaneously (in an expanding creative moment) his characters, plot, and setting, each inextricably connected to the others; he must make his whole world in a single, coherent gesture, as a potter makes a pot...”
― John Gardner, The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers