Home / Authors / Curtis Sittenfeld

Curtis Sittenfeld

Curtis Sittenfeld Quotes

Writer

Curtis Sittenfeld is an American author renowned for her contemporary fiction. Born in 1975, she has earned acclaim for her insightful exploration of modern life and intricate character development. Her novels frequently examine themes of identity, relationships, and personal development.

Filter quotes by topic

All Thinking People Writing Book Feels Ifs Character Trying Men Moments

Famous Curtis Sittenfeld Quotes

“I wanted to hold happiness in reserve, like a bottle of champagne. I postponed it because I was afraid, because I overvalued it, and then I didn't want to use it up, because what do you wish for then?”

Want Use Wanted Wish Bottles Reserves Champagne

Book:The Man of My Dreams

Source: The Man of My Dreams

“What greater happiness is there than the privilege of being bored together?”

Together Greater Privilege Bored Being Bored

Book:American Wife

Source: American Wife

“She was the reason I was a reader, and being a reader was what had made me most myself; it had given me the gifts of curiosity and sympathy, an awareness of the world as an odd and vibrant contradictory place, and it had me unafraid of its oddness and vibrancy and contradictions.”

World Made Reason Given Awareness Reader Curiosity Odd Contradiction Contradictory Unafraid Vibrancy Oddness

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“..and I thought how liking a boy was just the same as believing you wanted to know a secret - everything was better when you were denied and could feel tormented by curiousity or loneliness. But the moment of something happening was treacherous. It was just so tiring to have to worry about whether your face was peeling, or to have to laugh at stories that weren’t funny.”

Knows Feels Believe Moments Stories Wanted Faces Secret Boys Worry Laughing Loneliness Happenings Your Face Denied Tire Treacherous Peeling Curiousity

Book:Prep: a novel

Source: Prep: a novel

“Is the depressing part that he's only half right - it's not that she doesn't need rescuing but that nobody else will be able to do it? She has always somehow known that she is the one who will have to rescue herself. Or maybe what's depressing is that this knowledge seems like it should make life easier, and instead it makes it harder.”

Needs Should Seems Able Half Known Easier Harder Rescue Depressing

Book:The Man of My Dreams

Source: The Man of My Dreams

“At that time in my life, no conclusion was a bad conclusion. Something ended, and you stopped wishing and worrying. You could consider your mistakes, and you might be embarrassed by them, but the box was sealed, the door was shut, you were no longer immersed in the confusing middle.”

Might Wish Mistake Worry Doors Middle Boxes Conclusion Embarrassed Confusing

Book:Prep: a novel

Source: Prep: a novel

“Of course, I didn't imagine then that I could have had a real relationship with any guy. I thought that by virtue of being me I was disqualified.”

Real Guy Courses Virtue Imagine Being Me Real Relationship

Book:Prep and American Wife: Two Bestselling Novels

Source: Prep and American Wife: Two Bestselling Novels

“I actually liked the disolation of winter; it was the season when it was okay to be unhappy. If I were to ever kill myself, I thought it would be in the summer.”

Ifs Would Be Summer Okay Seasons Winter Unhappy

Book:Prep: a novel

Source: Prep: a novel

“But I never thought of who he wasn't, I never had to explain or defend him to myself, I didn't even care what we talked about.”

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“I wanted my life to start - but in those rare moments when it seemed like something might actually change, panic shot through me.”

Moments Might Wanted Shots Panic Like Something Rare Moments

Book:Prep and American Wife: Two Bestselling Novels

Source: Prep and American Wife: Two Bestselling Novels

“I had the fleeting thought then that we are each of us pathetic in one way or another, and the trick is to marry a person whose patheticness you can tolerate.”

Way Persons Tricks One Way Tolerate Fleeting Pathetic

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“... it struck me as so hard to believe I was really getting what I wanted; it was always easier to feel the lack of something than the thing itself.”

Feels Believe Hard Wanted Easier Hard To Believe

Book:Prep: a novel

Source: Prep: a novel

“We all make mistakes, don't we? But if you can't forgive yourself, you'll always be an exile in your own life.”

Ifs Mistake Forgiving Making Mistakes Exile Forgive Yourself We All Make Mistakes Can't Forgive

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“I have this theory that the likeability question comes up so much more with female characters created by female authors than it does with male characters and male authors”

Doe Character Theory Female Males Come Up Female Characters

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“People who think my books are autobiographical, which they're not, credit me with having a much better memory than I do. I do, however, have a powerful imagination”

People Thinking Book Imagination Memories Powerful Credit

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“I don't really have special rituals, but I don't try to write fiction unless I have a minimum of a few hours. For me, it takes a while to settle into a mode where I'm truly concentrating”

Writing Trying Hours Fiction Special Settling Ritual Minimum Concentrating

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“It's never that hard for me to imagine what it must feel like to be someone else, whether it's an American teenage girl or a Japanese octogenarian man”

Men Feels Hard Girl Imagine Teenage Teenage Girl

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“Probably I, like a lot of people, became a writer in imitation of or in homage to the books I enjoyed. When you're so captivated by something, you think, could I do that? Hmm, let me try”

People Thinking Writing Trying Book Let Me Enjoyed Imitation Homage Hmm Captivated

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“If you’re a parent in 2013, you have to get your hands on this book. Wise, engrossing, and so real that I fear Senior has been spying inside my house, All Joy is a must-read for those of us whose lives have been enriched and derailed by having kids.”

Ifs Has Beens Book Real Hands Kids Joy House Parent Wise Senior Having Kids

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“I feel like if you read something, and it makes you so curious about a topic that you then go read something else, that's exciting.”

Ifs Feels Exciting Curious Topics

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“I do think I was trying to entertain the reader more than I was trying to purge myself.”

Thinking Trying Reader

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“I don't think it's shameful to admit that some days your time can be better spent reading than writing.”

Thinking Writing Reading Shameful

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“High school is very intense for everyone. But at a boarding school, because you're there 24 hours a day, everything gets magnified.”

School Hours High School Intense

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“My boarding school experience was the only thing I had strong enough feelings to write about for hundreds and hundreds of pages. I can still smell the formaldehyde of the fetal pigs in biology.”

Writing Stills I Can Enough Feelings School Strong Pages Smell Biology Pigs Strong Enough School Experience

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“I'm SO trying to give up meat.”

Giving Trying Giving Up Meat

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

“I heard Gillian say, with a laugh, At this point, does anyone expect the liberals not to be total hypocrites? She was oblivious to the possibility that perhaps not everyone present shared her views, and I thought, You're sixteen. How can you already be a Republican?”

Doe Views Laughing Heard Possibility Republican Hypocrite Sixteen Oblivious

Author:Curtis Sittenfeld

About the Author

Born: 1975
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 126

Related Topics

Thinking People Writing Book Feels Ifs Character Trying Men Moments

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Prep: a novelRelated source material

PrepRelated source material

American WifeRelated source material

Prep and American Wife: Two Bestselling NovelsRelated source material

The Man of My DreamsRelated source material

EligibleRelated source material

Show Don't TellRelated source material

RodhamRelated source material

Similar Authors

Paul AusterBrowse related quotes
George SaundersBrowse related quotes
Sandra CisnerosBrowse related quotes
David SedarisBrowse related quotes
Joyce Carol OatesBrowse related quotes
Stephen KingBrowse related quotes
Chuck KlostermanBrowse related quotes
Salman RushdieBrowse related quotes
Junot DiazBrowse related quotes
John IrvingBrowse related quotes