Quotessence
Home / Books / A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs

A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs

Book by Joyce Elbert · 8 quotes · Inspiration, Inspirational, Growth

Filter quotes by topic

AllInspirationInspirationalGrowthWritingCourageIndependenceNatureWriting ProcessAdviceBeautyBravadoConfidenceEnduranceFirst NovelGood BooksInsecurityInspiringJoyLifeMemories

A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs Quotes

“Actually "nerve" is one of the qualities it takes to tackle a first novel, the others being inflated ego and a gambler's sense of crazed bravado, all of which I felt imbued with, more or less, when I sat down to write my account of one woman's efforts to keep her ex-husband, a deranged fence jumper, out of her apartment and life.”

WritingCourageAdviceWriting ProcessWriting AdviceBravadoNerve
Book:A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs
Create image

“Like many mind-altering drugs, alcohol had shown me where I wanted to go but alcohol couldn't get me there. It didn't have the power. I needed sobriety to connect me to stronger forces than my earthbound self. Whether these forces are God or nature is beside the point. Call them what you will. I feel that I instinctively knew I wasn't here alone or by sheer brute chance, but to live my life with as much courage and joy as possible before I returned to where I came from. I think that's really the goal.”

LifeInspirationalPhilosophyInspirationJoyNatureCouragePhilosophy Of Life
Book:A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs
Create image

“Even after a few years, the charm hadn't disappeared. I still enjoyed finding the first tulip of spring, seeing a buck race across my lawn, feeding cracked corn to birds, gathering kindling for the stove, walking on a blustery beach in December. I even enjoyed boarding up the windows in preparation for a hurricane or going out at night in a robe and pajamas to sweep falling snow off my car before it froze solid. I liked being exposed to the elements as I never was in New York. I think it's good to know the difference between what exists naturally and what is manmade. In cities we lose sight of these basic differences and, I believe, in the end, of ourselves.”

GrowthNatureBeautySeasonsIndependenceSeasons Changing
Book:A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs
Create image

“In the windowpane I caught a glimpse of myself: fat, badly-dressed, the seams on my skirt about to burst, my hair in need of a trim, my shoes run down at the heels, yet for once I didn't give a damn. I thought of how anxious I had been about this city, its intimidating chic, its hostile shopkeepers, Simone de Beauvoir's opinion of me, my clothes, my hairdo, my weight, my inability to speak the language properly. "Bonjour, Madame," I said to the proprietor in my fractured French. "Deux litres du lait, s'il vous plait." Why do we always worry about the wrong things, I wondered?”

InspirationalWisdomInspirationGrowthMemoriesConfidenceTravelParisInsecurity
Book:A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs
Create image

“I still remember typing the title page on my manual Smith-Corona with clammy hands and a racing heart. When I came to the words, "A novel by Joyce Elbert", I heard the New York Philharmonic break into Wagnerian praise for a major new literary voice, yet seconds later doubt and insecurity had crept in.”

InspirationalWritingInspirationNovelWriting ProcessNovelsNovel WritingFirst Novel
Book:A Tale of Five Cities & Other Memoirs
Create image