John Gardner
John Gardner
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth21 July 1933
CountryUnited States of America
art moving home
In university courses we do exercises. Term papers, quizzes, final examinations are not meant for publication. We move through a course on Dostoevsky or Poe as we move through a mildly good cocktail party, picking up the good bits of food or conversation, bearing with the rest, going home when it comes to seem the reasonable thing to do. Art, at those moments when it feels most like art -- when we feel most alive, most alert, most triumphant -- is less like a cocktail party than a tank full of sharks.
may poor accidents
Poor Grendel's had an accident. So may you all.
believe grief energy
I cannot believe such monstrous energy of grief can lead to nothing!
desire limits needs
There is no limit to desire but desire's needs.
teeth grows pursue
Our noblest hopes grow teeth and pursue us like tigers.
goes-on whispering world
I couldn't go on, too conscious all at once of my whispering, my eternal posturing, always transforming the world with words--changing nothing.
fall order long
It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish, flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity.
art reality thinking
Art, of course, is a way of thinking, a way of mining reality.
stupid evil may
They watch on, evil, incredibly stupid, enjoying my destruction. 'Poor Grendel's had an accident,' I whisper. 'So may you all.
crazy writing littles
One must be just a little crazy to write a great novel. One must be capable of allowing the darkest, most ancient and shrewd parts of one’s being to take over the work from time to time.
community identity levels
We know that where community exists in confers upon its members identity, a sense of belonging, and a measure of security. . . . Communities are the ground-level generators and preservers of values and ethical systems.
children sleep sea
When I was a child I truly loved: Unthinking love as calm and deep As the North Sea. But I have lived, And now I do not sleep.
fashion business coins
The image-managers encourage the individual to fashion himself into a smooth coin, negotiable in any market.
kindness thoughtful people
When people are serving, life is no longer meaningless.