Richard Ford

“Nothing is so embarrassing as watching someone do something that you said couldn't be done.”

“The only things that are important in life are the things you remember.”

“All we really want is to get to the point where the past can explain nothing about us and we can get on with life.”

“Life's a matter of omissions. We are defined by what we decline to do.”

“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader, not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”

“It is no dishonor to be in a minority of one.”

“What I know is, you have a better time if you wear a pretty dress.”

“When you're a writer, you're always revealing yourself.”

“Maybe life is a matter of luck, and that's all.”

“You can't be an important writer unless you're a good writer. And you can't be a good writer unless you're a good reader.”

“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it.”

“I think being a writer is a very lonely job. It's just you and your word processor.”

“Writers just reflect the world they live in.”

“If you don't know the story of your own life, you can't be a real person.”

“To be happy is to be able to become a person you can live with.”

“The world is always a new place. And it's always the same place.”

“The great thing about fiction is that you can't be wrong. It's all made up.”

“There is no moral to my story. I'm not a moralist. I'm a novelist.”