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Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor Quotes

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Famous Flannery O'Connor Quotes

“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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“I know well enough that very few people who are supposedly interested in writing are interested in writing well. They are interested in publishing something, and if possible in making a "killing." They are interested in being a writer not in writing. . . If this is what you are interested in, I am not going to be much use to you.”

PeopleIfsKnowsWritingWellsEnoughUseKillingPublishingWriting Well
Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
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“One of the awful things about writing when you are a Christian is that for you the ultimate reality is the Incarnation, the present reality is the Incarnation, and nobody believes in the Incarnation; that is, nobody in your audience. My audience are the people who think God is dead. At least these are the people I am conscious of writing for.”

PeopleThinkingWritingBelieveRealityChristianAudienceConsciousUltimateAwfulIncarnationUltimate RealityGod Is Dead
Book:The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor
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“But learned people can analyze for me why I fear hell and their implication is that there is no hell. But I believe in hell. Hell seems a great deal more feasible to my weak mind than heaven. No doubt because hell is a more earth-seeming thing. I can fancy the tortures of the damned but I cannot imagine the disembodied souls hanging in a crystal for all eternity praising God.”

PeopleMindBelieveI CanSoulSeemsEarthI BelieveHeavenDealsHellDoubtImagineWeakEternityPraiseI Believe InTortureFancyNo DoubtCrystalsImplicationsSeemingPraise GodWeak Minds
Author:Flannery O'Connor
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