14 Quotes by Marie Calloway

I admire self-awareness more than probably any other quality, and I think in terms of what qualities are “good” in a person, it’s a mostly subjective opinion, so I can’t see a reason to think that self-absorption is inherently a bad thing.

I think it’s sad that we live in a world where men can steal and distribute and publish photos of women without their permission all over the Internet and even in print and make a lot of money doing so, but half naked photos that I took of myself are deemed “obscene.”

I guess that my opinion of writing about real people is informed by defenses of Joyce Maynard’s memoir, that the experiences were a part of my life as well, and that I have the right to write about my life.

There’s just something “off” about equating the act of spending three years writing a book with the act of someone exploiting themselves by drunkenly flashing the camera for “Girls Gone Wild” or something.

I think in general in my teens I had a lot of crushes on men on the Internet, most notably Momus since I was in my late teens. John Darnielle was also another big crush.

I was a social recluse for most of my life, and so a lot of relationships I’ve been in have been formed online. I met my first boyfriend online at 15, which culminated in me running away to San Francisco to be with him.

I’ve never written about a situation involving real people that I haven’t directly taken part in. I’ve never made things up about other people. None of my stories were written with ill-intent towards the other people in them, even though I doubt people will believe that about “Adrien Brody.”

I started to wonder, and felt relieved that there might be truth to the idea of intellectuals all being frauds. I knew that I certainly was.

Basically, I feel inspired by any artist that seems to want to introduce the world to their likes and perspective rather than trying to shape their interests and point of view to fit better into the world around them.