Florence King

Florence King
Florence Virginia Kingwas an American novelist, essayist and columnist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth5 January 1936
CountryUnited States of America
southern goes-on mouths
because the theater lost a Barrymore every time a Southerner decided not to go on the stage, just about anything that comes out of a Southern mouth is bound to be a ringing line.
running attitude nice
The confidence and security of a people can be measured by their attitude toward laxatives. At the high noon of the British sun, soldiers in far-flung outposts of the Empire doctored themselves with "a spoonful o' gunpowder in a cuppa 'ot tea." Purveyors and users of harsh laxatives were not afraid of being thought mean and unfriendly just because their laxatives were. But in America, the need to be nice is so consuming that nobody would dare take a laxative that makes you run up the stairs two at a time, pushing others aside and yelling, "Get out of the way!
should-have brooms institutions
The copyeditor I drew was a brachycephalic, web-footed cretin who should have been in an institution learning how to make brooms.
memories style mind
Time has lost all meaning in that nightmare alley of the Western world known as the American mind. We wallow in nostalgia but manage to get it all wrong. True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories... but American-style nostalgia is about as ephemeral as copyrighted d?j? vu.
equality government america
By sending the contradictory message that the famous are just plain folks on Mount Olympus, America has forged a relentless tension between loftiness and accessibility. Stir in the fact that the inborn talent and intelligence needed to achieve fame are immune to distributive tinkering by government programs and you have a definition of fame certain to produce envious rage: somebody screwed democracy.
party people political
I don't mind being regarded as perverted and unnatural, but I would die if people thought I was a Democrat.
years lifetime sexism
There is more sexism in a year's worth of movies than actually exists in a woman's entire lifetime.
together glue too-much
There's no national glue holding us together because somebody put too much pluribus in the unum.
suicide country strong
When you go apartment-hunting in the South, you encounter little old ladies who ask you if you use strong drink. In New York you encounter paranoids who wonder if you will commit suicide--not that they care; what they worry about is blood on their fresh paint, a dubious smell in the hallway, or a hole in the awning as you pass through on your way to the sidewalk. The Southerner who moves to any part of the country has problems, but the culture shock that attacks the Southerner who moves North is almost indescribable.
hate people insecurity
Insecurity breeds treachery: if you are kind to people who hate themselves, they will hate you as well.
believe noon reincarnation
I do believe in reincarnation, but I do not believe there is life before noon.
people achievement tools
Americans respect talent only insofar as it leads to fame, and we reserve our most fervent admiration for famous people who destroy their lives as well as their talent. The fatal flaws of Elvis, Judy, and Marilyn register much higher on our national applause meter than their living achievements. In Amerca, talent is merely a tool for becoming famous in life so you can become more famous in death - where all are equal.
tree genealogy devoted
Southerners are so devoted to genealogy that we see a family tree under every bush.
world next china
I've always said that next to Imperial China, the South is the best place in the world to be an old lady.