294 Quotes by Ann Patchett

Part of it is living in Tennessee. I'm so out of the loop. And as a person, I'm out of the loop. I'm oblivious by nature.

I don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it.

No one should have to go back to the place where she had once been a girl.

Time has a funny way of collapsing when you go back to a place you once loved. You find yourself thinking, I was kissed in that building, I climbed up that tree.

You can't always trust what you think, what you know ... but you can always trust your nature.

From my table inside I watch the glamorous women outside who are lunching on Spa Cobb salads without blue cheese or dressing. The man with the bread basket wanders from table to table, lonesome as a cloud. When he comes to me his basket is full and perfectly arranged. He gives me a smile of sincere pleasure when I tell him I will take both the sourdough roll and the cheese stick.

The tricky thing about being a writer, or about being any kind of artist, is that in addition to making art you also have to make a living.

Some people need a huge amount of attention, and they are worthy of that attention, and they're still exhausting.

Time is the most extraordinary gift for friendship. You'll get to eat your meals together and study together; in some cases you'll even sleep in the same room. You'll have time to waste on each other. You'll find out every single thing you have in common and still have time to catalogue all of your differences. Don't underestimate the vital necessity of friendship in your life because it is the thing that will sustain you later, when there will be considerably less time.