Anne Tyler quotes

People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have. (Anne Tyler)
It's true that it's a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once you get to know them. View quote
Anne Tyler
If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all. View quote
Anne Tyler
It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from. View quote
Anne Tyler
Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! View quote
Anne Tyler
It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice. View quote
Anne Tyler
I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. View quote
Anne Tyler
It is not how much you love someone, but who you are when you are with him. View quote
Anne Tyler
I was standing in the schoolyard waiting for a child when another mother came up to me. Have you found work yet? she asked. Or are you still just writing? View quote
Anne Tyler
The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. View quote
Anne Tyler
For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood. (Anne Tyler)
It seems to me that good novels celebrate the mystery in ordinary life, and summing it all up in psychological terms strips the mystery away. View quote
Anne Tyler
I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them. View quote
Anne Tyler
There is no sound more peaceful than rain on the roof, if you're safe asleep in someone else's house. View quote
Anne Tyler
I'm falling into disrepair. View quote
Anne Tyler
One sad thing about this world is that the acts that take the most out of you are usually the ones that people will never know about. (from 'Celestial Navigation') View quote
Anne Tyler
People who hadn't suffered a loss yet struck me as not quite grown up. View quote
Anne Tyler
When you have children, you're obligated to live. View quote
Anne Tyler
Bravest thing about people is how they go on loving mortal beings after finding out there's such a thing as dying. View quote
Anne Tyler
I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place. View quote
Anne Tyler
Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person. (Anne Tyler)
I've always thought a hotel ought to offer optional small animals. I mean a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in. You ever notice how a hotel room feels so lifeless? View quote
Anne Tyler
I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them - without a thought about publication - and only in the last draft to consider how the work will look from the outside. View quote
Anne Tyler
In real life I avoid all parties altogether, but on paper I can mingle with the best of them. View quote
Anne Tyler
But if you never did anything you couldn't undo you'd end up doing nothing at all. View quote
Anne Tyler