217 Quotes by Richard Russo

Whatever you’re working on, take small bites. The task will not be overwhelming if you can reduce it to its smallest component.

America has always been a nation of small places, and as we lose them, we’re losing part of ourselves.

Some authors have a very hard time understanding that in order to be faithful to the spirit of the book, it’s almost always impossible to remain faithful to the text. You have to make changes.

I’m not an easy man. I can be an entertaining one, though it’s been my experience that most people don’t want to be entertained. They want to be comforted.

I was pretty dead set against ever writing an academic novel. It’s always been my view that there are already more than enough academic novels and that most of them aren’t any good. Most of them are self-conscious and bitter, the work of people who want to settle grudges.

When you don’t know what to do, try something; if that doesn’t work, try something else.

If there’s an enduring theme in my work, it’s probably the effects of class on American life.

Really? When? Had all his material become threadbare? After thirty years of marriage, were you supposed to come up with new stuff all the time?

Go to it. Be bold. Be true. Be kind. Rotate your tires. Don’t drink so much. There aren’t going to be enough liver transplants to go around.