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Quote by George Saunders

“While I'm doing [writing], I don't feel it.I don't think that's a failing. I think it's just a feature. Like, a feature of oneself.”

Quote by George Saunders

Author

George Saunders

George Saunders, born on December 2, 1958, is an American writer known for his unique humor and profound insights. His works, primarily short stories, have gained widespread recognition and have been honored with numerous literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. more

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“I really wanted to be allowed to the [writer's] table. So it makes me happy to be at the table. It sounds a little shallow, but if I imagine the shadow life, where I didn't get that chance, and all the ways my negative inclinations would have bloomed if I hadn't gotten the attention, but also the creative outlet ... I'm not actually that happy. I have multiplicities. My happiness blooms and it wilts.”

Ifs Way Littles Wanted Sound Chance Attention Creative Imagine Shadow Negative Tables Shallow Inclination Outlets Make Me Happy Multiplicity Creative Outlets

Author:George Saunders

“There are things that are shadow sides of the creative energy that are negative and all that kind of stuff. The only thing that I say to myself is, in the spirit of that quote from the Gnostic Gospels: Writing is a way to let all that stuff out into the sun.”

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Author:George Saunders

“Even if something within me is ugly, writing is a pretty good place to play with that thing and to begin to really see it.”

Ifs Writing Play Ugly Good Place

Author:George Saunders

“The thing I've discovered that is a help is that there isn't a simple virtue or a simple vice. They're always connected. If you have Tendency A, that you loathe, you can almost be sure that Tendency B, which you love, is somehow connected to it.”

Ifs Helping Simple Love Is Virtue Vices Connected Tendencies Loathe

Author:George Saunders

“There's an infinite amount of hope but not for us.”

Amount Infinite

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“In real life, when you have an emotional experience, it's never just because of the thing that's been said. There's the backstory. It's like [Ernest] Hemingway's iceberg theory - the current emotional moment is the tip of the iceberg and all of the past is the seven-eighths of the iceberg that's underwater.”

Said Real Moments Past Emotional Theory Seven Currents Real Life Underwater Iceberg Tip Of The Iceberg

Author:George Saunders

“When somebody you've known for 20 years, and with whom you have a full context, winks at you or whatever, it can be huge. I think in a sense what you're trying to re-create in fiction is that.”

Thinking Trying Years Fiction Known Huge

Author:George Saunders

“I'm from a pretty working-class background, and I really worked hard in my life to eradicate those parts of myself that were stupidly trapped in that world.Those of us who come up that way made a series of choices to benefit ourselves and make ourselves more generous and open.”

World Way Made Hard Choices Class Benefits Series Come Up Backgrounds Generous Trapped Working Class

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“I see that being looked at askance as a form of elitism now, which is really scary.”

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“When I wrote that [Donald] Trump piece, I had this uncomfortable experience of sensing a lot of things that were nascent, that I couldn't quite articulate. And one of them was this move toward anti-intellectualism. An anti-love move, even.”

Moving Pieces Trump Uncomfortable Intellectualism Sensing Anti Love

Author:George Saunders