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Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor Quotes

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Famous Flannery O'Connor Quotes

“There's a certain grain of stupidity that the writer of fiction can hardly do without, and this is the quality of having to stare, of not getting the point at once. The longer you look at one object, the more of the world you see in it; and it's well to remember that the serious fiction writer always writes about the whole world.”

WorldWritingWellsLooksWholeRememberCertainFictionQualityObjectsSeriousStupidityWhole WorldCraftsStaringGrainFiction Writers
Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
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“Later he saw Jesus move from tree to tree in the back of his mind, a wild ragged figure motioning him to turn around and come off into the dark where he might be walking on the water and not know it and then suddenly know it and drown.”

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Book:Three by Flannery O'Connor: Wise blood, The violent bear it away, Everything that rises must converge
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“St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in instructing catechumens, wrote: “The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.” No matter what form the dragon may take, it is of this mysterious passage past him, or into his jaws, that stories of any depth will always be concerned to tell, and this being the case, it requires considerable courage at any time, in any country, not to turn away from the storyteller.”

MaySoulCountryMatterStoriesPastFormTurnsFatherSidesCasesConcernedNo Matter WhatDepthMysteriousDragonsPassagesStorytellerJerusalem
Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
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“Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead," The Misfit continued, "and He shouldn't have done it. He shown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness," he said and his voice had become almost a snarl.”

IfsWaySaidDoneHouseJesusLeftEnjoyVoicePleasureMinutesBalanceRaisedKillingBest WayBurningMeannessMisfitsBurning Down
Author:Flannery O'Connor
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“He knew that he was the stuff of which fanatics and madmen are made and that he had turned his destiny as if with his bare will. He kept himself upright on a very narrow line between madness and emptiness and when the time came for him to lose his balance he intended to lurch toward emptiness and fall on the side of his choice.”

IfsMadeChoicesFallStuffSidesLosesLinesDestinyBalanceMadnessEmptinessFanaticsMadmen
Book:Three by Flannery O'Connor: Wise blood, The violent bear it away, Everything that rises must converge
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“I once received a letter from an old lady in California who informed me that when the tired reader comes home at night, he wishes to read something that will lift up his heart. And it seems her heart had not been lifted up by anything of mine she had read. I think that if her heart had been in the right place, it would have been lifted up.”

IfsThinkingHeartHas BeensHomeSeemsNightWishMinesReaderLettersTiredLiftsCaliforniaComing HomeRight PlaceOld Lady
Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
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“Behind the newspaper Julian was withdrawing into the inner compartment of his mind where he spent most of his time. This was a kind of mental bubble in which he established himself when he could not bear to be a part of what was going on around him. From it he could see out and judge but in it he was safe from any kind of penetration from without. It was the only place where he felt free of the general idiocy of his fellows. His mother had never entered it but from it he could see her with absolute clarity.”

MindKindMotherFeltBehindsJudgingBearsSafeAbsolutesFellowsNewspapersClarityBubblesIdiocyPenetrationWithdrawing
Book:Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories
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“There is a certain embarrassment about being a storyteller in these times when stories are considered not quite as satisfying as statements and statements not quite as satisfying as statistics; but in the long run, a people is known, not by its statements or its statistics, but by the stories it tells.”

PeopleLongStoriesRunningCertainKnownStatementsStatisticsSatisfyingLong RunsStorytellerEmbarrassment
Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
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“The Church's stand on birth control is the most absolutely spiritual of all her stands and with all of us being materialists at heart, there is little wonder that it causes unease. I wish various fathers would quit trying to defend it by saying that the world can support 40 billion. I will rejoice the day when they say: This is right whether we all rot on top of each other or not, dear children, as we certainly may. Either practice restraint or be prepared for crowding.”

WorldTryingHeartMayChildrenLittlesSpiritualFatherWishCausesChurchWonderPracticeSupportBirthPreparedDearVariousBillionsQuittingRejoiceBe PreparedRestraintBirth Control
Author:Flannery O'Connor
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