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In every society, the artists will be the ones who set themselves up as contrary to whatever the society expects.

Jane Smiley

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Jane Smiley
Age: 75
Born: 1949
Born: January 1
Journalist
Literary Critic
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
LA
California
Jane Graves Smiley
Ones
Whatever
Society
Artist
Every
Expects
Contrary
Artists

More quotes by Jane Smiley

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People are quite frequently eccentric.
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The thing about Republicans is that they don't care so much about respect, but they love fear, at least in others.
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I was asked by an editor to consider writing something about an American inventor. I asked him if he knew who invented the computer. He said he didn't. In that case, I told him, I should write a book about John Vincent Atanasoff.
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you know that the urge for revenge is a fact of marital life.
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Sinclair Lewis may be ripe for a revival his books raise several interesting issues of art and fashion.
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Because your goal is a complete rough draft of a novel, and every rough draft, by being complete, is perfect.
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Candy is my fuel. Ice cream, too.
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I think that the Cold War was an exceptional and unnecessary piece of cruelty.
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My mom was paranoid about my safety.
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I thought I might write mysteries for the rest of my life.
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All equestrians, if they last long enough, learn that riding in whatever form is a lifelong sport and art, an endeavor that is both familiar and new every time you take the horse out of his stall or pasture.
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Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.
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I love to write about sex. You just have to make it idiosyncratic. You have to have a strong comprehension of your characters, and write it from their point of view. It's really fun. It's not erotic.
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I don't know - is everything the U.S. does a shocking embarrassment?
Jane Smiley
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I suspected that there were things he knew that I had been waiting all my life to learn.
Jane Smiley
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I was depressed, but that was a side issue. This was more like closing up shop, or, say, having a big garage sale, where you look at everything you've bought in your life, and you remember how much it meant to you, and now you just tag it for a quarter and watch 'em carry it off, and you don't care. That's more like how it was.
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Novelists never have to footnote.
Jane Smiley
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Another thing he told his customers was that one of the great accounting unknowns of the modern age was how to value knowledge. It was an exciting field.
Jane Smiley
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People with good intentions never give up!
Jane Smiley
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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.
Jane Smiley