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Susan Orlean

Susan Orlean Quotes

Journalist

Susan Orlean is an American journalist known for her distinctive writing style and in-depth exploration of complex topics. Her work often focuses on unusual individuals and events, characterized by its insightful and accessible approach.

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Famous Susan Orlean Quotes

“A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.”

Seems Fall Wonder Sky Snow Winter Snow Snow Falling Snow Day Fresh Snow

Author:Susan Orlean

“Dogs really are perfect soldiers. They are brave and smart; they can smell through walls, see in the dark, and eat Army rations without complaint.”

Dark Perfect Dog Wall Smart Army Brave Soldier Smell Complaints Rations

Author:Susan Orlean

“Now we're e-mailing and tweeting and texting so much, a phone call comes as a fresh surprise. I get text messages on my cell phone all day long, and it warbles to alert me that someone has sent me a message on Facebook or a reply or direct message on Twitter, but it rarely ever rings.”

Long Messages Direct Surprise Phones Rings Cells Cell Phone Phone Calls Texting Text Message Mailing

Author:Susan Orlean

“Writers like to write, and writing in different forms - short, long, bite-sized, done on the fly, done with painstaking attention - all interest me.”

Writing Long Different Done Form Interest Attention Bites

Author:Susan Orlean

“We do a lot of bird-watching up in the country, but we almost never have a chance to people-watch. There simply aren't enough human beings up here: there is nowhere you can park yourself with a cup of coffee and observe the species on parade.”

People Humans Country Enough Chance Human Beings Watches Bird Species Coffee Cups Parks Parades Coffee Cup Bird Watching

Author:Susan Orlean

“Every corny thing that's said about living with nature - being in harmony with the earth, feeling the cycle of the seasons - happens to be true.”

Said Feelings Happens Earth Seasons Harmony Being True Cycles Corny

Author:Susan Orlean

“I don't turn to greeting cards for wisdom and advice, but they are a fine reflection of the general drift of the culture.”

Turns Culture Advice Fine Reflection Cards Greetings Greeting Card

Author:Susan Orlean

“I'm happy to be reminded that an ordinary day full of nothing but nothingness can make you feel like you've won the lottery.”

Feels Like You Ordinary Nothingness Lottery Ordinary Days

Author:Susan Orlean

“The genius of a folk melody or story is not the feeling that it's original but quite the opposite - the feeling that it has existed all along.”

Stories Feelings Genius Opposites Originals Folks Melody

Author:Susan Orlean

“I have no idea how to get in touch with anyone anymore. Everyone, it seems, has a home phone, a cell phone, a regular e-mail account, a Facebook account, a Twitter account, and a Web site. Some of them also have a Google Voice number. There are the sentimental few who still have fax machines.”

Stills Ideas Home Seems Voice Numbers Machines Accounts Phones Cells No Idea Mail Google Site Sentimental Cell Phone Fax Fax Machines

Author:Susan Orlean

“I remember three- and four-week-long snow days, and drifts so deep a small child, namely me, could get lost in them. No such winter exists in the record, but that's how Ohio winters seemed to me when I was little - silent, silver, endless, and dreamy.”

Children Littles Long Remember Three Lost Records Four Week Silent Winter Endless Snow Silver Ohio Small Child Dreamy Snow Day

Author:Susan Orlean

“Election Day outside of big cities is different. For one thing, there are so few people in my town that each individual vote really does matter, and several local races have been decided by as many votes as you can count on one hand.”

People Doe Has Beens Different Matter Hands Bigs Individual Race Cities One Thing Decided Vote Towns Election Locals Big Cities Election Day

Author:Susan Orlean

“Human relationships used to be easy: you had friends, boy- or girlfriends, parents, children, and landlords. Now, thanks to social media, it's all gone sideways.”

Humans Children Used Social Easy Parent Boys Gone Media Social Media Used To Be Thanks Girlfriend Human Relationships Sideways Landlord Parent Child

Author:Susan Orlean

“I want a chainsaw very badly, because I think cutting down a tree would be unbelievably satisfying. I have asked for a chainsaw for my birthday, but I think I'll probably be given jewelry instead.”

Thinking Want Would Be Given Cutting Tree Birthday Satisfying Jewelry My Birthday Chainsaw Cutting Down

Author:Susan Orlean

“I was never any good at remembering dates, but now I hardly have to. When the first bulb catalogs get delivered and the hens start laying again, that's all the notice I'll need to know that winter has passed.”

Knows Needs Firsts Remember Winter Bulbs Hens

Author:Susan Orlean

“The one thing I've discovered about social media is that people love answering questions. In fact, it sometimes feels like at any given moment, millions of people are online who have been waiting for exactly the question you fire off.”

People Feels Has Beens Sometimes Moments Facts Given Social Waiting Millions Fire One Thing Media Social Media Online Answering Questions

Author:Susan Orlean

“What's funny is that the idea of popularity - even the use of the word 'popular' - is something that had been mostly absent from my life since junior high. In fact, the hallmark of life after junior high seemed to be the shedding of popularity as a central concern.”

Ideas Facts Use Concern Popularity Absent Juniors Hallmark Junior High

Author:Susan Orlean

“Dog parks are more cliquish than any other human gathering with the possible exception of seventh grade. Deal with it.”

Humans Deals Dog Parks Grades Exception Gathering Seventh Grade

Author:Susan Orlean

“Even after I'd published three books and had been writing full-time for twenty years, my father continued to urge me to go to law school.”

Writing Years Book School Law Three Father Twenties Urges Law School

Author:Susan Orlean

“Every single one of my books had its title changed almost as we were going to press, for all sorts of different reasons.”

Book Different Reason Changed Presses Titles

Author:Susan Orlean

“I am dismayed to realize that much of the advice I used to parcel out to aspiring writers has passed its sell-by date.”

Used Realizing Advice Sells Parcel Dismayed Aspiring Writers

Author:Susan Orlean

“I am unusually Halloween-attentive, because, as it happens, I was born on Halloween, so for me it has always been an occasion of great moment.”

Moments Happens Born Occasions Halloween Great Moments

Author:Susan Orlean

“I feel somewhat responsible for the Borders Books bankruptcy.”

Feels Book Responsible Borders Bankruptcy

Author:Susan Orlean

“I love writing traditional magazine pieces, and especially their breadth of reporting and the deliberateness of the writing.”

Writing Pieces Traditional Magazines Breadth

Author:Susan Orlean

“I teach a non-fiction writing class at New York University, and one of my great pleasures is deciding on the syllabus.”

Writing Pleasure Fiction Class Teach New York University Non Fiction Fiction Writing Syllabus

Author:Susan Orlean

“I went to a football school, which meant that I went to a university that served up education and was simultaneously operating a sports franchise.”

School Sports Football University

Author:Susan Orlean

“I've tried a lot of different apps to manage Twitter on my phone (I use Hootsuite on my laptop), but I think the official Twitter app is really good.”

Thinking Different Use Phones Manage Officials Laptops Apps

Author:Susan Orlean

“It is hard to imagine Thomas Kinkade as anything less than supremely self-assured.”

Self Hard Imagine Assured

Author:Susan Orlean

“Keeping animals, I have learned, is all about water. Who even knew chickens drank water? I didn't, but they do, and a lot.”

Water Animal Chickens I Have Learned Drank

Author:Susan Orlean

“Knowledge is a beautiful thing, but there are a few things I wish I didn't know.”

Knows Beautiful Wish Beautiful Things

Author:Susan Orlean

“On the very same day that I ordered an iPad 2, I went shopping to buy myself a letter opener. I like to cover all my bases.”

Letters Bases Shopping Ipads

Author:Susan Orlean

“Oversized houses, like oversized cars, seem to be a particularly American fixation.”

Seems House Car Fixation

Author:Susan Orlean

“Unlimited choice is paralyzing. The Internet has made this form of paralysis due to option overload a standard feature of comfortable modern life.”

Made Form Choices Modern Internet Comfortable Standards Dues Features Unlimited Modern Life Paralysis Overload

Author:Susan Orlean

“Why, I wonder, should the popularity of a news story matter to me? Does it mean it's a good story or just a seductive one?”

Should Mean Doe Matter Stories Wonder News Popularity Good Story Seductive News Stories

Author:Susan Orlean

“You can find out anything you want about a car now, and especially every bit of information about the price, without relying on the dealers.”

Want Bits Car Information Dealer

Author:Susan Orlean

“I am of mixed minds about the issue of privacy. On one hand, I understand that information is power, and power is, well, power, so keeping your private information to yourself is essential - especially if you are a controversial figure, a celebrity, or a dissident.”

Ifs Mind Wells Hands Issues Figures Information Essentials Privacy Controversial Dissidents Information Is Power

Author:Susan Orlean

“I had forgotten how thrilling a snow day is until my son started school, and as much as he loves it, he swoons at the idea of a free day arriving unexpectedly, laid out like a gift.”

Ideas School Son Forgotten Snow My Son Thrilling Arriving Snow Day

Author:Susan Orlean

“I had never considered using a hashtag anywhere other than on Twitter, but now I'm inspired. Text messages have always seemed a little flat to me, so the murmuring Greek chorus of a hashtag might be a perfect way to liven them up and give them a bit of dimension.”

Way Giving Littles Might Bits Perfect Messages Inspired Greek Dimensions Flats Chorus Murmuring Text Message Hashtags Greek Chorus

Author:Susan Orlean

“I rarely listen to commercial radio, and when I do, I'm shocked by how many ads there are, and how annoying they are, and how bad the radio station usually is.”

Radio Stations Annoying Ads Shocked Radio Stations

Author:Susan Orlean

“I remember, when I was a kid, watching my mother jam herself into her girdle - a piece of equipment so rigid it could stand up on its own - and I remember her coming home from fancy parties and racing upstairs to extricate herself from its cruel iron grip.”

Home Kids Remember Mother Party Pieces Fancy Iron Coming Home Racing Equipment Remember When Jam Upstairs Girdles

Author:Susan Orlean

“I want to let my friend Buster know that I would like to have dinner with him tonight. Does Buster work at home? Then how likely is he to have his cell phone on? Is he one of those people who only turns on his cell when he's in his car? I hate that.”

People Knows Want Doe Home Hate Turns Car My Friends I Hate Phones Dinner Cells Tonight Cell Phone Busters

Author:Susan Orlean

“In an interesting inversion of status, the reigning breed in the dog park these days is the really-oddball-unidentifiable-mixed-breed-mutt-found-wandering-the-street or its equivalent. The stranger the mutt the better; the more peculiar the circumstance of it coming into your life, the better.”

Found Interesting Streets Dog Circumstances Stranger Wander These Days Parks Peculiar Oddballs Mutts Inversions

Author:Susan Orlean

“Living in a rural setting exposes you to so many marvelous things - the natural world and the particular texture of small-town life, and the exhilarating experience of open space.”

World Natural Space Particular Towns Setting Settings Marvelous Small Town Natural World Texture Exhilarating Small Town Life Open Spaces Marvelous Things

Author:Susan Orlean

“Sense of smell, of course, is only one of those dog qualities that can't be replicated or improved upon. I've been researching dogs in warfare for my book about 'Rin Tin Tin,' and I've read many accounts of their heroics: carrying messages through battle, alerting troops to enemy planes, and even parachuting behind enemy lines.”

Book Courses Lines Behinds Quality Enemy Dog Battle Messages Accounts Smell Planes Troops Warfare Tin Tin Tin

Author:Susan Orlean

“They will be given as gifts; books that are especially pretty or visual will be bought as hard copies; books that are collectible will continue to be collected; people with lots of bookshelves will keep stocking them; and anyone who likes to make notes in books will keep buying books with margins to fill.”

People Book Hard Given Notes Likes Visuals Buying Copies Margins Bookshelves Stockings Buying Books Collectibles

Author:Susan Orlean

“When I was a kid, Halloween was strictly a starchy-vegetable-only holiday, with pumpkins and Indian corn on the front stoop; there was nothing electric, nothing inflatable, nothing with latex membranes or strobes.”

Kids Fronts Indian Holiday Vegetables Electric Halloween Corn Pumpkin Stoops Happy Halloween Membranes Funny Happy Halloween Halloween And Friends Latex

Author:Susan Orlean

“When I was a kid, phone calls were a premium commodity; only the very coolest kids had a phone line of their own, and long-distance phone calls were made after eleven, when the rates went down, unless you were flamboyant with your spending. Then phone calls became as cheap as dirt and as constant as rain, and I was on the phone all the time.”

Long Made Kids Lines Rain Constant Distance Rate Phones Spending Dirt Commodity Eleven Phone Calls Long Distance Premium Flamboyant

Author:Susan Orlean

“Borders had lousy management and made bad corporate decisions, so its fate is less like a terrible accident than a slow-motion slide into a ditch, but it's hard to be happy about a bookseller's demise.”

Made Hard Decision Fate Terrible Management Accidents Corporate Borders Slides Demise Slow Motion Booksellers

Author:Susan Orlean

“'Brave' is one of those words that has been bleached of most of its meaning these days, thanks to far too many appearances in the glaring light of ad slogans and corporate public relations. I never thought about anything as brave anymore; it just seemed like a flabby, glib cliche.”

Has Beens Light Relation Brave Appearance Thanks Corporate These Days Ads Slogans Cliche Public Relations

Author:Susan Orlean

“College athletics are so entrenched and enjoyed by so many people that they will never be discontinued or substantially changed. I know that. I just pity the people caught in that tender trap. And most of all, I pity those kids.”

People Knows Kids Changed College Caught Pity Enjoyed Traps Athletics

Author:Susan Orlean

About the Author

Born: October 31, 1955
Known for: Journalist
Quotes: 163

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People Thinking Writing Books Knows Seems Want Feels Ifs Different

Popular Topics

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Books & Sources

The Library BookRelated source material

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Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend of the World's Most Famous DogRelated source material

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