330 Quotes by Susan Orlean

The lesson we have yet to learn from dogs, that could sustain us, is that having no apprehension of the past or future is not limiting but liberating.

Winter in the country is very white. There is black grit on all the shoulders of the roads and on the big mounds from the plows, and all the cars are filthy, but the fields are dazzling and untouched and pristine.

Writing about someone well known removes that obligation of defending it as a subject, but it also means that some of the surprise and freshness is already gone. It's so different - in some ways much harder for me.

I love writing traditional magazine pieces, and especially their breadth of reporting and the deliberateness of the writing.

When you're researching you're learning. When you're writing, you're teaching.

I wish I had coined the phrase 'tyranny of choice,' but someone beat me to it. The counterintuitive truth is that have an abundance of options does not make you feel privileged and indulged; too many options make you feel like all of them are wrong, and that you are wrong if you choose any of them.

The biggest problem with working at a treadmill desk: the compulsion to announce constantly that you are working at a treadmill desk.

The first thing I think about when I wake up most mornings is the fact that I'm tired.

I love convincing a reader that an unusual or seemingly ordinary subject is worth his or her time - it's part of the fun for me as a writer.