The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention. Flannery O'Connor More Quotes by Flannery O'Connor More Quotes From Flannery O'Connor I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted. Flannery O'Connor safechristthinking The trees were full of silver-white sunlight and the meanest of them sparkled. Flannery O'Connor silverwhitetree Even a child with normal feet was in love with the world after he had got a new pair of shoes. Flannery O'Connor shoesfeetchildren Success means being heard and don't stand there and tell me that you are indifferent to being heard. You may write for the joy of it, but the act of writing is not complete in itself. It has to end in its audience. Flannery O'Connor writingjoymean If there were no hell, we would be like the animals. No hell, no dignity. Flannery O'Connor criminal-mindwould-beanimal If we forget our past, we won't remember our future and it will be as well because we won't have one. Flannery O'Connor forgetrememberpast The operation of the Church is entirely set up for the sinner; which creates much misunderstanding among the smug.” (August 9, 1955) Flannery O'Connor operationsaugustchurch In the greatest fiction, the writer's moral sense coincides with his dramatic sense, and I see no way for it to do this unless his moral judgement is part of the very act of seeing, and he is free to use it. I have heard it said that belief in Christian dogma is a hindrance to the writer, but I myself have found nothing further from the truth. Actually, it frees the storyteller to observe. It is not a set of rules which fixes what he sees in the world. It affects his writing primarily by guaranteeing his respect for mystery. Flannery O'Connor moral-judgementchristianwriting I was a very ancient twelve; my views at that age would have done credit to a Civil War veteran. I am much younger now than I was at twelve or anyway, less burdened. The weight of the centuries lies on children, I'm sure of it. Flannery O'Connor warlyingchildren We are now living in an age which doubts both fact and value. It is the life of this age that we wish to see and judge. Flannery O'Connor judgingdoubtwish There are some of us who have to pay for our faith every step of the way and who have to work out dramatically what it would be like without it and if being without it would be ultimately possible or not. Flannery O'Connor work-outwould-bepay We hear a great deal of lamentation these days about writers having all taken themselves to the colleges and universities where they live decorously instead of going out and getting firsthand information about life. The fact is that anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days. If you can't make something out of a little experience, you probably won't be able to make it out of a lot. The writer's business is to contemplate experience, not to be merged in it. Flannery O'Connor childhoodtakencollege I'm a full-time believer in writing habits...You may be able to do without them if you have genius but most of us only have talent and this is simply something that has to be assisted all the time by physical and mental habits or it dries up and blows awayOf course you have to make your habits in this conform to what you can do. I write only about two hours every day because that's all the energy I have, but I don't let anything interfere with those two hours, at the same time and the same place. Flannery O'Connor blowwritingtwo Behind the newspaper Julian was withdrawing into the inner compartment of his mind where he spent most of his time. This was a kind of mental bubble in which he established himself when he could not bear to be a part of what was going on around him. From it he could see out and judge but in it he was safe from any kind of penetration from without. It was the only place where he felt free of the general idiocy of his fellows. His mother had never entered it but from it he could see her with absolute clarity. Flannery O'Connor judgingmothermind The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it emotionally. A higher paradox confounds emotion as well as reason and there are long periods in the lives of all of us, and of the saints, when the truth as revealed by faith is hideous, emotionally disturbing, downright repulsive. Witness the dark night of the soul in individual saints. Right now the whole world seems to be going through a dark night of the soul. Flannery O'Connor darknightlong In my travels I am often asked if college stifles young writers. In my opinion, it doesn't stifle them enough. Flannery O'Connor young-writersopinioncollege The Church's stand on birth control is the most absolutely spiritual of all her stands and with all of us being materialists at heart, there is little wonder that it causes unease. I wish various fathers would quit trying to defend it by saying that the world can support 40 billion. I will rejoice the day when they say: This is right whether we all rot on top of each other or not, dear children, as we certainly may. Either practice restraint or be prepared for crowding. Flannery O'Connor spiritualfatherchildren The Catholic writer, in so far as he has the mind of the Church, will feel life from the standpoint of the central Christian mystery; that it has, for all its horror, been found by God to be worth dying for. Flannery O'Connor catholicchristianmind Dear God, I don't want to have invented my faith to satisfy my weakness. I don't want to have created God to my own image as they're so fond of saying. Please give me the necessary grace, oh Lord, and please don't let it be as hard to get as Kafka made it. Flannery O'Connor weaknessgracegiving The basic experience of everyone is the experience of human limitation. Flannery O'Connor limitationexperiencehumans
