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"Praise and criticism seem to me to operate exactly on the same level. If you get a great review, it's really thrilling for about ten minutes. If you get a bad review, it's really crushing for ten minutes. Either way, you go on."
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"A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation."

"Oh, and Mr. Montgomery? I think I counted about four dozen important-sounding words and almost no substance at all in that explanation. I don't think you should close the door on your diplomatic career entirely."

"They were the sort who berated a man for meddling and chased him away, then berated him again for not being there when he was needed. Not that they would admit he was needed, even then, not them. Raise a hand to help and you were interfering, do nothing and you were an un-trustworthy wastrel."

"The making of miracles to edification was as ardently admired by pious Victorians as it was sternly discouraged by Jesus of Nazareth. Not that the Victorians were unique in this respect. Modern writers also indulge in edifying miracles though they generally prefer to use them to procure unhappy endings, by which piece of thaumaturgy they win the title of realists."

"He was one of the numerous and varied legion of dullards, of half-animated abortions, conceited, half-educated coxcombs, who attach themselves to the idea most in fashion only to vulgarize it and who caricature every cause they serve, however sincerely."

"Is Wagner a human being at all? Is he not rather a disease? He contaminates everything he touches - he has made music sick."

"Ol, ol you have learnt something new, didn't you??So you are saying it again and again with smile like we are an idiots, but my question is did you understand it? Do you know what did you said, so you big peace of shit say something more to impress us, because this doesn't impress us."

"Criticism always produces negative reactions, but appreciation always creates positive actions."
Explore more quotes by Ann Patchett

"You see an absolutely brilliant film later, as an adult, and you walk out thinking about what to have for dinner. Whereas something like Jaws winds up having a huge effect on me. If only my parents had been taking me to Kurosawa films when I was eight, but no."

"I was very influenced by The Magic Mountain. It's a book that had a huge impact on me. I loved that as a shape for a novel: put a bunch of people in a beautiful place, give them all tuberculosis, make them all stay in a fur sleeping bag for several years and see what happens."

"I don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it."

"People gave me such a bad time about wanting a baby. I didn't want a baby, and I still don't. I wanted a dog."

"I can write for any magazine now, in any voice. I can do it in two hours, I could do it in my sleep, it's like writing a grocery list."

"I think people become consumed with selling a book when they need to be consumed with writing it."

"Write because you love the art and the discipline, not because you're looking to sell something."

"Part of it is living in Tennessee. I'm so out of the loop. And as a person, I'm out of the loop. I'm oblivious by nature."

"Praise and criticism seem to me to operate exactly on the same level. If you get a great review, it's really thrilling for about ten minutes. If you get a bad review, it's really crushing for ten minutes. Either way, you go on."
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