George V. Higgins Quotes

United States, Author
November 13, 1939 – November, 6, 1999.

George V. Higgins was an American author, lawyer, newspaper columnist, raconteur and college professor. He authored 29 books, including Bomber's Law, Trust and Kennedy for the Defense and is best known for his bestselling crime novels, including The Friends of Eddie Coyle, which established the Boston noir genre of gangster tales that spawned several popular films by followers in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Also known as Lawyer

Show the reader what the character thinks about, and then the reader will think about it too.

George V. Higgins
- Character
- Think
- Reader
Nobody ever got started on a career as a writer by exercising good judgment, and no one ever will, either, so the sooner you break the habit of relying on yours, the faster you will advance.

George V. Higgins
- Career
- Writer
- Advance

Egotism is the art of seeing in yourself what others cannot see.

George V. Higgins
- Art
- Seeing
- Egotism
Politics is a choice of enemas. You're gonna get it up the ass, no matter what you do.

George V. Higgins
- Politics
- Choice
- Enemas
The characters are telling you the story. I'm not telling you the story, they're going to do it. If I do it right, you will get the whole story.

George V. Higgins
- Story
- Characters
- Telling
Writing is the only trade I know of in which sniveling confessions of extreme incompetence are taken as credentials probative of powers to astound the multitude.

George V. Higgins
What You Lose on the Swings You Make Up on the Merry-Go-Round.

George V. Higgins
- Lose
- Swings
- Merry
You cannot write well without data.

George V. Higgins
- Write
- Data

Life is hard but being stupid makes it harder.

George V. Higgins
- Life
- Stupid
- Hard
A cop told me, a long time ago, that there’s no substitute for knowing what you’re doing. Most of us scribblers do not. The ones that’re any good are aware of this. The rest write silly stuff. The trouble is this: The readers know it.

George V. Higgins
- Trouble
- Readers
- Aware