181 Quotes by Tracy Kidder

Doctors are notorious for taking peculiar views of their own bodies. They tend to develop hypochondria in medical school and, once they get over it, if they do, tend to think they're invulnerable.

En route to California I had a few drinks with an American executive for Falstaff Brewing Company who said he'd been a hobo from '37 to '39. He talked about a friend of his who had lost his legs beneath a freight train and died. He told me he knew something about farm labor contractors. "Killers," he called them. And said it again, "Killers.

When writers stop believing in their own stories, readers tend to sense it.

It seemed as though Margaret hovered near Alice, aware of Alice when Alice didn't seem to be aware of Margaret.

What interests me is trying to catch the reflection of the human being on the page. I'm interested in how ordinary people live their lives

I always want to write something better than the last book.

I do believe that enduring geological features are important, though I don't think I can be clear about exactly why.

I know that to write you have to have stories you want to tell. You have to keep your mind alive, and you have to work hard.

The hardest thing was learning to write. I was 13, and the only writing I had done was for Social Studies. It consisted of copying passages right out of the encyclopedia