Tobias Wolff Quotes & Sayings (Page 3)

“The short story, on the other hand, is the perfect American form.”

“There are writers who do start doing the same thing again and again and almost inevitably fall into self-parody.”

“But as my brother was doing his research for a book about my father, it became his opinion that the most influential anti-semitism my father encountered when he was growing up was from Jews, because his relatives were German Jews, and doctors.”

“I try to help people become the best possible editors of their own work, to help them become conscious of the things they do well, of the things they need to look at again, of the wells of material they have not even begun to dip their buckets into.”

“Of course it's why you want to become a writer - because you have the liberty to do that, but once you have the liberty you also have the obligation to do it.”

“That, for me, is a very important test of a young writer's commitment because most of them are going to have to continue doing that when they've finished the program.”

“You have to be kind of clued into them, they are a world of their own, and most people find them disappointing because the best short stories are not constructed like novels.”