522 Quotes by Flannery O'Connor

The old woman was the kind who would not cut down a large old tree because it was a large old tree.

I have found, in short, from reading my own writing, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory largely held by the devil.I have also found that what I write is read by an audience which puts little stock either in grace or the devil. You discover your audience at the same time and in the same way that you discover your subject, but it is an added blow.

Everywhere I go, I am asked if I think university stifles writers. My opinion is that it doesn't stifle enough of them.

He and the girl had almost nothing to say to each other. One thing he did say was, 'I ain't got any tattoo on my back.''What you got on it?' the girl said.'My shirt,' Parker said. 'Haw.''Haw, haw,' the girl said politely.

We are now living in an age which doubts both fact and value. It is the life of this age that we wish to see and judge.

Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.

I don't recall that when I was in high school or college, any novel was ever presented to me to study as a novel. In fact, I was well on the way to getting a Master's degree in English before I really knew what fiction was, and I doubt if I would ever have learned then, had I not been trying to write it. I believe that it's perfectly possible to run a course of academic degrees in English and to emerge a seemingly respectable Ph.D. and still not know how to read fiction.

...I have to write to discover what I am doing. Like the old lady, I don't know so well what I think until I see what I say; then I have to say it again.

I'm a member and preacher to that church where the blind don't see and the lame don't walk and what's dead stays that way.