Who among us is not thinking about divorce, except for a few tiny-minded stick-in-the-muds who don't count? Donald Barthelme More Quotes by Donald Barthelme More Quotes From Donald Barthelme The death of God left the angels in a strange position. They were overtaken suddenly by a fundamental question. One can attempt to imagine the moment. How did they look at the instant the question invaded them, flooding the angelic consciousness, taking hold with terrifying force? The question was, "What are angels?" New to questioning, unaccustomed to terror, unskilled in aloneness, the angels (we assume) fell into despair. Donald Barthelme despairangelfundamentals There's not a strong autobiographical strain in my fiction. A few bits of fact here and there. Donald Barthelme here-and-therestrongfiction The self cannot be escaped, but it can be, with ingenuity and hard work, distracted. Donald Barthelme ingenuityhard-workself Painters, especially American painters since the Second World War, have been much more troubled, beset by formal perplexity, than American writers. Theyve been a laboratory for everybody. Donald Barthelme formalwarworld Food ... is the topmost taper on the golden candelabrum of existence. Donald Barthelme goldenexistencefood There is no moment that exceeds in beauty that moment when one looks at a woman and finds that she is looking at you in the same way that you are looking at her. The moment in which she bestows that look that says, "Proceed with your evil plan, sumbitch. Donald Barthelme evillooksway He is mad about being small when you were big, but no, that's not it, he is mad about being helpless when you were powerful, but no, not that either, he is mad about being contingent when you were necessary, not quite it... he is insane because when he loved you, you didn't notice. Donald Barthelme madinsanepowerful Anathematization of the world is not an adequate response to the world. Donald Barthelme responseadequateworld Is it permitted to differ with Kierkegaard? Not only permitted but necessary. If you love him. Donald Barthelme ifs Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult, rather because it wishes to be art. However much the writer might long to be straightforward, these virtues are no longer available to him. He discovers that in being simple, honest, straightforward, nothing much happens. Donald Barthelme simplelongart I think writers like old cities and are made very nervous by new cities. Donald Barthelme nervouscitiesthinking The important thing is the educational experience itself — how to survive it. Donald Barthelme educationalinspiringgraduation There was no particular point at which I stopped being promising. Donald Barthelme particular Take me home," Snow White said. "Take me home instantly. If there is anything worse than being home, it is being out. Donald Barthelme whitehomesnow The center will not hold if it has been spot-welded by an operator whose deepest concern is not with the weld but with his lottery ticket. Donald Barthelme lottery-ticketticketsspots "I smell fennel," Launcelot said. "That reminds me, I should tell you I have discovered a specific for maims. You take salt, good-quality river mud, and bee urine, and slather it on the maim and hold it there for two days. Works like a charm. Gathering the bee urine is a bit of a bore." Donald Barthelme smellriverstwo We like books that have a lot of dreck in them, matter which presents itself as not wholly relevant (or indeed, at all relevant) but which, carefully attended to, can supply a kind of "sense" of what is going on. This "sense" is not to be obtained by reading between the lines (for there is nothing there, in those white spaces) but by reading the lines themselves looking at them and so arriving at a feeling not of satisfaction exactly, that is too much to expect, but of having read them, of having "completed" them. Donald Barthelme readingwhitebook Instant gratification is not as good as that gratification which comes dripping slow, over the sere seasons. Donald Barthelme instant-gratificationseasonsdripping And I sat there getting drunker and drunker and more in love and more in love...And you can never touch a girl in the same way more than once, twice, or another number of times however much you may wish to hold, wrap, or otherwise fix her hand, or look, or some other quality, or incident, known to you previously. Donald Barthelme girlnumbershands I keep wondering if, say, there is intelligent life on other planets, the scientists argue that something like two percent of the other planets have the conditions, the physical conditions, to support life in the way it happened here, did Christ visit each and every planet, go through the same routine, the Agony in the Garden, the Crucifixion, and so on. Donald Barthelme agonygardenintelligent
