Lisa Alther
Lisa Alther
Lisa Altheris an American author and novelist. Her first name is pronounced as if it were spelled Liza...
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth23 July 1944
directly entertain felt intelligence intelligence-and-intellectuals love number people poets points reflected view whom
Poets are the only people to whom love is not only a crucial, I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.
attitude attitudes bear bring degree directly happen intelligence number reflected
I happen to feel that the degree of a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.
years rejection important
I wrote for twelve years and collected 250 rejection slips before getting any fiction published, so I guess outside reinforcement isn't all that important to me.
years rejection firsts
It had been fourteen years and I hadn't had anything published. I had 250 rejection slips. I got my first novel published and it was called Kinflicks. It turned out to be a best seller.
children parenting issues
One didn't issue instructions to comets. Grown children did what they had to do, and parents could only grit their teeth and watch and pray for them to get through it.
attachment people dying
Dying was apparently a weaning process; all the attachments to familiar people and objects have to be undone.
soul vision visionaries
We are all visionaries, and what we see is our soul in things.
romantic-love requirements dodge
The requirements of romantic love are difficult to satisfy in the back seat of a Dodge Dart.
essence snakes trying
A snake will always be a snake, even if you put a chain around its neck and try to make it walk upright.
depression mind function
Depression was a very active state really. Even if you appeared to an observer to be immobilized, your mind was in a frenzy of paralysis. You were unable to function, but were actively despising yourself for it.
emotional energy deals
The human organism has only so much energy at its disposal. If you divert a great deal of it into any one channel, you can expect the others to collapse or atrophy. If you squander your vital energies on your emotional life, as you have been doing, plan to be physically and mentally bankrupt, as it were.
france outrun
The French would eat anything that couldn't outrun them.
The strength you've insisted on assigning to others is actually within yourself.
moving leaving mourn
If you kept moving, you never had to mourn what you were leaving behind.