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Quote by Anne Lamott

“You keep working on your piece over and over, trying to get the sections and paragraphs and sentences and the whole just right, but there's a point at which you can tell you've begun hurting the work with your perfectionism. Then you have to release the work to new eyes.”

Quote by Anne Lamott

Author

Anne Lamott is an American novelist born on April 10, 1954. Her works are known for their humor, directness, and profound emotional depth, primarily exploring themes of family, faith, and self-discovery. more

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“My father was a writer, so I grew up writing and reading and I was really encouraged by him. I had some sort of gift and when it came time to try to find a publisher I had a little bit of an "in" because I had his agent I could turn to, to at least read my initial offerings when I was about 20. But the only problem was that they were just awful, they were just terrible stories and my agent, who ended up being my agent, was very, very sweet about it, but it took about four years until I actually had something worth trying to sell.”

“I'm very sad about Mitch McConnell probably getting to be Senate majority leader, if only for two years. To me, he is just everything that is wrong with the world, a bullying obstructionist blowhard liar (not to put too fine a point on it).”

Ifs World Years Two Leader Fine Majority Two Years Liars Bullying Senate Very Sad Majority Leader Blowhards

Author:Anne Lamott

“I have a terrible time during elections. I am way too politically involved. I absolutely never argue politics with anyone, as it makes me crazy and full of judgment and hostility. I have two very conservative friends, whom I cherish and would entrust my life to; we avoid politics like the plague. So in a certain way, it limits how completely we let ourselves know each other, but this is just the way it is and it is the best we can do. And I am secretly convinced that God is a progressive Democrat.”

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Author:Anne Lamott

“At some point I started getting published, and experienced a meager knock-kneed standing in the literary world, and I started to get almost everything that many of you graduates are hoping for--except for the money. I got a lot of things that society had promised would make me whole and fulfilled--all the things that the culture tells you, from preschool on, will quiet the throbbing anxiety inside you. I got some stature, the respect of other writers, even a low-grade fame. The culture says these things will save you, as long as you also manage to keep your weight down. But the culture lies.”

World Long Whole Lying Culture Fame Quiet Anxiety Lows Standing Weight Manage Grades Graduates Fulfilled Stature Preschool

Book:Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Source: Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

“The beauty of modesty ... a virtue the world doesn't have much truck with: one ordinary flower in a vase, as opposed to a bouquet.”

World Virtue Flower Ordinary Modesty Truck Vases Bouquets

Book:Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith

Source: Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith

“Grief is just so scary.... If we finally begin to cry all those suppressed tears, they will surely wash us away like the Mississippi River. That's what our parents told us. We got sent to our rooms for having huge feelings. In my family, if you cried or got angry, you didn't get dinner.”

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Author:Anne Lamott

“Slowly, after dozens of rejection slips and failures and false starts and postponed dreams - what Langston Hughes called dreams deferred - I stepped onto the hallowed ground of being a published novelist, and then 15 years later, I even started to make real money.”

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Book:Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

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“What people somehow forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here.”

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Book:Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

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“You know, we're often ashamed of asking for so much help because it seems selfish or petty or narcissistic, but I think, if there's a God -- and I believe there is -- that God is there to help. That's what God's job is.”

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Author:Anne Lamott

“It's funny where we look for salvation, and where we actually find it.”

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Author:Anne Lamott