Literature got me into this mess and literature is going to have to get me out of it. Philip Roth More Quotes by Philip Roth More Quotes From Philip Roth The only obsession everyone wants: 'love.' People think that in falling in love they make themselves whole? The Platonic union of souls? I think otherwise. I think you're whole before you begin. And the love fractures you. You're whole, and then you're cracked open. Philip Roth love fall thinking He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense. Philip Roth teach worst lessons All that we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing. Philip Roth astonishing knowing knows You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you. Philip Roth force telling-the-truth love-you I turn sentences around. That's my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it and I turn it around again. Then I have lunch. Then I come back in and write another sentence. Then I have tea and turn the new sentence around. Then I read the two sentences over and turn them both around. Then I lie down on my sofa and think. Then I get up and throw them out and start from the beginning. Philip Roth writing lying thinking The danger with hatred is, once you start in on it, you get a hundred times more than you bargained for. Once you start, you can't stop. Philip Roth hundred hatred danger Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre. Philip Roth massacres battle age Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise. Philip Roth reading noise fiction You tasted it. Isn't that enough? Of what do you ever get more than a taste? That's all we're given in life, that's all we're given of life. A taste. There is no more. Philip Roth given taste enough The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress. Philip Roth sisterhood work writing World War III will be triggered off not by suppressed nationalists seeking political independence, as happened the first time around when the Serbs at Sarajevo shot the heir to the Austrian throne, but by some semiliterate, whacked-out "loner" who lobs a rocket into a nuclear arsenal in order to impress Brooke Shields. Philip Roth political war order When the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place. Philip Roth believe world religion I have a slogan I use when I get anxious writing, which happens quite a bit: ‘the ordeal is part of the commitment.’ It’s one of my mantras. It makes a lot of things doable. Philip Roth use writing commitment My God! The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn't just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you've got to duck for your life and aim to kill! Words aren't only bombs and bullets — no, they're little gifts, containing meanings! Philip Roth bombs ducks communication There is truth and then again there is truth. For all that the world is full of people who go around believing they've got you or your neighbor figured out, there really is no bottom to what is not known. The truth about us is endless. As are the lies. Philip Roth believe lying people Stop worrying about growing old. And think about growing up. Philip Roth growing-up worry thinking The secret to living in the rush of the world with a minimum of pain is to get as many people as possible to string along with your delusions. Philip Roth pain secret people Literature takes a habit of mind that has disappeared. It requires silence, some form of isolation, and sustained concentration in the presence of an enigmatic thing. Philip Roth silence literature mind The horror of being caged has lost its thrill. Philip Roth thrill horror lost Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you. Philip Roth lucky would-be people
