Quotessence
Home / Authors / Flannery O'Connor
Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllWritingIfsFictionStoriesThinkingWayPeopleKnowsBelieveDoeMayChurchEnoughLiteratureWellsLifeMysteryNovelAbleWorld

Famous Flannery O'Connor Quotes

“A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell them to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning.”

WayWritingSaidStoriesWould BeAsksFictionStatementsAbstractInadequate
Book:Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
Create image

“I have found, in short, from reading my own writing, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory largely held by the devil. I have also found that what I write is read by an audience which puts little stock either in grace or the devil. You discover your audience at the same time and in the same way that you discover your subject, but it is an added blow.”

WayWritingLittlesActionReadingFoundMy OwnFictionAudienceGraceSubjectsDevilBlowTerritory
Author:Flannery O'Connor
Create image

“In the greatest fiction, the writer's moral sense coincides with his dramatic sense, and I see no way for it to do this unless his moral judgement is part of the very act of seeing, and he is free to use it. I have heard it said that belief in Christian dogma is a hindrance to the writer, but I myself have found nothing further from the truth. Actually, it frees the storyteller to observe. It is not a set of rules which fixes what he sees in the world. It affects his writing primarily by guaranteeing his respect for mystery.”

WorldWayWritingSaidUseChristianFoundBeliefFictionMoralSeeingHeardMysteryJudgementDramaticDogmaStorytellerHindranceMoral Judgement
Author:Flannery O'Connor
Create image

“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
Create image