Grace Paley
Grace Paley
Grace Paleywas an American short story writer, poet, teacher, and political activist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth11 December 1922
CountryUnited States of America
pages seven novel
I've started many novels, and they all ended on page seven.
cities people water
It wasn't until I lived in the countryside that I began to understand the life of the countryside and the people in it and trees and water. Just learning about water is an education for a city person.
jobs believe voice
I really believe one of the jobs of a writer is to stretch as far as you can into other voices.
people language sometimes
Sometimes before people know what they're saying, they already love the language.
people political movement
I loved the comradeship of the sixties and the seventies, and I still maintain friendships with the people I worked with then - the ones that are still alive. That's one of the great gifts of our political movements, great friendships . . . and also a few enmities.
brother years luck
I'm seventy-five now. I also have the peculiar luck of having a sister and brother who are fourteen and sixteen years older than me. Their health is not good. It couldn't be at that age. But their spirits are. Both my brother and my sister are an example to me.
numbers poet joyce
I read a lot. I liked a tremendous number of poets and writers. The person whose work I liked the most was Joyce.
mother thinking people
When you think of things that influenced your life, Mother Goose influenced more people than almost any other thing, the rhythms of those poems. Everything after that was a bare imitation of some of those mysterious and materialistic poems.
people important stories
My family were Russian Jews. They got you to read as soon as you could. And then assumed you would read a lot. People didn't really tell stories but they were good talkers. That's important for a writer, to hear speakers.
interesting people use
Good talkers are people who use interesting language and have a lot of energy in speech and who also listen.
country war america
When you have a peace movement that has an actual war, it's different from one that has wars that our country is not totally involved in. During the war in Vietnam, and to a lesser degree the wars in Central America where our country was directly involved, it was easier to organize.
growing-up sorry eye
I'm really sorry for people growing up right now, because they have some cockeyed idea that they can get by with their eyes closed; the cane they're tapping is money, and that won't take them in the right direction.
young terrible stills
It's a terrible thing to die young. Still, it saves a lot of time.
jobs children metaphor
No metaphor reinvents the job of the nurture of children except to muddy or mock.