Claire Messud Quotes
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If you live in a family or have five roommates, there's some sort of reality check, but when you live alone, there's a lot more leeway for your fantasy life to be more and more a part of your everyday life.
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I believe that, in an ideal world, writers would feel free to write what matters to them without having to consider success, failure, the market, etc.
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I'm a different person in French. I'm a different person in New York. I'm a different person in Canada.
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The more accurately one can illuminate a particular human experience, the better the work of art.
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If I had to summarize, most broadly, my concerns as a writer, I'd say the question 'How then must we live?' is at the heart of it, for me.
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Obstruction can be caused by so many factors - perfectionism, distraction, faltering confidence, external demands and pressures. At some point, of course, you've got to push through it all if you're to write, and if you don't, or can't, you're sunk.
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I'm not a writing group member, not a joiner in that way. I don't seek a wide swath of feedback.
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If I look at my make-up, Canada is a huge part of what I am.
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I was someone who believed that every day should be different from the last.
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What is the truth? Is it what you experience? Is it what I experience? Or is there some objective truth in between?
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You lose something in not being rooted, but you gain something by seeing the world differently. It's both a loss and a gift.
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In a globalised world, so many of us move around so much. You lose things, but you also gain things - or hope to gain them.