"A lot of my characters in all of my books have a self-destructive urge. They'll do precisely the thing that they know is wrong, take a perverse delight in doing the wrong thing."

Books, Delight, Self, Wrong

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"A lot of my characters in all of my books have a self-destructive urge. They'll do precisely the thing that they know is wrong, take a perverse delight in doing the wrong thing."

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Explore more quotes by Richard Russo

"I want that which is hilarious and that which is heartbreaking to occupy the same territory in the book because I think they very often occupy the same territory in life, much as we try to separate them."

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"I'm delighted by how Nobody's Fool turned out. It was a rare movie."

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"If there's an enduring theme in my work, it's probably the effects of class on American life."

Life

"By ignoring a lot of American culture you can write more interesting stories. Unfortunately, if you were writing about America as it is, you'd be writing about a lot of people sitting in front of television sets."

People

"If you work at comedy too laboriously, you can kill what's funny in the joke."

Fun

"Some authors have a very hard time understanding that in order to be faithful to the spirit of the book, it's almost always impossible to remain faithful to the text. You have to make changes."

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"I think that if people are instructed about anything, it should be about the nature of cruelty. And about why people behave so cruelly to each other. And what kind of satisfactions they derive from it. And why there is always a cost, and a price to be paid."

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"HBO is really famous for hiring good people and staying out of their way until they ask for help, or need it. And that reputation is earned."

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"I have to have a character worth caring about. I tend not to start writing books about people I don't have a lot of sympathy for because I'm just going to be with them too long."

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