A novel has to be an emotional experience, a trip of the imagination, and because science has raised so many issues that concern and affect humans, it’s a good starting place for me.
ALAN LIGHTMANOne cannot walk down an avenue, converse with a friend, enter a building, browse beneath the sandstone arches of an old arcade without meeting an instrument of time.
More Alan Lightman Quotes
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And if we can’t unplug from that machine, eventually we’re going to become mindless.
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He hopes that she loves him in return. Is it possible for a person to love without wanting love back?
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They came back to the nest in the middle of April. They take separate vacations in the winter – the mother and father.
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Each time is true, but the truths are not the same.
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Unfortunately, public debates do not have much room for subtlety. The audience wants a quick thrust at your opponent, not a slow and convoluted series of moves.
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In a world in which time is a circle, every handshake, every kiss, every birth, every word, will be repeated precisely.
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One day I’m going to write a book about osprey. It has really gotten deep into my bloodstream. So when you ask what else I do, I feel like this is part of what I do….is to watch these birds.
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My second novel, “Good Benito”, was not finished. I wished that I had spent another year with it.
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I have a number of vague ideas where I just have the core or kernel of the idea. I feel like I need some time for my mind to fill up again. I feel empty. Right now.
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The future is pattern, organization, union, intensification; the past, randomness, confusion, disintegration, dissipation.
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I spend a lot of time just listening to the ospreys. I watch them go through their life cycle. They spend the winter in South America.
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Whenever Obama uses subtleties in discussing a complex issue, he gets creamed.
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I have a family and you know very well the time that that takes. That’s good time. I have a couple hobbies. I’m a runner and play tennis. In the summer my family and I uproot ourselves and go live in Maine for the summer.
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A book, especially a longer book, it’s a different kind of force that pushes you through it. It’s a vision of the whole thing.
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A world in which time is absolute is a world of consolation. For while the movements of people are unpredictable, the movement of time is predictable.
ALAN LIGHTMAN






