Never underestimate the power of self-absorption, including your parents' self-absorption. Rita Mae Brown More Quotes by Rita Mae Brown More Quotes From Rita Mae Brown Never let money control you. I'd rather see someone spend every red cent and relish his/her life than scrimp, obsess, and pinch the pennies. There's something repugnant about a person who centers his life around money. Rita Mae Brown centsredpennies Never measure literature by accounting statistics. A quarter of working authors earn less than $1,000. Rita Mae Brown quartersstatisticsliterature Education is a wonderful thing. If you couldn't sign your name you'd have to pay cash. Rita Mae Brown educationinspirationalreality Plot involves fragmentary reality, and it might involve composite reality. Fragmentary reality is the view of the individual. Composite reality is the community or state view. Fragmentary reality is always set against composite reality. Virginia Woolf did this by creating fragmentary monologues and for a while this was all the rage in literature. She was a genius. In the hands of the merely talented it came off like gibberish. Rita Mae Brown creatingviewsreality You can't be truly rude until you understand good manners. Rita Mae Brown rudewittyfunny If you don't like my book, write your own. Rita Mae Brown write-your-ownwritingbook Would it upset men if they found out we weren't different? Are we? Aren't we? Damned if I know. Rita Mae Brown upsetdifferentmen Gossip is irresponsible communication. Irresponsible because it is at the expense of another person who is not there to defend herself. Irresponsible because it is not constructive: it helps no one, least of all the person being gossiped about. Rita Mae Brown gossipcommunicationhelping I believe the true function of age is memory. I'm recording as fast as I can. Rita Mae Brown memorablememoriesbelieve I earned two Emmy nominations for writing, and two of the shows I had written were nominated for best in their category. Rita Mae Brown nominationswritingtwo No one remembers her beginnings. Mothers and aunts tell us about infancy and early childhood, hoping we won't forget the past when they had total control over our lives and secretly praying that because of it, we'll include them in our future. Rita Mae Brown auntmotherpast Computer dating? It's terrific if you're a computer! Rita Mae Brown terrificdatingcomputer No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love Rita Mae Brown lgbt-pridegaygovernment Gambling operates under the premise that greed can be satisfied by luck. Rita Mae Brown gamblinggreedluck Normal is the average of deviance. Rita Mae Brown deviancenormalaverage If you like my novels, I commend your good taste. Rita Mae Brown good-tastenoveltaste I'm sorry that our country and the people do not consider the arts as vital to our well-being as, say, medicine. Suffering is unnecessary. It doesn't make you a better artist; it only makes you a hungry one. However, to me the acquisition of the craft of writing was worth any amount of suffering. Rita Mae Brown sorrycountryart If critics want to help me, let them come sit next to me while I'm writing. Rita Mae Brown nextwantwriting A controller doesn't trust his/her ability to live through the pain and chaos of life. There is no life without pain just as there is no art without submitting to chaos. Rita Mae Brown chaospainart The last thing I have to say is that ice is the past tense of water. I've always wanted to write that sentence and now I have. Rita Mae Brown icewritingpast