[Lev] Tolstoy is not a boy-writer. He's a grown-up. And [Fedor] Doestoeivski is not a boy-writer. Paul Auster More Quotes by Paul Auster More Quotes From Paul Auster One should never underestimate the power of books. Paul Auster underestimateshouldbook Changing your mind is probably one of the most beautiful things people can do. And I've changed my mind about a lot of things over the years. Paul Auster beautifulpeopleyears I've dealt with numbers all my life, of course, and after a while you begin to feel that each number has a personality of its own. A twelve is very different from a thirteen, for example. Twelve is upright, conscientious, intelligent, whereas thirteen is a loner, a shady character who won't think twice about breaking the law to get what he wants. Eleven is tough, an outdoorsman who likes tramping through woods and scaling mountains; ten is rather simpleminded, a bland figure who always does what he's told; nine is deep and mystical, a Buddha of contemplation. Paul Auster intelligentmathcharacter All men contain several men inside them, and most of us bounce from one self to another without ever knowing who we are. Paul Auster knowingselfmen Every generation always thinks it was better before, and I think people have been saying this for probably thousands of years. Paul Auster peopleyearsthinking Every man is the author of his own life. Paul Auster every-manmen The most challenging project I've ever done, I think, is every single thing I've ever tried to do. It's never easy. Paul Auster donechallengesthinking It became a habit of mine never to leave the house without a pencil in my pocket. Paul Auster pocketshabithouse The pictures do not lie, but neither do they tell the whole story. They are merely a record of time passing, the outward evidence. Paul Auster photographystorieslying Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head. Paul Auster choicesreadingbeautiful It seems to me that I will always be happy in the place where I am not. Paul Auster always-be-happyseems We exist for ourselves, perhaps, and at times we even have a glimmer of who we are, but in the end we can never be sure, and as our lives go on, we become more and more opaque to ourselves, more and more aware of our own incoherence. No one can cross the boundary into another – for the simple reason that no one can gain access to himself. Paul Auster opaquesimplegoes-on I've been trying to fit everything in, trying to get to the end before it's too late, but I see now how badly I've deceived myself. Words do not allow such things. The closer you come to the end, the more there is to say. The end is only imaginary, a destination you invent to keep yourself going, but a point comes when you realize you will never get there. You might have to stop, but that is only because you have run out of time. You stop, but that does not mean you have come to an end. Paul Auster runningtryingmean Writing begins in the body, it is the music of the body, and even if the words have meaning, can sometimes have meaning, the music of the words is where the meanings begin....Writing as a lesser form of dance. Paul Auster bodywritingsometimes The funny thing is that I feel close to all my characters. Deep, deep inside them all. I can't describe how deeply I love them all. Paul Auster funny-thingsfeelscharacter I walk around the world like a ghost, and sometimes I question whether I even exist. Whether I've ever existed at all. Paul Auster ghostsometimesworld As a poet or a novelist or a painter, you are pushing yourself all the time, always looking for a new way to approach something, challenging yourself and never, never trying to write the same book twice. Paul Auster challengeswritingbook When I start, I have a feeling for the characters, and maybe the shape of the story. Sometimes I might even have the last sentence in mind. But, no book I've ever written has ever ended the way I thought it would. Characters disappear, others come forward. Once you start writing, everything changes. Paul Auster writingcharacterbook Dismantling the architecture of my discontent Paul Auster discontentarchitecture In my books, there are a lot of people stuck in rooms. Or, conversely, out in the wide open. It seems that, in a funny way, when people are cooped up in rooms they are freer than when they are wandering about in the world. Paul Auster bookpeopleworld
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