Jane Smiley Quotes & Sayings (Page 6)

“Literature - novels, plays, and poems - can have an uncanny dual life, where they simultaneously represent something eternal and something historical, and this is often how they are taught in school.”

“Sinclair Lewis may be ripe for a revival; his books raise several interesting issues of art and fashion.”

“Respect and fear are two different things.”

“Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!”

“I don't know - is everything the U.S. does a shocking embarrassment?”

“I had spent years thinking about one thing while I was doing another. I had, in fact, prided myself on being able to do two things at once.”

“The thing about Republicans is that they don't care so much about respect, but they love fear, at least in others.”

“Trollope wrote so many novels and other works that they tend to crowd each other out.”

“I readily admit it is easy to make of horses what we will. Silent, in some ways reserved, they allow us to train them, and to project our ideas upon them; to ride and drive them, and to make them symbolic, perhaps to a greater degree than any other species.”

“Is human nature basically good or evil? No economist can embark upon his profession without considering this question, and yet they all seem to. And they all seem to think human nature is basically good, or they wouldn't be surprised by the effects of deregulation.”