I begin by writing paragraphs that don’t have an immediate relation to a plot. The sound of the story comes first. Grace Paley More Quotes by Grace Paley More Quotes From Grace Paley Let us go forth with fear and courage and rage to save the world. Grace Paley rage courage world Old age is another country, a place of strangeness, sometimes, and dislocation. There's a lot to be done in this country, and a great deal of pleasure there. There are friends, some of whom are sick and needful of you, as you will be of them someday. The world itself is very beautiful. It's a place where you have a lot to do. But you have to do it knowing that sometimes you will be afraid of this new country. Grace Paley knowing beautiful country Sometimes you find that what is most personal is also what connects you most strongly with others. Grace Paley sometimes Today's wars are about oil. But alternate energies exist now - solar, wind - for every important energy-using activity in our lives. The only human work that cannot be done without oil is war. Grace Paley oil wind war Sometimes, walking with a friend, I forget the world. Grace Paley forget sometimes world People will sometimes say, "Why don't you write more politics?" And I have to explain to them that writing the lives of women IS politics. Grace Paley writing sometimes people Literature, fiction, poetry, whatever, makes justice in the world. That's why it almost always has to be on the side of the underdog. Grace Paley underdog justice fiction Write what will stop your breath if you don’t write. Grace Paley dont-lie breaths writing For me, the meaning of life is the next generation. Grace Paley meaning-of-life next generations The best training is to read and write, no matter what. Don't live with a lover or roommate who doesn't respect your work. Don't lie, buy time, borrow to buy time. Write what will stop your breath if you don't write. Grace Paley writing fun lying Women should stick together. Didn’t you learn anything yet? Grace Paley sticks should together The only thing you should have to do is find work you love to do. And I can't imagine living without having loved a person. A man, in my case. It could be a woman, but whatever. I think, what I always tell kids when they get out of class and ask, 'What should I do now?' I always say, 'Keep a low overhead. You're not going to make a lot of money.' And the next thing I say: 'Don't live with a person who doesn't respect your work.' That's the most important thing—that's more important than the money thing. I think those two things are very valuable pieces of information. Grace Paley men kids thinking The only recognizable feature of hope is action. Grace Paley features action I really believe one of the jobs of a writer is to stretch as far as you can into other voices. Grace Paley voice jobs believe Every time you finish something ... you figure you've finally learned to write, right? Then you start something else and it turns out you haven't. You have learned how to write that story, or that book, but you haven't learned how to write the next one. Grace Paley stories writing book I lived in a house in the East Bronx, a totally Jewish neighborhood on East 172nd Street. You didn't see Christians much, although one lived next door. We thought they were kind of a minority. Grace Paley christian house doors You come to doing what you do by not being able to do something. Grace Paley able I write for the still, small possibility of justice. Grace Paley possibility justice writing I have a basic indolence about me which is essential to writing. ... It's thinking time, it's hanging-out time, it's daydreaming time. You know, it's lie-around-the-bed time, it's sitting-like-a-dope-in-your-chair time. And that seems to me essential to any work. Grace Paley writing lying thinking To be modest means that you have something to be modest about. Grace Paley modest mean