“A culture capable of imagining complexly is a humble culture. It acts, when it has to act, as late in the game as possibl, and as cautiously, because it knows its girth and the tight confines of the china shop it's blundering into. And it knows that no matter how well prepared it is -- no matter how ruthlessly it has held its projections up to intelligent scrutiny -- the place it is headed for is going to very different from the place it imagined. The shortfall between the imagined and the real, multiplied by the violence of one's intent, equals the evil one will do.”

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About George Saunders

American writer

George Saunders is an American writer best known for his short stories and his 2017 novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker Prize. His fiction has appeared in several collections, including CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and Tenth of December: Stories. He is associated with short-form prose and with a style that moves between satire, tenderness, and speculation.

More from George Saunders (104 quotes) →

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Books by George Saunders

Lincoln in the Bardo

2017

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Tenth of December

2013

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Pastoralia

2000

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CivilWarLand in Bad Decline

1996

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