“The Amen is only as good as the attitude. If you are trying to finish up quickly so you can check your cell phone messages, you are missing the chance to spend quiet moments with the giver of life and the eternal, which means you may reap continued feelings of life racing along without you. So as Samuel Beckett admonished us to fail again, and fail better, we try to pray again, and pray better, for slightly longer and with slightly more honesty, breathing more, deeper, and with more attention.”

American novelist and nonfiction writer

Anne Lamott is an American novelist and nonfiction writer. She is known for work that blends fiction with personal and reflective nonfiction, and for a voice that is direct, candid, and observant. Her writing often draws on everyday life, faith, family, addiction, recovery, and the struggles and small consolations of ordinary experience. She has built a large body of quoted material on the site, reflecting the wide reach of her public voice and the clarity of her style.