The cool parts – the parts that have won Dubai its reputation as the Vegas of the Middle East or the Venice of the Middle East or the Disney World of the Middle East, if Disney World were the size of San Francisco and out in a desert – have been built in the last ten years. – George Saunders
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate – and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. – George Saunders
Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is life kind or cruel? Yes, Literature answers. Are people good or bad? You bet, says Literature. But unlike other systems of knowing, Literature declines to eradicate one truth in favor of another. – George Saunders
The scariest thought in the world is that someday Ill wake up and realize Ive been sleepwalking through my life: underappreciating the people I love, making the same hurtful mistakes over and over, a slave to neuroses, fear, and the habitual. – George Saunders