106 Quotes by Tobias Wolff

You boys know what tropism is, it's what makes a plant grow toward the light. Everything aspires to the light. You don't have to chase down a fly to get rid of it - you just darken the room, leave a crack of light in a window, and out he goes. Works every time. We all have that instinct, that aspiration. Science can't dim that. All science can do is turn out the false lights so the true light can get us home.

A piece of writing is a dangerous thing," he said. "It can change your life.

One of the things that draws writers to writing is that they can get things right that they got wrong in real life by writing about them.

We are made to persist. that's how we find out who we are.

Time, which is your enemy in almost everything in this life, is your friend in writing.

And I learned that it’s a bad idea to curse if you’re in trouble, but a good idea to sing, if you can.

We are made to persist. that’s how we find out who we are.

I’m a survivor, ” I said. But I didn’t think that claim would carry much weight in an obituary.

I had no right to see them this way.