Quotessence
Home / Authors / Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllWritingIfsPeopleThinkingTryingKnowsWayWorldHelpingFeelsChildrenGivingNeedsHeartLittlesBelieveSelfWantLooksMother

Famous Anne Lamott Quotes

“So I was doing well academically, and I was a well-ranked tennis player and was the apple of my handsome father's eye-and then I would bring home a report card with a B-plus on it, and my parents would look at the report card as if I'd flunked. "Uh, honey?" one of them would ask, looking perplexed. "Now, this isn't a criticism but, if you could get a B-plus in philosophy, how much harder would it have been to get an A-minus?"”

IfsWellsLooksHas BeensPhilosophyHomeEyeAsksFatherParentPlayerCriticismHarderCardsApplesTennisReportsPlusHoneyHandsomeMinusTennis PlayerPerplexedReport Cards
Book:Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Create image

“I do for myself exactly what I would do for you - make a lovely cup of tea, or a hot bath, or go buy myself a fabulous pair of socks. I believe that you take the action, and THEN the insight follows - I do loving things for me, stroke my own shoulder, put myself down for a short nap, and the insight follows: that I am a wild precious woman, a human merely being, as e e cummings put it, deserving of respect, tenderness, protection, delight, and solidarity. And that is what Home looks like for me now.”

BelieveHumansLooksHomeActionI BelieveMy OwnHotDelightInsightProtectionLovelyShouldersCupsTeaPairsTendernessSolidarityStrokesFabulousBathsDeservingSockNapsCups Of TeaHot Baths
Author:Anne Lamott
Create image

“The society to which we belong seems to be dying or is already dead. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but clearly the dark side is rising. Things could not have been more odd and frightening in the Middle Ages. But the tradition of artists will continue no matter what form the society takes. And this is another reason to write: people need us, to mirror for them and for each other without distortion-not to look around and say, 'Look at yourselves, you idiots!,' but to say, 'This is who we are.”

PeopleNeedsWritingLooksMeanHas BeensMatterReasonSeemsAgeFormArtistSoundSidesDarkMiddleDyingTraditionMirrorsNo Matter WhatIdiotOddDramaticRisingWho We AreFrighteningMiddle AgesDark SideDistortion
Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Create image

“Let’s think of reverence as awe, as presence in and openness to the world…Try walking around with a child who’s going, ‘Wow, wow! Look at that dirty dog! Look at that burned-down house! Look at that red sky!’ And the child points, and you look, and you see, and you start going, ‘Wow! Look at that huge crazy hedge! Look at that teeny little baby! Look at the scary dark cloud!’ I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world – present and in awe.”

ThinkingWorldTryingLooksChildrenLittlesHouseDarkSkyCrazyDogHugeBabyWalkingRedCloudsScarySupposed To BeDirtyAweOpennessWowReverenceBurnedDark Clouds
Author:Anne Lamott
Create image

“I said that I thought the secret of life was obvious: be here now, love as if your whole life depended on it, find your life's work, and try to get hold of a giant panda. If you had a giant panda in your back yard, anything could go wrong — someone could die, or stop loving you, or you could get sick — and if you could look outside and see this adorable, ridiculous, boffo panda, you'd start to laugh; you'd be so filled with thankfulness and amusement that everything would be O.K. again.”

IfsTryingLooksSaidWholeWould BeDiesSecretLaughingSickFilledObviousWhole LifeRidiculousGiantsYardsThankfulnessAmusementLoving YouAdorableSecret LifeBe Here NowPandasStop Loving You
Author:Anne Lamott
Create image

“When what we see catches us off guard, and when we write it as realistically and openly as possible, it offers hope. You look around and say, Wow, there's that same mockingbird; there's that woman in the red hat again. The woman in the red hat is about hope because she's in it up to her neck, too, yet every day she puts on that crazy red hat and walks to town.”

WritingLooksWalksCrazyOffersRedTownsNecksHatsWowMockingbirdRed Hat
Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Create image

“Intelligence, goodness, humanity, excitement, serenity. Over time, these are the things that change the musculature of your face, as do laughter, and animation, and especially whatever peace you can broker with the person inside. It's furrow, pinch, and judgement that make us look older - our mothers were right. They said that if you made certain faces, they would stick, and they do. But our mothers forgot that faces of kindness and integrity stick as well.”

IfsWellsLooksPersonsMadeSaidFacesMotherCertainHumanityKindnessIntegrityGoodnessLaughterSticksJudgementExcitementYour FaceSerenityThey SaidAnimationBrokers
Author:Anne Lamott
Create image

“They believe that if they do get published, a wonderful new life is in store. It will turn out that deep down they are really valuable people and will have lots of money from now on and really cool people like Ethan Hawke will be dropping by all the time. But it's a lie. Being a published writer will make them long to be ONLY as mentally ill as they are now. Their current level of obsession and doubt and self-loathing will look like the good old days. Honest.”

PeopleIfsBelieveLooksLongSelfLife IsLyingTurnsLevelsDoubtWonderfulHonestIllCurrentsValuableStoresObsessionLots Of MoneyNew LifeDroppingDeep DownReally CoolOld DaysLoathingSelf LoathingMentally IllGood Old DaysCool People
Author:Anne Lamott
Create image