Flannery O Connor Quotes

One of the awful things about writing when you are a Christian is that for you the ultimate reality is the Incarnation, the present reality is the Incarnation, and nobody believes in the Incarnation; that is, nobody in your audience. My audience are the people who think God is dead. At least these are the people I am conscious of writing for. ~ Flannery O'Connor

Wise Blood has reached the age of ten and is still alive. My critical powers are just sufficient to determine this, and I am gratified to be able to say it. The book was written with zest and, if possible, it should be read that way. It is a comic novel about a Christian malgré lui, and as such, very serious, for all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death. Wise Blood was written by an author congenitally innocent of theory, but one with certain preoccupations. That belief in Christ is to some a matter of life and death has been a stumbling block for some readers who would prefer to think it a matter of no great consequence. For them, Hazel Motes's integrity lies in his trying with such vigor to get rid of the ragged figure who moves from tree to tree in the back of his mind. For the author, Hazel's integrity lies in his not being able to do so. Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do? I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen.

(Preface to second edition, 1962) ~ Flannery O'Connor

She had been so fiercely alive. She had spoken honestly, and lived with an honesty that few could claim to match. She had made the most of every minute she was given. She bargained and rationed and managed the seconds. She burned up the days. ~ Ann Napolitano

I have what passes for an education in this day and time, but I am not deceived by it. ~ Flannery O'Connor

The mind serves best when it's anchored in the Word of God. There is no danger then of becoming an intellectual without integrity ... ~ Flannery O'Connor

Arizonians are deeply proud of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's service to this country. She will always be remembered by Arizonans and all Americans as an extraordinary public servant. ~ Jon Kyl

Mrs. May winced. She thought the word Jesus should be kept inside the church building like other words inside the bedroom. ~ Flannery O'Connor

I always thought the allusive "O" that girls always talked about was an urban legend, but Connor is quickly turning me into a believer. ~ Devon Herrera

The silence became palpable and merciless in its depths. The only sound came from my car's radio. The Temptations towed me to tears. ~ Billy O'Connor

Word is you heard the Windigo too."
I did. The difference is I'm ready for the son of a bitch."
Cork O'Connor ~ William Kent Krueger

And then she got a bad, bad feeling because she realized she had been wrong.
You can fool a person.
You can fool a dog.
You can fool a cat or a horse or a teacher or a friend.
But you cannot ever fool a heart. ~ Barbara O'Connor

Nell was like a witch. Her long silvery hair rolled into a bun on the back of her head, the narrow wooden house on the hillside in Paddington, with its peeling lemon-yellow paint and overgrown garden, the neighborhood cats that followed her everywhere. The way she had of fixing her eyes so straight on you, as if she might be about to cast a spell. ~ Kate Morton

I liked to pretend I was noble, to tell myself I wouldn't draw someone into the fire, but threatened with the safety of the people I loved, I wouldn't even hesitate. ~ Lindsey Fairleigh

[Sandra Day O'Connor] is a justice whose graciousness and sense of duty fuels her continued service, even agreeing to serve more than six months after her retirement date. ~ Patrick Leahy

We're OConchobhairs and they're our friends. Dad always said that what our name means - friend of the wolves. ~ Kirsty Murray

I am deeply honored to have been nominated for a position on the Supreme Court. And I an humbled to have been nominated for the seat that is now held by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. ~ Samuel Alito

I'm one that believes that Samuel Alito appointment on the Supreme Court is a pivotal appointment. And because he replace Sandra Day O'Connor and because she was the fifth vote on 148 cases, you well could be a very key and decisive vote. ~ Dianne Feinstein

After four hundred and ninety-nine years of existence, Connor Buchanan arrived at an inescapable conclusion regarding himself. He was a coldhearted old bastard. ~ Kerrelyn Sparks

One book led to another; reading during my free time became a new fondness. Nonetheless, there was never much consideration of being a scholar when beginning to do so. The titles I was turning to seemed to speak directly to me, and soon the reviews became one of my favorite things to do. ~ Jessica Connor

Fiction operates through the senses, and I think one reason that people find it so difficult to write stories is that they forget how much time and patience is required to convince through the senses. No reader who doesn't actually experience, who isn't made to feel, the story is going to believe anything the fiction writer merely tells him. The first and most obvious characteristic of fiction is that it deals with reality through what can be seen, heard, smelt, tasted, and touched. ~ Flannery O'Connor

I learned to be a regional writer by reading people like Flannery O'Connor. She was a huge influence. ~ David Almond

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it. ~ Flannery O'Connor

I didn't know someone could find a way to be conceited about houseplants, but Connor has lots of talent in making his belongings seem superior. ~ Becca Ritchie

I wish you were my daddy. What do you fink? ~ Claudia Connor

The idea of being a writer attracts a good many shiftless people, those who are merely burdened with poetic feelings or afflicted with sensibility. ~ Flannery O'Connor

You said how Michelangelo was a manic-depressive who portrayed himself as a flayed martyr in his painting. Henri Matisse gave up being a lawyer because of appendicitis. Robert Schumann only began composing after his right hand became paralyzed and ended his career as a concert pianist. (...) You talked about Nietzsche and his tertiary syphilis. Mozart and his uremia. Paul Klee and the scleroderma that shrank his joints and muscles to death. Frida Kahlo and the spina bifida that covered her legs with bleeding sores. Lord Byron and his clubfoot. The Bronte sisters and their tuberculosis. Mark Rothko and his suicide. Flannery O'Connor and her lupus. Inspiration needs disease, injury, madness.

"According to Thomas Mann," Peter said, "'Great artists are great invalids. ~ Chuck Palahniuk

You may ask, why not simply call this literature Christian? Unfortunately, the word Christian is no longer reliable. It has come to mean anyone with a golden heart. And a golden heart would be a positive interference in the writing of fiction. ~ Flannery O'Connor

You're in love with me? Why have you never said anything?" He demanded.

"No one wants to tell someone she loves him, and have him not say it back," her eyes dropped and she said it so softly he had to strain to hear it. ~ Laura Hunsaker

When we were born, nobody gave us a lesson on how to breathe - we just did. The same thing happens with love. Nobody tells you how to love - we just do. ~ Connor Chalfant

Hey, Connor! Sorry I must have butt-dialed you. So, do you want to tell me how it felt being on my ass?" she laughed.

Ellery Black's BFF and her jokes. ~ Sandi Lynn

I surprise myself all the time by doing and accomplishing things I had never thought possible. ~ Connor Franta

I love a lot of people, understand none of them... ~ Flannery O'Connor

Love you so damn much, Alina." My heart nearly burst through my chest. "I don't want to hurt you. Tell me I won't hurt you."
"You won't hurt me, Connor. I trust you." The trust in himself was lacking but I had enough for both of us. ~ Nashoda Rose

Just because you don't know where you're going doesn't mean you're lost. ~ Connor Chalfant

I don't know how to give up," he said. "If I did. I would have already, long before I met you. I'm not a man who's ever gonna lay down, Jenna." He paused, and his teeth flashed white in the near dark. "Except maybe for you. ~ Ellen Connor

In one of Ralph Connor's books he tells a story of Gwen. Gwen was a wild, wilful lassie and one who had always been accustomed to having her own way. Then one day she met with a terrible accident which crippled her for life. She became very rebellious and in the murmuring state she was visited by the Sky Pilot, as the missionary among the mountaineers was termed. He told her the parable of the canyon.

"At first there were no canyons, but only the broad, open prairie. One day the Master of the Prairie, walking over his great lawns, where were only grasses, asked the Prairie, 'Where are your flowers?' and the Prairie said, 'Master I have no seeds.'

"Then he spoke to the birds, and they carried seeds of every kind of flower and strewed them far and wide, and soon the prairie bloomed with crocuses and roses and buffalo beans and the yellow crowfoot and the wild sunflowers and the red lilies all summer long. Then the Master came and was well pleased; but he missed the flowers he loved best of all, and he said to the Prairie: 'Where are the clematis and the columbine, the sweet violets and wind-flowers, and all the ferns and flowering shrubs?'

"And again he spoke to the birds, and again they carried all the seeds and scattered them far and wide. But, again, when the Master came he could not find the flowers he loved best of all, and he said: "'Where are those my sweetest flowers?' and the Prairie cried sorrowfully: "'Oh, Master, I cannot keep the f ~ Ralph Connor

Tru only matched his grin and walked on. Pen caught up with him, tugging on his arm. "What is it?"
"I took a walk yesterday when you were working."
"A walk."
"Yup."
"Had you shifted?"
"Yes, I had."
Pen caught his humor, although she couldn't understand its origins.
"And?"
"I may have used their freshwater reserves as a latrine. And then encouraged the other skinwalkers to do the same."
She giggled like a little girl being told a dirty joke.
"That's remarkably crude."
"I like to think of it as clever and resourceful."
"That, too. ~ Ellen Connor

I think hiphop is a beautiful thing and I embody it and I'm going to live it and I'm going to represent it until the day I leave this earth, because I represent everything positive about hiphop. ~ Jon Connor

It is always difficult to get across to people who are not professional writers that a talent to write does not mean a talent to write anything at all. ~ Flannery O'Connor

Doctors always think anybody doing something they aren't is a quack; also they think all patients are idiots. ~ Flannery O'Connor

I try to imagine what type of girl Connor would seek, but she seems unfathomable
like a hazy picture with only her brain showing. ~ Becca Ritchie

I'm big into social studies, the humanities. I really love history and world issues and philosophy and law. ~ Connor Jessup

I'm very into Taylor Swift. From her music to her wardrobe, she is absolutely killing it. Also, she has adorable cats that I would love to pet. ~ Connor Franta

You don't serve God by saying: the Church is ineffective, I'll have none of it. Your pain at its lack of effectiveness is a sign of your nearness to God. We help overcome this lack of effectiveness simply by suffering on account of it. ~ Flannery O'Connor

The meaning of the story is the story. ~ Flannery O'Connor

Who am I to claim such boundless sorrow? This heartache, acute and true as it may be, is slight compared to all of this world. Five miscarriages, two stillborn, three live births, and Mrs. Connor is one of our fortunate. She is not disemboweled in the snow. Her hands have committed no atrocities. She believes in God.
It is remarkable how we go on. All that we come to know and witness and endure, yet our hearts keep beating, our faith persists. ~ Eowyn Ivey

She had never given much thought to the devil for she felt that religion was essentially for those people who didn't have the brains to avoid evil without it. ~ Flannery O'Connor

When he was four years old, his father had brought him home a tin box from the penitentiary. It was orange and had a picture of some peanut brittle on the outside of it and green letters that said, "A NUTTY SURPRISE!" When Enoch had opened it, a coiled piece of steel had sprung out at him and broken off the ends of his two front teeth. His life was full of so many happenings like that that it would seem he should have been more sensitive to his times of danger. ~ Flannery O'Connor

If there is no possibility for change in a character, we have no interest in him. ~ Flannery O'Connor

We all have weak moments, moments where we lose faith, but it's our flaws, our weaknesses that make us human. Science now performs miracles like the gods of old, creating life from blood cells or bacteria, or a spark of metal. But they're perfect creatures and in that way they couldn't be less human. There are things machines will never do, they cannot possess faith, they cannot commune with God. They cannot appreciate beauty, they cannot create art. If they ever learn these things, they won't have to destroy us, they'll be us. ~ Sarah Connor

No one can be an atheist who does not know all things. Only God is an atheist. The devil is the greatest believer and he has his reasons. ~ Flannery O'Connor

It is popular to believe that in order to see clearly one must believe nothing. This may work well enough if you are observing cells under a microscope. It will not work if you are writing fiction. For the fiction writer, to believe nothing is to see nothing. I ~ Flannery O'Connor

If we forget our past, we won't remember our future and it will be as well because we won't have one. ~ Flannery O'Connor