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Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott Quotes

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Famous Anne Lamott Quotes

“Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.”

IfsNeedsWritingSometimesGrowsBitsWonderOur LivesHeardWake UpMake SenseVisibleDesperateEndeavor
Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
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“I am drawn to people that are not going to shy away from the very dark, scary stuff of the human condition and in a lot of cases people need alcohol or drugs to create poetry and poetic pose that can take you so far out there where you are still able to recognize yourself and then to bring you back home where you're not the same person you were when you left.”

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Author:Anne Lamott
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“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something-anything-down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft-you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft-you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it's loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.”

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Author:Anne Lamott
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“Bananas are great, as I believe them to be the only known cure for existential dread. Also, Mother Teresa said that in India, a woman dying in the street will share her banana with anyone who needs it, whereas in America, people amass and hoard as many bananas as they can to sell for an exorbitant profit. So half of them go bad, anyway.”

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Author:Anne Lamott
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“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”

NeedsWritingFirstsEffortTerribleGood WritingGood WritersWriting FictionWriter's BlockGreat WritingReading And WritingStory WritingWriting StoriesCreativity And WritingWriters ReadingWriting And ReadingInspiration To WriteFamous WritersInspiring WritingReading WritingWriting From Famous AuthorsStarting To Write
Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
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“I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We're here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature. You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play. You don't have time to carry grudges; you don't have time to cling to the need to be right.”

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Author:Anne Lamott
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“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
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“The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so very little. But we do. We have so much we want to say and figure out.”

WantNeedsWritingFirstsLittlesReasonSeemsShareFiguresStudentsLongingSpeciesWho We AreTelling The TruthSheepGood WritingWorkshopsNeeds And WantsLice
Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
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“Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived...Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation... Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend. What people somehow forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here.”

PeopleThinkingNeedsMeanChildrenShowsFormLife IsArtistOrderBreathsMessWho We AreIdealismFrozenAnimationTrue FriendPerfectionismClutterSuspendedWhy We Are Here
Author:Anne Lamott
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“Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground - you can still discover new treasures under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip. Tidiness suggests that something is as good as it's going to get. Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation, while writing needs to breathe and move.”

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Author:Anne Lamott
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“It turned out this man worked for the Dalai Lama. And she said gently-that they believe when a lot of things start going wrong all at once, it is to protect something big and lovely that is trying to get itself born-and that this something needs for you to be distracted so that it can be born as perfectly as possible.”

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Book:Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
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“We cheated, you and me, and someone noticed. I noticed you; someone else noticed me. It hurts us. That's not so bad. So many people cheat. Everywhere on every level. Everyone's cheated. I'm just saying that you don't need to see yourself as a cheater. Because that's not who you are. You're someone who cheated. There's a difference, and you should try to get that difference, or that's who you'll grow up to be.”

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Author:Anne Lamott
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“You were loved because God loves, period. God loved you, and everyone, not because you believed in certain things, but because you were a mess, and lonely, and His or Her child. God loved you no matter how crazy you felt on the inside, no matter what a fake you were; always, even in your current condition, even before coffee. God loves you crazily, like I love you...like a slightly overweight auntie, who sees only your marvelousness and need.”

NeedsChildrenMatterCertainFeltCrazyConditionsLove YouPeriodsLonelyNo Matter WhatCurrentsCoffeeMessGod LoveFakeOverweightGod Loves YouLove You LikeI Love You LikeAuntie
Book:Imperfect Birds: A Novel
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“It helps to resign as the controller of your fate. All that energy we expend to keep things running right is not what's keeping things running right. We're bugs struggling in the river, brightly visible to the trout below. With that fact in mind, people like me make up all these rules to give us the illusion that we are in charge. I need to say to myself, they're not needed, hon. Just take in the buggy pleasures. Be kind to the others, grab the fleck of riverweed, notice how beautifully your bug legs scull.”

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Author:Anne Lamott
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“I’ve heard it said that every day you need half an hour of quiet time for yourself, or your Self, unless you’re incredibly busy and stressed, in which case you need an hour. I promise you, it is there. Fight tooth and nail to find time, to make it. It is our true wealth, this moment, this hour, this day.”

NeedsSaidSelfMomentsFightingHoursWealthHalfCasesHeardPromiseQuietBusyTeethThis DayNailsStressedI PromiseQuiet TimeTrue WealthTime For Yourself
Author:Anne Lamott
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