504 Quotes by Jeffrey Eugenides

The ideas for my books come about in two ways. There can be an intellectual idea that seems to be the reason for writing the book. The other motive is unconscious. There is something deeply psychological and emotional that draws me to the material in the first place.

I was engrossed with the book, I was having difficulties with it, and I just didn't notice the years were going by.

I was beginning to understand something about normality. Normality wasn't normal. It couldn't be. If normality were normal, everybody could leave it alone. They could sit back and let normality manifest itself. But people-and especially doctors- had doubts about normality. They weren't sure normality was up the job. And so they felt inclined to give it a boost.

The Pulitzer isn't a physical object. You can't hold it in your hand. You get some money ($7,500 in my day), and you get a little Tiffany's paperweight with your name on it and the image of Joseph Pulitzer suspended in the crystal. When people see my 'Pulitzer' (I keep it in my sock drawer), they are pretty amazed at its meagerness.

She held herself very straight, like Audrey Hepburn, whom all women idolize and men never think about.

Chunks of his life fell away, so that while we were moving ahead in time, he was moving back.

There are some books that reached through the noise of life to grab you by the collar and speak only of the truest things.

A few years ago in Chicago, I rented an office, and I went there every day. For the most part I do work at home in an ugly room.

I was unemployable when I got out of college.