Mean Quotes by Lynne Tillman

Lynne Tillman

I think some people are not interesting to themselves. They’re the sad, resigned folk. When people call themselves ordinary – “I’m just an ordinary person” – you do wonder what they mean, because people who call themselves ordinary occasionally turn out to be serial killers. Beware of those who say they’re ordinary.

Mean

People

Thinking

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Lynne Tillman

I think there’s much more privileging of the new in art. I think people want to think they privilege the new in writing, but I agree with Virginia Woolf. She wrote a great essay called “Craftsmanship” about how difficult it is to use new words. It’s really hard, but you see them coming in because obviously, if you’re going to write… I mean, even to write “cell phone” in a novel – it’s so boring.

Art

Mean

Writing

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Lynne Tillman

I’m not just interested in the thoughts I have, but also in others’ thoughts, and why not carry those forward? That’s why American fiction can be so thin. All these fears, like not seeming to be original – I mean, hell, most stuff isn’t. The question is whether you can articulate your thoughts for the moment in which you’re living, which is a different time. Say them in a newer way. There are new events, and language changes – sensibilities change. We are writing in and of the time we’re in. Oh, it’s a weird time.

Different

Mean

Writing

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Lynne Tillman

If I have to work on something for too long, then it must be wrong. At a certain point, if I’ve worked on a sentence for about an hour, then I realize that it’s probably not the right sentence and means I’m trying to make something fit that’s ungainly.

Long

Mean

Trying

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Lynne Tillman

There are lots of unlikable characters in literature. It doesn’t mean they’re not fascinating.

Character

Literature

Mean

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Lynne Tillman

What I don’t like about teaching is hearing myself say the same thing. I mean, you just want to sort of shoot yourself after a while. But you don’t have a million different ways of thinking about what you have been thinking about for many years. And then there’s the truism that you’re only as good as your students. If they’re not into what’s going on, it doesn’t matter who you are.

Mean

Teaching

Thinking

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