Edith Pearlman

“I have a skepticism toward romance. I believe that decency and companionship are, in the long run, more important in life.”

“In the late 1950s, self-esteem hadn't yet been invented. High schools saw their sole mission as preparing students thoroughly for academic work.”

“They were relieved that I was chosen by a human being," she'd said to Angelica in her dry voice. "They were braced for an interspecies liaison.”

“I know a lot of single people who are not miserable as society tells them they're supposed to be.”

“The natural world is often bleak, but the language devoted to it is as careful as needlepoint and prophetic as well.”

“I was quite satisfied with my creative life. I've always had reinforcement from a small but devoted readership.”

“I think the computer is a hindrance to good writing because it is so tempting to leave what you've written. If you use a typewriter, you must retype if you make a mistake, and thus, you must re-examine every word.”

“Still she wondered: did the present deliver up the future, or must you chase your destiny like a harpoonist?”

“There's no rule I want to break or ever wanted to break - I find the conventional life gratifying - as long as I can sit at my typewriter, alone, for half a day.”

“The market town of Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, was a popular 19th - century English spa. Its mineral springs were supposed to be good for you. This was before the invention of bran. In the 20th century, Cheltenham grew into an active municipality.”

“All the stories I write come from someone I've met or some anecdote I've heard.”

“I lived around the corner from Saul Bellow.”

“Architecture is undistinguished, sometimes derelict, but occasionally, as in 'Post and Beam,' there is something arresting in a setting... the building behind the Cathedral.”

“I wanted to publish a book simply to be buried with it; that's all I wanted. I had no ambition beyond that.”

“The ordinary experiences of aging alter and clarify your view of past, present, and future.”

“Tony Judt's remarkable 'The Memory Chalet' was written from the prison of mute immobility.”

“I always loved to read, and I wanted to be part of the project of literature. My physical longevity is due to luck, and my literary longevity is due to my physical longevity.”

“I wrote in the cellar for a number of years. I needed a private space, and it had a furnace, so it was always warm.”