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Marguerite Duras: Nowhere is one...

Marguerite Duras: Nowhere is one...

Nowhere is one more alone than in Paris. . . and yet surrounded by crowds. Nowhere is one more likely to incur greater...

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Anne Bronte: But he that...

Anne Bronte: But he that...

But he that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.


Source: The...

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Djuna Barnes: Life is painful,...

Djuna Barnes: Life is painful,...

Life is painful, nasty and short . . . in my case it has only been painful and nasty.

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Willa Cather: Art should simplify....

Willa Cather: Art should simplify....

Art should simplify. That is very nearly the whole of the higher artistic process; finding what conventions of form...

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Willa Cather: I tell you...

Willa Cather: I tell you...

I tell you there is such a thing as creative hate.

Source: The Song of the Lark,...

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Carson McCullers: Our hunger for...

Carson McCullers: Our hunger for...

Our hunger for foreign places and new ways has been with us [Americans] almost like a national disease. Our literature...

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Gail Godwin: Good teaching is...

Gail Godwin: Good teaching is...

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.

Source: The Odd...

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Anne Sophie Swetchine: Travel is the...

Anne Sophie Swetchine: Travel is the...

Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones.

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Geraldine Ferraro: It was not...

Geraldine Ferraro: It was not...

It was not so very long ago that people thought that semiconductors were part-time orchestra leaders and microchips...

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Ninon de Lenclos: A man is...

Ninon de Lenclos: A man is...

A man is given the choice between loving women and understanding them.

Source: In...

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Jane Rule: I had never...

Jane Rule: I had never...

I had never been as resigned to ready-made ideas as I was to ready-made clothes, perhaps because although I couldn't...

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Jane Rule: I believe only...

Jane Rule: I believe only...

I believe only in art and failure.

Source: This is Not for You, 1970.
-- Jane...

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Marguerite Duras: For that's what...

Marguerite Duras: For that's what...

For that's what a woman, a mother wants -- to teach her children to take an interest in life. She knows it's safer for...

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Annie Dillard: You can't test...

Annie Dillard: You can't test...

You can't test courage cautiously.

Source: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, ch. 6,...

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Maxine Hong Kingston: To me success...

Maxine Hong Kingston: To me success...

To me success means effectiveness in the world, that I am able to carry my ideas and values into the world -- that I...

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Lydia M Child: Every human being...

Lydia M Child: Every human being...

Every human being has, like Socrates, an attendant spirit; and wise are they who obey its signals. If it does not...

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Anzia Yezierska: When I only...

Anzia Yezierska: When I only...

When I only begin to read, I forget I'm on this world. It lifts me on wings with high...

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Nancy Mitford: Surely a king...

Nancy Mitford: Surely a king...

Surely a king who loves pleasure is less dangerous than one who loves glory.

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Barbara Kingsolver: Come to...

Barbara Kingsolver: Come to...

Come to think of it, just about every tool was shaped like either a weenie or a pistol, depending on your point of...

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Toni Morrison: Her mind traveled...

Toni Morrison: Her mind traveled...

Her mind traveled crooked streets and aimless goat paths, arriving sometimes at profundity, other times at the...

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