Flannery O'Connor Quotes
A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell them to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning.
Quotes to Explore
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I write in a small office at home.
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I made an album of healing music called 'Grace and Gratitude' that came from my soul.
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I'm not a great fiction reader. I love history. I love history and philosophy.
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One of the achievements of the reform movement is that people realize that they can be democrats and remain faithful Muslims. Democracy is now an established idea.
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Thousands of years and many civilizations have defined a marriage as the union between one man and one woman. With few exceptions, those civilizations that did not follow that perished.
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Almost all the early Christian Fathers were opposed to the death penalty, even though it was of course standard practice across the ancient world.
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I can't take the theater side out of myself.
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We don't need bigger government. We need to shrink the size of government.
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Great leaders have a heart for people. They take time for people. They view people as the bottom line, not as a tool to get to the bottom line.
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But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.
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If I don't get healthy food, my staff cooks for me.
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Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you.
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Whatever its flaws, the United Nations is still the only institution that brings together all the countries of the world. And it is the best forum for the United States to spur countries to act - and to hold them accountable when they don't.
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Education is so important.
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To rise from error to truth is rare and beautiful.
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If you think about stuff that happened when you were young, it stays with you forever.
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I think there's a karmic purpose that souls make before they decide to come into people's bodies and become someone's parent, or become someone's child. Maybe my dad disappearing was his way of giving me material with which to work, or a predisposition to feel heightened emotions.
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I think every woman should have a one-night stand. If it's done right, it can be liberating.
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The Irish job was something that had to be sorted out.
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The supporting characters typically carry less story/plot weight - so you can be more broad and pushed with them. Supporting characters also take up less of the film's screen time. A short is a great opportunity for supporting characters to shine.
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If you have anything to say, anything you feel nobody has ever said before, you have got to feel it so desperately that you will find some way to say it that nobody has ever found before, so that the thing you have to say and the way of saying it blend as one matter--as indissolubly as if they were conceived together.
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A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell them to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning.
