Home / Quotes / Quote by Philip Roth

Quote by Philip Roth

“You don't want to repeat yourself for one. You don't want to fall into the clichés for another. And you don't want to be licentious really. You want to be descriptive, if you can be. And you're not setting out to arouse anybody.”

Quote by Philip Roth

Author

Philip Roth (1933-2018) was one of America's most influential contemporary novelists, renowned for his profound explorations of Jewish-American identity, sexuality, politics, and the human condition. His breakthrough work, "Portnoy's Complaint" (1969), became a landmark in American literature. Roth received two National Book Awards and was a multiple-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Over his six-decade career, he published more than 30 books that significantly shaped American fiction. He passed away in New York City on May 22, 2018, at age 85. more

You May Also Like

“Most of the songs that I appreciate are lyrically vague.”

Song Appreciate Vague

Author:Andrew Bird

“To read a novel requires a certain kind of concentration, focus, devotion to the reading. If you read a novel in more than two weeks, you don't read the novel really.”

Ifs Kind Two Certain Reading Novel Focus Week Devotion Concentration Two Weeks

Author:Philip Roth

“With the words, a lot of things start with questions. Some word kind of piques my interest, and I love the way it sounds, but I really don't know what it means. And I honestly don't care for a while.”

Knows Way Kind Mean Care Sound Interest Don't Care Honestly Pique

Author:Andrew Bird

“When I start asking my friends, "What do you think this means?" And it leads to way more interesting conversations than what it actually ends up meaning in the dictionary. Like "apocryphal," for instance.”

Thinking Way Mean Ends Interesting Conversation My Friends Asking Instance Dictionary Interesting Conversation

Author:Andrew Bird

“The book can't compete with the screen. It couldn't compete beginning with the movie screen. It couldn't compete with the television screen and it can't compete with the computer screen I don't think. And now we have all those screens so against all those screens I think the book can't measure up.”

Thinking Book Television Computer Screens Computer Screen

Author:Philip Roth

“Sometimes the word dictated the melody.”

Sometimes Melody

Author:Andrew Bird

“I didn't have the patience for the research, or anything like that. I just like how it sets the imagination off. It's just an area that's very fertile for great words. Great metaphors, potentially.”

Imagination Research Areas Metaphor Fertile

Author:Andrew Bird

“Each book starts from ashes really. I don't feel that I have this to say or that to say or this story to tell or that story to tell, but I want to be occupied with the writing process while I'm living.”

Want Feels Writing Book Stories Process Ashes Writing Process

Author:Philip Roth

“Our lives are the only meaningful expression of what we believe and in Whom we believe. And the only real wealth, for any of us, lies in our faith.”

Believe Real Lying Wealth Our Lives Expression Meaningful Real Wealth

Author:Gordon B. Hinckley

“What you see at the Field Museum is only like, 10 percent of the collection. It's birds of paradise and passenger pigeons and in all these drawers that pull out, these specimens come out and it's spectacular. And it worked out.”

Fields Bird Percent Paradise Collections Museums Spectacular Passengers Drawers Pigeons

Author:Andrew Bird