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Famous Florence King Quotes

“A cardinal rule of writing is never interrupt yourself to explain something. If you must bring up an obscure topic, drop informative hints about it as you go along so that you don't end up with the entire explanation all in one place. This keeps you from skidding to a stop and sounding teacherish. Otherwise it's better to omit the obscure topic altogether, or as mothers might put it: if you can't say it interestingly, don't say it at all.”

IfsWritingEndsMightMotherExplanationObscureTopicsHintsCardinalsInformativeCardinal Rules
Author:Florence King
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“Misanthropes have some admirable if paradoxical virtues. It is no exaggeration to say that we are among the nicest people you are likely to meet. Because good manners build sturdy walls, our distaste for intimacy makes us exceedingly cordial "ships that pass in the night." As long as you remain a stranger we will be your friend forever.”

PeopleIfsLongNightFriendshipForeverVirtueRelationshipWallStrangerShipsMannersIntimacyParadoxGood ManGood PeopleExceedAdmirableExaggerationFriends ForeverParadoxicalGood MannersMisanthropyNice PeopleSturdyDistasteNicenessMisanthropeCordiality
Author:Florence King
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“One of life's intriguing paradoxes is that hierarchical social order makes cheap rents and outré artists' colonies possible. Raffish bohemian neighborhoods flourished in the days of racial segregation; under integration the artistic poor have no safe places in which to create.... If America lacks a vigorous culture it is partly because studios and ateliers have become crack houses.”

IfsAmericaArtistOrderCultureHouseSocialPoorSafeStudiosArtisticNeighborhoodParadoxCracksIntegrationSegregationVigorousIntriguingColonySocial OrderBohemianSafe PlacesRacial Segregation
Author:Florence King
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“The proliferation of support groups suggests to me that too many Americans are growing up in homes that do not contain a grandmother. A home without a grandmother is like an egg without salt.... The emotionally satisfying discussions that take place in Chronic Pain Outreach and Depression Resources are simply updated versions of the grandmotherly practice of hanging crepe. We could eliminate much of the isolation that support groups exist to fill and save the "traditional family" that everybody is so worried about if more couples took their aging parents to live with them.”

IfsHomePainParentPracticeSupportGrowing UpGrowingGroupsCoupleResourcesAgingVersionsTraditionalWorriedDiscussionIsolationGrandmotherEggsSatisfyingSaltProliferationChronic PainOutreachAging ParentsSupport GroupsCrepesTraditional Family
Author:Florence King
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“When you go apartment-hunting in the South, you encounter little old ladies who ask you if you use strong drink. In New York you encounter paranoids who wonder if you will commit suicide--not that they care; what they worry about is blood on their fresh paint, a dubious smell in the hallway, or a hole in the awning as you pass through on your way to the sidewalk. The Southerner who moves to any part of the country has problems, but the culture shock that attacks the Southerner who moves North is almost indescribable.”

IfsWayLittlesCountryUseProblemCareMovingCultureAsksStrongWonderWorryBloodNew YorkDrinkSuicideSouthPaintSmellHolesCommitEncountersShockHuntingApartmentOld LadySidewalkDubiousHallwaysIndescribableSouthernerCulture ShockStrong Drink
Book:Southern ladies and gentlemen
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“Now the only thing I miss about sex is the cigarette afterward. Next to the first one in the morning, it's the best one of all. It tasted so good that even if I had been frigid I would have pretended otherwise just to be able to smoke it.”

IfsFirstsAbleNextLiteratureSexMorningMissingSmokeSmokingCigaretteTobaccoFrigidSmoking CigarettesSmoking CigarsSmoking A PipeTobacco SmokingFunny SmokingPipe SmokingCigarette Smoke
Book:Lump It Or Leave It
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