361 Quotes by Jennifer Egan

Redemption, transformation – God how she wanted these things. Every day, every minute. Didn’t everyone?

Because you can’t write habitually and well all the time, you have to be willing to write badly. That’s how you get the regularity that enables you to be present for the good stuff.

Maintaining an appearance mattered as much – more – than what was underneath. The deeper things could come and go, but what broke the surface would be lodged in everyone’s memory.

Hindsight creates the illusion that your life has led you inevitably to the present moment.

It was starting to rain, big sloppy drops spilling onto the windshield. No thunder yet. His driving was stymied by a clobbering sensation of loss. But what exactly had he lost? Himself as he had been, firm-bodied and flabby-minded? Some clarity of vision he once had possessed? Or was it the old, dormant chamber of his bicameral mind calling out to him, reminding him of the days when rocks and trees and statues had spoken with the voices of gods?

The world is full of shitheads, Rhea. Don’t listen to them – listen to me. And I know that Lou is one of those shitheads. But I listen.

Their insularity made him envious – not just of the men but all three of them. They were working together, two men and a girl, with evident ease. Even after the diving suit was on and she no longer looked like a girl, he was resentful of their shared knowledge, their nomenclature and expertise.

The answers were maddeningly absent – it was like trying to remember a song that you knew made you feel a certain way, without a title, artist, or even a few bars to bring it back.

If you don’t have people that the reader cares about and stories that are gripping, you’ve got nothing.