Quotessence
Home / Authors / Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleIfsWritingLake WobegonThinkingBookMenWantFeelsKnowsPersonsChildrenNeedsWayHumorLittlesLooksWorldAgeEnough

Famous Garrison Keillor Quotes

“Minnesota is a state of public-spirited and polite people, where you can get a good cappucino and eat Thai food and find any book you want and yet live on a quiet tree-lined street with a backyard and send your kids to public school. When a state this good hits the jackpot, it can only be an inspiration to everybody.”

PeopleWantBookStatesInspirationKidsSchoolTreeStreetsQuietPolitePublic SchoolBackyardsSpiritedMinnesotaThaiJackpotThai Food
Author:Garrison Keillor
Create image

“The thought of people in this day and age sitting down to listen to a radio variety show on Saturday evening is rather implausible and was even more so in 1974 when we started “A Prairie Home Companion.” Thank goodness Minnesota Public Radio was too poor to afford good advice or the show never would've got on the air. We only did it because we knew it would be fun to do. It was a dumb idea. I wish I knew how to be that dumb again.”

PeopleIdeasShowsHomeWould BeAgeFunWishPoorAirAdviceGoodnessSittingRadioEveningVarietyDumbCompanionThis DaySaturdayGood AdviceSitting DownMinnesotaPrairiePublic RadioSaturday Evening
Author:Garrison Keillor
Create image

“It was a pleasure to have somebody else be the boss. It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun any other way. He's been around and made a lot of movies and he's a great straightforward person to work for. And it was a pleasure to see other people to pick up characters that you've sketched out loosely on paper and make them into something fascinating.”

PeopleWayPersonsHas BeensMadeCharacterFunPleasurePaperPicksFascinatingBossStraightforward
Author:Garrison Keillor
Create image

“People meet writers and are bowled over when the writer is friendly to them and invites them to his house for a glass of wine or to shoot up heroin or whatever they do, and they talk their heads off, and a year later it comes out in a book, and there follow years of bitter and fruitless litigation, and that is why you should always keep a writer at arm's length.”

PeopleShouldYearsBookHouseArmsWineGlassesBitterFriendlyLengthInvitesHeroinWine Glass
Author:Garrison Keillor
Create image

“Forget what you learned about poetry in school. (That it's complex, opaque, a problem to be solved in 1500 words by tomorrow.) Poetry is the last preserve of honest speech and the outspoken heart. It holds the cadence of common life. It has a passion for truth and justice and liberty; it is a buoy to people in ordinary trouble: to a friend whose life has gone skidding into the meridian, who has been struck by bad news, who is frying eggs and hash browns and has whiny child clinging to his pant leg.”

PeopleHeartChildrenHas BeensProblemSchoolLastsPassionJusticeForgetCommonLibertyGoneTroubleHonestTomorrowSpeechNewsOrdinaryComplexesLegsPreservesEggsPoetry IsClingingBad NewsOutspokenCadenceOpaqueFryingTruth And JusticeCommon LifeHashBuoys
Author:Garrison Keillor
Create image

“We have nearly complete misunderstanding between people of different faiths in Lake Wobegon, and that's probably one reason why we get along so very well. It's when you are trying to convince another person to think the same way that you do that there is friction and trouble between people. But when you feel that the other person is dumber than dirt, too dumb for words - why waste your breath - you get along pretty well. There's no bond between people that's quite so strong as when people each feel slightly superior towards the other one.”

PeopleThinkingWayFeelsTryingWellsPersonsDifferentReasonStrongTroubleWasteBreathsSuperiorsDumbReason WhyLakesConvinceDirtMisunderstandingFrictionTrying HardDifferent FaithsLake Wobegon
Author:Garrison Keillor
Create image

“What keeps faith cheerful is the extreme persistence of gentleness and humor. Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music, and books, raising kids-all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through. Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people. Lacking any other purpose in life, it would be good enough to live for their sake.”

PeopleLooksBookEnoughWould BeKidsPurposeSportsAnimalGraceSweetFlowerOrdinaryCookingShiningGreedSakeExtremesBe GoodStorytellingVanityPersistenceGentleFishingDaily LifeGood EnoughPurpose Of LifeMaking LoveLackingCheerfulGentlenessCornKeep The FaithOrdinary ThingsRaising KidsSmall TalkGravyCampfireSweet Corn
Author:Garrison Keillor
Create image

“This is Democratic bedrock: we don't let people lie in the ditch and drive past and pretend not to see them dying. Here on the frozen tundra of Minnesota, if your neighbor's car won't start, you put on your parka and get the jumper cables out and deliver the Sacred Spark that starts their car. Everybody knows this. The logical extension of this spirit is social welfare and the myriad government programs with long dry names all very uninteresting to you until you suddenly need one.”

PeopleIfsKnowsNeedsLongGovernmentPastSpiritLyingNamesSocialDyingCarProgramSacredDemocraticNeighborWelfareDryLogicalSparksExtensionsFrozenCablesMinnesotaGovernment ProgramsBedrockSocial WelfareJumpersPeople Lie
Author:Garrison Keillor
Create image