We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate – and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. – George Saunders
I turned 54 this year and I find myself feeling like Im in a bit of a race to get down on paper the way I really feel about life – or the way it has presented to me. And because it has presented to me very beautifully, this is hard. It is technically very hard to show positive manifestations. – George Saunders
If you think of a work of fiction as a kind of scale model of the world, then the positive valences – where things turn out better than you thought they would – ought to be in there somewhere, too. – George Saunders
The best thing that ever happened to me is that nothing happened in writing. I ended up working for engineering companies, and thats where I found my material, in the everyday struggle between capitalism and grace. Being broke and tired, you dont come home your best self. – George Saunders
I love my friends and family, but I also love it when they cant find me and I can spend all day reading or walking all alone, in silence, eight thousand miles away from everyone. All alone and unreachable in a foreign country is one my most favorite possible things to be. – Elizabeth Gilbert