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Lorrie Moore

Lorrie Moore Quotes

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Famous Lorrie Moore Quotes

“I often think that at the center of me is a voice that at last did split, a house in my heart so invaded with other people and their speech, friends I believed I was devoted to, people whose lives I can simply guess at now, that it gives me the impression I am simply a collection of them, that they all existed for themselves, but had inadvertently formed me, then vanished. But, what: Should I have been expected to create my own self, out of nothing, out of thin, thin air and alone?”

PeopleThinkingGivingShouldHeartHas BeensI CanSelfLastsHouseVoiceMy OwnAirMy HeartSpeechGive MeExpectedImpressionCollectionsSplitsDevotedShould IThin Air
Author:Lorrie Moore
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“[T]he normal and the everyday are often amazingly unstoppable, and what is unimaginable is the cessation of them. The world is resilient, and, no matter what interruptions occur, people so badly want to return to their lives and get on with them. A veneer of civilization descends quickly, like a shining rain. Dust is settled.”

PeopleWorldWantMatterReturnCivilizationNormalRainNo Matter WhatShiningEverydayDustResilientUnimaginableInterruptionsUnstoppableVeneer
Author:Lorrie Moore
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“I tried not to think about my life. I did not have any good solid plans for it long-term - no bad plans either, no plans at all - and the lostness of that, compared with the clear ambitions of my friends (marriage, children, law school), sometimes shamed me. Other times in my mind I defended such a condition as morally and intellectually superior - my life was open and ready and free - but that did not make it less lonely.”

ThinkingMindChildrenLongSometimesSchoolLawTermClearPlansConditionsReadyAmbitionMy FriendsLonelySuperiorsLong TermLaw School
Book:A Gate at the Stairs
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“What makes humans human is precisely that they do not know the future. That is why they do the fateful and amusing things they do: who can say how anything will turn out? Therein lies the only hope for redemption, discovery, and-let’s be frank—fun, fun, fun! There might be things people will get away with. And not just motel towels. There might be great illicit loves, enduring joy, faith-shaking accidents with farm machinery. But you have to not know in order to see what stories your life’s efforts bring you. The mystery is all.”

PeopleKnowsHumansStoriesMightJoyLyingOrderTurnsFunEffortMysteryDiscoveryEndureAccidentsRedemptionGet AwayFarmsFrankMachineryShakingAmusingTowelsMotels
Book:The Collected Stories of Lorrie Moore
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“All the way out I listen to the car AM radio, bad lyrics of trailer park love, gin and tonic love, strobe light love, lost and found love, lost and found and lost love, lost and lost and lost love—some people were having no luck at all. The DJ sounds quick and smooth and after-shaved, the rest of the world a mess by comparison.”

PeopleWorldWayLightFoundLostSoundCarLuckRadioMessParksComparisonLost LoveSmoothDjsTrailersGinFound LoveLost And FoundTrailer ParkGin And TonicStrobe Lights
Author:Lorrie Moore
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“Basically, I realized I was living in that awful stage of life between twenty-six to and thirty-seven known as stupidity. It's when you don't know anything, not even as much as you did when you were younger, and you don't even have a philosophy about all the things you don't know, the way you did when you were twenty or would again when you were thirty-eight.”

KnowsWayPhilosophyKnownStageSixTwentiesSevenEightStupidityI RealizedAwfulThirtyStages Of LifeThirty Eight
Author:Lorrie Moore
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“The detachment of the artist is kind of creepy. It's kind of rude, and yet really it's where art comes from. It's not the same as courage. It's closer to bad manners than to courage. If you're going to be a writer, you basically have to say, 'this is just who I am'. There's a certain indefensibility about it. It's not about loving your community and taking care of it — you're not attached to the chamber of commerce. It's a little unsafe. You have to be willing to have only four friends, not 11.”

IfsKindLittlesArtCareArtistCertainCommunityFourWillingWho I AmMannersCommerceRudeChamberDetachmentCreepyLoving YouUnsafeBad MannersChamber Of CommerceFour Friends
Author:Lorrie Moore
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“If one loves stories, then one would naturally love the story of the story. Or the story behind the story, pick your preposition. It does seem to me to be a kind of animal impulse almost, a mammalian curiosity. For a reader to wonder about the autobiography in a fiction may be completely unavoidable and in fact may speak to the success of a particular narrative, though it may also speak to its failure.”

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Author:Lorrie Moore
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“If I had a staff of even one person, or could tolerate a small amphetamine habit, or entertain the possibility of weekly blood transfusions, or had been married to Vera Nabokov, or had a housespouse of even minimal abilities, a literary life would be easier to bring about. (In my mind I see all your male readers rolling their eyes. But your female ones - what is that? Are they nodding in agreement? Are their fists in the air?)”

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Author:Lorrie Moore
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