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Normally, what you’re envious of is a book, not a writer: standards, ideas, levels … almost nonexistent things.

James Salter

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James Salter
Aircraft Pilot
Film Director
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
New York City
New York
Things
Envious
Normally
Standards
Writer
Levels
Almost
Ideas
Book
Nonexistent

More quotes by James Salter

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You can write about other people and their ideas and life without having lived it, but even your perception of that is going to be colored by what you know and what you experience. And this is undeniable.
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Why is it so difficult to assemble those things that really matter in life and to dwell among them only? I am referring to certain landscapes, persons, beasts, books, rooms, meteorological conditions, fruits.
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Women fall in love when they get to know you. Men are just the opposite. When they finally know you they're ready to leave
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Dresscodes are for styleless people.
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Sometimes you are aware when your great moments are happening, and sometimes they rise from the past. Perhaps it's the same with people.
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You would have to be very optimistic to think that any of your books will be among the books that survive in the very long run. I think if a writer is lucky enough to still have a few books around after he's gone, a few that are still being read, then he's accomplished quite a lot.
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In a certain sense, a writer is an exile, an outsider, always reporting on things, and it is part of his life to keep on the move. Travel is natural.
James Salter
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I like aristocracy. I like the beauty of aristocracy. I like the hierarchical feeling.
James Salter
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The myriad past, it enters us and disappears. Except that within it, somewhere, like diamonds, exist the fragments that refuse to be consumed. Sifting through, if one dares, and collecting them, one discovers the true design.
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If you write enough, you begin to learn to do things. But in a way, you do start from zero each time.
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The normal economic system works itself.
James Salter
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Dialogue's a method of revelation, of course. A few words of dialogue can reveal worlds about a character.
James Salter
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ONE OF THE LAST GREAT REALIZATIONS is that life will not be what you dreamed.
James Salter
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You’re so American. You believe everything is possible, everything will come. I know differently.
James Salter
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One should not believe too strongly in a life which can easily vanish.
James Salter
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I write down portions, maybe fragments, and perhaps an imperfect view of what Im hoping to write. Out of that, I keep trying to find exactly what I want.
James Salter
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The dreams are the skeleton of all reality.
James Salter
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I always knew writing a novel was a great thing.
James Salter
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Events need their invitation, dissolutions their start.
James Salter
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Life passes into pages if it passes into anything.
James Salter