66 Quotes by Charles Baxter

The worst mistakes I’ve made have been the ones directed by sweet-natured hopefulness.

You know, there’s something heartsick about parties like this. Look at us. We’re all pretending to be smart, as if intelligence were the cure for our anguish.

When you break the heart of the philosopher, you must apply great force and cunning strategy, but when the deed is completed, the heart lies in great stony ruin at your feet. If you succeed in breaking it, the job is done once and for all. It will not be repaired.

It’s my feeling that any writer can get an emotion into a story without being sentimental as long as the emotion is dealt with honestly, with sufficient clarity, and detail.

As the poet says, all happy couples are alike, it’s the unhappy ones who create the stories. I’m no longer a story. Happiness has made me fade into real life.

Creating a scene is thus the staging of a desire.

As one gets older, the story of Hansel and Gretel becomes more interesting only when told from the point of view of the witch.

Before, I was always trying to make my relationships work by means of willpower and forced affability. This time I didn’t have to strive for anything. A quality of ease spread over us.

When readers don’t like the book, it’s usually because they feel that romantic love is pass or somehow needs more irony.