Prufrock had measured out his life with measuring spoons; Dubin, in books resurrecting the lives of others.
BERNARD MALAMUDComedy, I imagine, is harder to do consistently than tragedy, but I like it spiced in the wine of sadness.
More Bernard Malamud Quotes
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When I don’t feel hurt, I hope they bury me.
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I work with language. I love the flowers of afterthought.
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As long as a man stays alive he can’t tell what chances will pop up next. But a dead man signs no checks.
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The purpose of freedom is to create it for others.
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We didn’t starve but nobody ate chicken unless we were sick or the chicken was.
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A man is an island in the only sense that matters, not an easy way to be. We live in mystery, a cosmos of separate lonely bodies, men, insects, stars. It is all loneliness and men know it best.
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To any writer: Teach yourself to work in uncertainty. Many writers are anxious when they begin, or try something new.
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First drafts are for learning what your story is about.
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Somewhere I put it this way: first drafts are for learning what one’s fiction wants him to say. Revision works with that knowledge to enlarge and enhance an idea, to reform it. Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing.
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One often feels helpless in the face of the confusion of these times, such a mass of apparently uncontrollable events and experiences to live through, attempt to understand.
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One’s fantasy goes for a walk and returns with a bride.
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We have two lives, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness.
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Nationality isn’t soul.
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And if at all possible, give order to; but one must not withdraw from the task if he has some small things to offer – he does so at the risk of diminishing his humanity.
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Life is a tragedy full of joy.
BERNARD MALAMUD