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Alice Munro

Alice Munro Quotes

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Famous Alice Munro Quotes

“There was a danger whenever I was on home ground. It was the danger of seeing my life through other eyes than my own. Seeing it as an ever-increasing roll of words like barbed wire, intricate, bewildering, uncomforting—set against the rich productions, the food, flowers, and knitted garments, of other women’s domesticity. It became harder to say that it was worth the trouble.”

HomeEyeMy OwnRichSeeingTroubleDangerFlowerHarderProductionsWireGarmentsIntricateDomesticityBarbed Wire
Book:Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories
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“Things have changed, ofcourse. There are counsellors at the ready. Kindness and understanding. Life is harder for some, we're told. Not their fault, even if the blows are purely imgainery. Felt just as keenly by the recipient, or the non recipient, as the case may be. But good use can be made of everything, if you are willing.”

IfsMayMadeUseLife IsFeltUnderstandingKindnessCasesChangedWillingReadyHarderFaultsBlowThings Have ChangedUnderstanding LifeCounsellors
Author:Alice Munro
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“I began to understand that there were certain talkers - certain girls - whom people liked to listen to, not because of what they, the girls, had to say, but because of the delight they took in saying it. A delight in themselves, a shine on their faces, a conviction that whatever they were telling about was remarkable and that they themselves could not help but give pleasure. There might be other people - people like me - who didn't concede this, but that was their loss. And people like me would never be the audience these girls were after, anyway.”

PeopleGivingHelpingMightFacesCertainGirlLossPleasureAudienceShiningDelightConvictionLike MeRemarkableTalkersShine On
Author:Alice Munro
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“I want my stories to be something about life that causes people to say, not, oh, isn't that the truth, but to feel some kind of reward from the writing, and that doesn't mean that it has to be a happy ending or anything, but just that everything the story tells moves the reader in such a way that you feel you are a different person when you finish.”

PeopleWayWantFeelsWritingKindMeanPersonsDifferentStoriesMovingCausesReaderRewardsInsightfulShort StoryHappy Endings
Author:Alice Munro
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“What if people really did that - sent their love through the mail to get rid of it? What would it be that they sent? A box of chocolates with centers like the yolks of turkey eggs. A mud doll with hollow eye sockets. A heap of roses slightly more fragrant than rotten. A package wrapped in bloody newspaper that nobody would want to open.”

PeopleIfsWantEyeRoseBoxesNewspapersEggsWhat IfChocolateMailBloodyMudTurkeysHollowPackagesRottenDollsBox Of Chocolates
Book:The love of a good woman: stories
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“I saw how the forms of love might be maintained with a condemned person but with the love in fact measured and disciplined, because you have to survive. It could be done so discreetly that the object of such care would not suspect, any more than she would suspect the sentence of death itself.”

PersonsDoneFactsMightCareFormSawsObjectsSentencesSuspectsForms Of Love
Book:A Wilderness Station: Selected Stories, 1968-1994
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“This is the day of wonders. The land is covered with trees like a head with hair and behind the ship the sun rises tipping the top trees with light. The sky is clear and shining as a china plate and the water playfully ruffled with wind. Every wisp of fog is gone and the air is full of the resinous smell of the trees. Seabirds are flashing above the sails golden like creatures from Heaven, but the sailors raise a few shots to keep them from the rigging.”

LightHeavenWaterBehindsWonderSunGoneClearAirTreeSkyLandWindHairCreaturesBirdShotsRaisesShiningChinaSmellShipsGoldenCoveredPlatesSailFogSailorTippingSun RiseWisps
Book:New Selected Stories
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