Novels must have verisimilitude, and truth has little enough of that. Louis Auchincloss More Quotes by Louis Auchincloss More Quotes From Louis Auchincloss I don't know enough about the lower classes to write about them. I don't feel with them, and that could be regarded as a defect, a limitation of my imagination. I could put myself in their position, but not politically. The idea of writing a story or a book about somebody completely devoid of appreciation of anything I care about is completely foreign to me. Louis Auchincloss writing appreciation book I couldn't bear to see a chapter of the gospel turned into a chapter of Trollope. Louis Auchincloss chapters bears Not the least of the hardships to which the dying are subject is the visitation of their loved ones. The poor darlings, God bless them, may feel every impulse to condole and console, but their primary sensation is nonetheless one of embarrassment in the presence of the unspeakable and a guilty gratitude that it is not yet their fate. Louis Auchincloss gratitude fate dying As the classes in modern life come together, we have become much more intensely class conscious. It's a very curious thing. But I deal with human beings with whom I've come in contact and have had a chance to closely observe. Their upper-classness is not a matter of particular fascination for me. Louis Auchincloss fascination together class I used to go to church. I even went through a rather intense religious period when I was sixteen. But the idea of an everlasting life -- a never-ending banquet, as a stupid visiting minister to our church once appallingly described it -- filled me with a greater terror than the concept of extinction. Louis Auchincloss stupid religious ideas I had always been considered such a nonentity where human relations were concerned that the idea that I might have an influence, even a corrupting influence ... penetrated my heart with a fierce little sting of pleasure. Louis Auchincloss heart littles ideas Perfection irritates as well as it attracts, in fiction as in life. Louis Auchincloss excellence perfection fiction Only little boys and old men sneer at love. Louis Auchincloss love men boys I think Shakespeare got drunk after he finished King Lear. That he had a ball writing it. Louis Auchincloss kings writing thinking It seems to me that the arts are rather flourishing. There's an awful lot of bad art about because of this, but that's true of every great era. I'm sure there was a lot dreadful art in the Renaissance that we fortunately don't see today. Louis Auchincloss renaissance awful art Consider, children ... the pain of touching the tip of your finger to your mother's stove, even for a fraction of a second. That is an experience which most of you have suffered. Now try to imagine that pain, not simply on a fingertip but spread over the whole surface of your body, and not for a mere second, but everlastingly. That, children, is hellfire. Louis Auchincloss pain mother children I don't particularly care about having [my characters] talk realistically, that doesn't mean very much to me. Actually, a lot of people speak more articulately than some critics think, but before the 20th century it really didn't occur to many writers that their language had to be the language of everyday speech. When Wordsworth first considered that in poetry, it was considered very much of a shocker. And although I'm delighted to have things in ordinary speech, it's not what I'm trying to perform myself at all: I want my characters to get their ideas across, and I want them to be articulate. Louis Auchincloss writing character mean The crowd has a way of being right. Louis Auchincloss crowds way A lot of writers ... sit in a log cabin by the lake and put their feet up by the fire in the silence and write. If you can have that that's all very well, but the true writer will learn to write anywhere -- even in prison. Louis Auchincloss fire feet writing It's very rare that a character comes to mind complete in himself. He needs additional traits that I often pick from actual people. One way you can cover your tracks is to change the sex. Louis Auchincloss character sex people Once somebody's aware of a plot, it's like a bone sticking out. If it breaks through the skin, it's very ugly. Louis Auchincloss break-through plot skins You don't know the things in your childhood that influence you. You can't possibly know them. People today try to analyze the early environment and the reasons for something that happened, but if you look at children of the same family -- children who have identical parents, go to identical schools, have an almost identical upbringing, and yet who have totally different experiences and neuroses -- you realize that what influences the children is not so much the obvious externals as their emotional experiences. Of course any psychiatrist knows that. Louis Auchincloss emotional children school Your literary style reflects your personality. Louis Auchincloss literary-style style personality Buechner is a worthy member of the great prose stylists: Pascal, Newman, and Merton, who have harnessed their art to a passionate religious faith. Louis Auchincloss passionate religious art With her high pale brow under her faded brown hair, she was like a rock washed clean by years of her husband's absences at conventions, dinners, committee meetings or simply at the office. Louis Auchincloss high meetings husband hair
