We do seem, as a culture, to fetishize the "sweep." But I know there's room for "big" short, fierce novels, and "big" solid ones. Meg Wolitzer More Quotes by Meg Wolitzer More Quotes From Meg Wolitzer Good writing is good writing, and I'm so happy when I read it. Meg Wolitzer good-writing writing We are all here, on this earth for only one go around. And everyone thinks their purpose is to just find their passion. But perhaps our purpose is to find what other people need. Meg Wolitzer passion people thinking Being a teacher at a restaurant in the town where you lived was a little like being a TV star. Meg Wolitzer stars littles teacher While it's true that some writers, when taking on love and war, find the task too big, or only succeed in one but not the other, Mengestu tracks both themes with authority and feeling. Meg Wolitzer track feelings war I always thought it was the saddest and most devastating ending. How you could have these enormous dreams that never get met. How without knowing it you could just make yourself smaller over time. I don't want that to happen to me. Meg Wolitzer knowing dream life You had only one chance for a signature in life, but most people left no impression. Meg Wolitzer signatures chance people And I also know that pain can seem like an endless ribbon. You pull it and you pull it. You keep gathering it toward you, and as it collects, you really can't believe that there's something else at the end of it. Something that isn't just more pain. But there's always something else at the end; something at least a little different. You never know what that thing will be, but it's there. Meg Wolitzer ribbons pain believe The child who was happy with herself meant the parents had won the jackpot. Meg Wolitzer jackpot parent children But it's never just been the journals that have made the difference, I don't think. It's also the way the students are with one another . . . the way they talk about books and authors and themselves. Not just their problems, but their passions too. The way they form a little society and discuss whatever matters to them. Books light the fire-whether it's a book that's already written, or an empty journal that needs to be filled in. Meg Wolitzer passion book thinking For me, a novel relying too heavily on a single idea might be a dry, deadly thing unless it possesses an animating force. Meg Wolitzer dry might ideas Being an adult child was an awkward, inevitable position. You went about your business in the world: tooling around, giving orders, being taken seriously, but there were still these two people lurking somewhere who in a split second could reduce you to nothing. In their presence, you were a big-headed baby again, crawling instead of walking. Meg Wolitzer taken baby children The minute you had kids you closed ranks. You didn't plan this in advance, but it happened. Families were like individual, discrete, moated island nations. The little group of citizens on the slab of rock gathered together instinctively, almost defensively, and everyone who was outside the walls—even if you'd once been best friends—was now just that, outsiders. Meg Wolitzer wall islands kids People like to warn you that by the time you reach the middle of your life, passion will begin to feel like a meal eaten long ago, which you remember with great tenderness. Meg Wolitzer long-ago passion people You stayed around your children as long as you could, inhaling the ambient gold shavings of their childhood, and at the last minute you tried to see them off into life and hoped that the little piece of time you’d given them was enough to prevent them from one day feeling lonely and afraid and hopeless. You wouldn’t know the outcome for a long time. Meg Wolitzer lonely long children I have never been much of a researcher Meg Wolitzer researchers Just the act of sleeping beside someone you liked to be with. Maybe that was love. Meg Wolitzer someone-you-like sleep This post-college world felt different from everything that had come before it. Meg Wolitzer different college world Part of the beauty of love was that you didn’t need to explain it to anyone else. You could refuse to explain. With love, apparently you didn’t necessarily feel the need to explain anything at all. Meg Wolitzer refuse feels needs Everybody has a theme. You talk to somebody awhile, and you realize they have one particular thing that rules them. The best you can do is a variation on the theme, but that's about it. Meg Wolitzer variation realizing motivation The generation that had information, but no context. Butter, but no bread. Craving, but no longing. Meg Wolitzer generations information bread
