230 Quotes by Mary Karr

As novelist Harry Crews once wrote, I’m the kind of person who – if he can’t have too much of something – doesn’t want any of it. In.

Childhood was terrifying for me. A kid has no control. You’re three feet tall, flat broke, unemployed, and illiterate. Terror snaps you awake. You pay keen attention. People can just pick you up and move you and put you down.

If we didn’t read people who were bastards, we’d never read anything. Even the best of us are at least part-time bastards.

The American religion-so far as there is one anymore-seems to be doubt. Whoever believes the least wins, because he’ll never be found wrong.

A university is a city of ideas, and we’re grateful you became citizens of our city.

I’ve plumb forgot where I am for an instant, which is how a good lie should take you.

Such a small, pure object a poem could be, made of nothing but air a tiny string of letters, maybe small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But it could blow everybody’s head off.

Nobody sounds good writing about your divorce, let’s face it.

When I got sober, I thought giving up was saying goodbye to all the fun and all the sparkle, and it turned out to be just the opposite. That’s when the sparkle started for me.