James Salter quotes - page 3

I've always said that I felt women are more heroic. (James Salter)
I would say that I am a jaded man beyond most expectations, but, like everyone else, I still have hope. View quote
James Salter
Certain people can keep a word tune, so to speak, and certain people cannot. And, above all, certain people can tell a story, and other people can't. They don't hear that point where something else has to come. View quote
James Salter
I find the most difficult part of writing is to get it down initially because what you have written is usually so terrible that it's disheartening; you don't want to go on. That's what I think is hard - the discouragement that comes from seeing what you have done. View quote
James Salter
Like books you will never have the chance to read, there are languages you do not know, and you're not going to get a chance to learn, so you'll never really know what was written, only the approximation. View quote
James Salter
The writing workshops and programs that are everywhere have encouraged writing. And if that produces more writing, it's also producing more readers of an elevated level. So all in all, a good thing. View quote
James Salter
The writing is really important in books that affect me. I read for the writing. The story is usually of less interest to me. It's the words that break your heart. View quote
James Salter
In 1957, I decided: write or perish. View quote
James Salter
There came a time when I felt I was not going to be satisfied with life unless I could write. View quote
James Salter
My first book was published without any editorial advice. Nobody said, 'You might do this or that,' or 'Why don't we see more of this.' I merely took the book and published it. View quote
James Salter
The writers of books are companions in one's life and, as such, are often more interesting than other companions. (James Salter)
I've made an effort to nurture the feminine in myself. I don't mean overtly, but in terms of response to things. View quote
James Salter
The deepest instinct is to want to do something enduring, something worthwhile, and to be engaged by that, whether one achieves it or not. View quote
James Salter
Written pages are something that can be returned to, reclaimed, and when they are marvelous, never lose their power. View quote
James Salter
I think you can be taught to write. You can't be taught to be a good writer. For that, you have to bring something to it, yourself, something that can't be given to you. View quote
James Salter
...she is simply the living portion of the meal. View quote
James Salter
It is always an accident that saves us. It is someone we have never seen. View quote
James Salter
Age doesn't arrive slowly, it comes in a rush. One day nothing has changed, a week later, everything has. A week may be too long a time, it can happen overnight. You are the same and still the same and suddenly one morning two distinct lines, ineradicable, have appeared at the corners of your mouth. View quote
James Salter
It's tremendous: this world, this life. Take it while you have it. View quote
James Salter
You are perfectly entitled to invent your life and to claim that it's true. View quote
James Salter
But knowledge does not protect one. Life is contemptuous of knowledge; it forces it to sit in the anterooms, to wait outside. Passion, energy, lies: these are what life admires. Still, anything can be endured if all humanity is watching. The martyrs prove it. We live in the attention of others. We turn to it as flowers to the sun. (James Salter)
Why is it so difficult to assemble those things that really matter in life and to dwell among them only? I am referring to certain landscapes, persons, beasts, books, rooms, meteorological conditions, fruits. View quote
James Salter
You're so American. You believe everything is possible, everything will come. I know differently. View quote
James Salter
ONE OF THE LAST GREAT REALIZATIONS is that life will not be what you dreamed. View quote
James Salter
Being somebody: it's one of the ideas in life, no? That's what my father made clear to me. The importance of being somebody. He wanted to be somebody. And he underlined to me the fate of trying to be somebody and not quite managing to do it. View quote
James Salter