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Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor Quotes

Writer

Flannery O'Connor was an American writer known for her unique Southern background and profound religious themes. Her works often explore moral and religious issues through satire and humor, with her novels 'Wise Blood' and 'The Violent Bear It Away' being among her most famous.

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All Writing Ifs Fiction Stories Thinking Way People Knows Believe Doe May Church Enough Literature Wells Life Mystery Novel Able World

Famous Flannery O'Connor Quotes

“Meeks was telling him about the value of work. He said that it had been his personal experience that if you wanted to get ahead, you had to work. He said this was the law of life and it was no way to get around it because it was inscribed on the human heart like love thy neighbour. He said these two laws were the team that worked together to make the world go round and that any individual who wanted to be a success and win the pursuit of happiness, that was all he needed to know.”

Book:The Violent Bear It Away

Source: The Violent Bear It Away

“Mr. Head could have said to it that age was a choice blessing and that only with years does a man enter into that calm understanding of life that makes him a suitable guide for the young. This, at least, had been his own experience.”

Life Age Understanding Old Age

Book:A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories

Source: A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories

“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to was never there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. Where is there a place for you to be? No place... Nothing outside you can give you any place... In yourself right now is all the place you've got.”

Life Place Search

Book:Wise Blood

Source: Wise Blood

“To expect too much is to have a sentimental view of life and this is a softness that ends in bitterness.”

Life Ends Views Too Much Bitterness Sentimental Softness Loose Ends

Author:Flannery O'Connor

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”

Life Doe Truth Funny Science Change Ability Stomach Times Have Changed Upset Stomach

Book:The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

Source: The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

“She would of been a good woman," said The Misfit, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”

Ifs Life Said Minutes Misfits Good Woman

Author:Flannery O'Connor

“When there is a tendency to compartmentalize the spiritual and make it resident in a certain type of life only, the spiritual is apt gradually to be lost.”

Life Spiritual Certain Lost Type Tendencies Residents

Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

Source: Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

“Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking to the system.”

People Life Writing Reality Fall Fiction Novel Hair Terrible Teeth Decay Shocking Plunge Irritated Writing Fiction Real Talk

Author:Flannery O'Connor

“Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.”

Life Doe Happiness Success Accepting Acceptance Oneself

Author:Flannery O'Connor

“Southern culture has fostered a type of imagination that has been influenced by Christianity of a not too unorthodox kind and by a strong devotion to the Bible, which has kept our minds attached to the concrete and the living symbol.”

Life Mind Kind Has Beens Culture Strong Imagination Christianity Type Devotion Symbols Southern Concrete Unorthodox Southern Culture

Author:Flannery O'Connor

“I doubt if the texture of Southern life is any more grotesque than that of the rest of the nation, but it does seem evident that the Southern writer is particularly adept at recognizing the grotesque; and to recognize the grotesque, you have to have some notion of what is not grotesque and why.”

Ifs Life Doe Seems Life Is Nations Doubt Notion Southern Evident Recognizing Texture Grotesque Adept

Book:Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories

Source: Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories

“I am a writer because writing is the thing I do best.”

Life Writing Success

Author:Flannery O'Connor

About the Author

Born: March 25, 1925
Died: August 3, 1964
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 320

Related Topics

Writing Ifs Fiction Stories Thinking Way People Knows Believe Doe May Church Enough Literature Wells Life Mystery Novel Able World

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

Books & Sources

Mystery and Manners: Occasional ProseRelated source material

The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'ConnorRelated source material

Collected WorksRelated source material

A Good Man is Hard to FindRelated source material

The Complete StoriesRelated source material

Wise BloodRelated source material

Three by Flannery O'Connor: Wise blood, The violent bear it away, Everything that rises must convergeRelated source material

Everything That Rises Must Converge: StoriesRelated source material

Mystery and MannersRelated source material

Wise Blood: A NovelRelated source material

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