I claimed myself and remade my life. Dorothy Allison More Quotes by Dorothy Allison More Quotes From Dorothy Allison she got a reputation for an easy smile and a sharp tongue, and using one to balance the other, she seemed friendly but distant Dorothy Allison tongue balance friendly stories are the one sure way I know to touch the heart and change the world. Dorothy Allison stories heart world People begin to write in order to create what they have not found and, a little bit, to give something back. Dorothy Allison writing order people ...I have come to make distinctions between what I call the academy and literature, the moral equivalents of church and God. The academy may lie, but literature tries to tell the truth. Dorothy Allison church truth lying ... survival is the least of my desires. Dorothy Allison survival desire I was born in 1949, and by the time I was 10, I figured out that my hope chest was not aimed in the same direction everybody else's was. And that life was going to be very, very complicated. And that I could either be provocative and declamatory, or shy, retiring and scared. Dorothy Allison scared shy complicated If you just go get one of these little fine arts degrees or writing program degrees, it never forces you to confront your responsibility as narrator, whereas any of the social sciences make you at look the interaction between the storyteller and story. Dorothy Allison responsibility writing art I need you to do more than survive. As writers, as revolutionaries, tell the truth, your truth in your own way. Dorothy Allison revolutionary way needs I do not write about nice people. I am not nice people. Dorothy Allison nice writing people Beauty is a hard thing. Beauty is a mean story. Beauty is slender girls who die young, fine-featured delicate creatures about whom men write poems. Beauty, my first girlfriend said to me, is that inner quality often associated with great amounts of leisure time. And I loved her for that. Dorothy Allison girl writing mean And while it is true that I got the best woman in the world, I don't think love saves you. Dorothy Allison world thinking Life ain't the movies. Dorothy Allison life I can't write what I don't believe in. Dorothy Allison dont-believe writing believe It's important to set challenges that you're not sure you're equal to. Dorothy Allison equal important challenges Why write stories? To join the conversation. Dorothy Allison stories writing conversation I'm still very blunt: If you want to be a writer, get a day job. The fact that I have actually been able to make a living at it is astonishing. Dorothy Allison want jobs facts Every kid I meet who's a reader has got something like that, their fantasy world. And science fiction is the best, especially for girls because it's the one place where you can do the forbidden. Dorothy Allison girl kids world Gravy is the simplest, tastiest, most memory-laden dish I know how to make: a little flour, salt and pepper, crispy bits of whatever meat anchored the meal, a couple of cups of water or milk and slow stirring to break up lumps. Dorothy Allison couple water memories I think I would have died if there hadn't been the women's movement. It gave me a vision that I could do something different, and it gave me an understanding that I wasn't a monster, or sport, or a betrayer of my family. Dorothy Allison understanding sports thinking I don't believe that there is any true friendship without a bond of honor, and the honor in friendship is the respect you give the other that she also gives you. Dorothy Allison true-friend giving believe
