Actually we did not have the feelings we said we had until we spoke them--at least I didn't; to phrase them was to invent them and own them. Philip Roth More Quotes by Philip Roth More Quotes From Philip Roth Nothing has a more sinister effect on art than the artist's desire to prove that he's good. The terrible temptation of idealism! Philip Roth temptation desire art Everything dictated silence and self-control but I couldn't restrain myself and spoke my mind. Philip Roth silence self mind Never in his life had occasion to ask himself, "Why are things the way they are?" Why should he bother, when the way they were was always perfect? Why are things the way they are? The question to which there is no answer, and up till then he was so blessed he didn't even know the question existed. Philip Roth blessed answers perfect To become a celebrity is to become a brand name. There is Ivory Soap, Rice Krispies, and Philip Roth. Ivory is the soap that floats; Rice Krispies the breakfast cereal that goes snap-crackle-pop; Philip Roth the Jew who masturbates with a piece of liver. Philip Roth ivory cereal names I’m interested in what people do with the chaos in their lives and how they respond to it, and simultaneously what they do with what they feel like are limitations. If they push against these limitations, will they wind up in the realm of chaos, or will they push against limitations and wind up in the world of freedom? Philip Roth wind people world In my childhood I led the life of a sage, when I grew up I started climbing trees Philip Roth climbing childhood tree I don’t ask writers about their work habits. I really don’t care. Joyce Carol Oates says somewhere that when writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch, they’re actually trying to find out, "Is he as crazy as I am?" I don’t need that question answered. Philip Roth lunch crazy trying He is not simply looking into the mirror because he is transfixed by what he sees. Rather, the artist’s success depends as much as anything on his powers of detachment, on de-narcissizing himself… Freud… studied his own dreams not because he was a “narcissist,” but because he was a student of dreams. And whose were at once the least and most accessible of dreams, if not his own? Philip Roth mirrors artist dream A Jewish man with his parents alive is half the time a helpless infant! Philip Roth parent half men Like all enjoyable things, you see, it has unenjoyable parts to it. Philip Roth enjoyable That can happen when people die, the argument with them drops away and people so flawed while they were drawing breath that at times they were all but unbearable now assert themselves in the most appealing way, and what was least to your liking the day before yesterday becomes in the limousine behind the hearse a cause not only for sympathetic amusement but for admiration Philip Roth drawing yesterday people a father for whom everything is an unshakable duty, for whom there is a right way and a wrong way and nothing in between, a father whose compound of ambitions, biases, and beliefs is so unruffled by careful thinking that he isn’t as easy to escape from as he seems. Limited men with limitless energy; men quick to be friendly and quick to be fed up; men for whom the most serious thing in life is to keep going despite everything. And we were their sons. It was our job to love them. Philip Roth ambition jobs father You go to someone and you think, 'I'll tell him this.' But why? The impulse is that the telling is going to relieve you. And that's why you feel awful later--you've relieved yourself, and if it truly is tragic and awful, it's not better, it's worse---the exhibitionism inherent to a confession has only made the misery worse. Philip Roth exhibitionism awful thinking I kept waiting for him to lay bare something more than this pointed unobjectionableness, but all that rose to the surface was more surface Philip Roth surface waiting rose I think you're a wonder. You're beautiful. You're mature. You are, I admit, vastly more experienced than I am. That's what threw me. I was thrown. Forgive me. Philip Roth breakup beautiful thinking The signore...wishes her to begin at the beginning. Philip Roth wish And as he spoke, I was thinking, 'the kind of stories that people turn life into, the kind of lives people turn stories into. Philip Roth stories people thinking I do not say correct or savory. I do not say seemly or even natural. I say serious. Sensationally serious. Unspeakably serious. Solemnly, recklessly, blissfully serious. Philip Roth savory serious natural The legend engraved on the face of the Jewish nickel- on the body of every Jewish child!- not IN GOD WE TRUST, but SOMEDAY YOU'LL BE A PARENT AND YOU'LL KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE. Philip Roth parent inspiring children The ordeal is part of the commitment" Philip Roth ordeals interviews commitment
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