Barbara Kingsolver Quotes & Sayings (Page 6)

“When people are frightened about going hungry and paying their mortgages, a scarcity model begins to prevail; they fear someone else will get their piece of the pie.”

“Every time I write a new novel about something sombre and sobering and terrible I think, 'oh Lord, they're not going to want to go here'. But they do. Readers of fiction read, I think, for a deeper embrace of the world, of reality. And that's brave.”

“My morning begins with trying not to get up before the sun rises. But when I do, it's because my head is too full of words, and I just need to get to my desk and start dumping them into a file. I always wake with sentences pouring into my head.”

“For me, writing time has always been precious, something I wait for and am eager for and make the best use of. That's probably why I get up so early and have writing time in the quiet dawn hours, when no one needs me.”

“Southern Appalachians have been ridiculed since the country began. In fiction, they're usually depicted in a cartoonish manner. The region is poor, and very suspicious of outsiders, so there's a sort of 'us versus them' situation. They're easy to poke fun at.”

“I don't understand how any good art could fail to be political.”

“I don't bring expectations to any of my books. I don't tell people what to do. I want to invite them in.”

“At home, growing up, we weren't really poor. We had everything we needed, we just didn't have what we wanted.”

“I never think that anything I'm writing is bluntly political in any way. I'm not going for commentary.”

“Most every book I bring into the world is like birthing a baby; it's a lot of effort!”