Flannery O'Connor Quotes

A collection of quotes by Flannery O'Connor.

Flannery O'Connor was an acclaimed American writer known for her darkly comic and profound works. Born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia, O'Connor spent most of her life in the South, particularly in Georgia and Milledgeville. Despite a relatively short career due to her premature death at the age of 39 from lupus, O'Connor left an indelible mark on American literature.

O'Connor's writing style was marked by a unique blend of gothic and grotesque elements, exploring themes of religion, morality, and the complexities of the human condition. Her stories often delved into the lives of flawed and eccentric characters, exposing the inherent violence, hypocrisy, and grace in their experiences. Although her works were often challenging and unsettling, they offered incisive insights into the nature of human existence.

She was the author of two novels, "Wise Blood" (1952) and "The Violent Bear It Away" (1960), along with numerous short stories, including the renowned collections "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" (1955) and "Everything That Rises Must Converge" (1965). O'Connor's writing garnered critical acclaim and various awards, including the National Book Award for Fiction.

Even after her death, O'Connor's literary legacy continued to grow, solidifying her as one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. Her unique voice and penetrating insights into the human condition make her an enduring figure in the canon of Southern Gothic literature.

Most of us have learned to be dispassionate about evil, to l

Most of us have learned to be dispassionate about evil, to look it in the face and find, as often as not, our own grinning reflections with which we do not argue, but good is another matter. Few have stared at that long enough to accept that its face too is grotesque, that in us the good is something under construction. The modes of evil usually receive worthy expression. The modes of good have to be satisfied with a cliche or a smoothing down that will soften their real look.

Flannery O'Connor

The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode.

The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode.

Flannery O'Connor

I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebo

I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebody else's, but behind all of them, there's only one truth and that is that there is no truth... No truth behind all truths is what I and this church preach! Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. Where is there a place for you to be? No place... In yourself right now is all the place you've got.

Flannery O'Connor

Your beliefs will be the light by which you see, but they wi

Your beliefs will be the light by which you see, but they will not be what you see and they will not be a substitute for seeing.

Flannery O'Connor

Religion Inspirational Beliefs

The operation of the Church is entirely set up for the sinne

The operation of the Church is entirely set up for the sinner; which creates much misunderstanding among the smug.(August 9, 1955)

Flannery O'Connor

Wisdom Life Inspirational Church

Conviction without experience makes for harshness.

Conviction without experience makes for harshness.

Flannery O'Connor

There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by

There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

Flannery O'Connor

Faith is what someone knows to be true, whether they believe

Faith is what someone knows to be true, whether they believe it or not.

Flannery O'Connor

I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebo

I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebody else's. But behind all of them there is only one truth and that is that there's no truth.

Flannery O'Connor

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomac

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.

Flannery O'Connor

When a book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use

When a book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry is to take over God's business.

Flannery O'Connor

To expect too much is to have a sentimental view of life and

To expect too much is to have a sentimental view of life and this is a softness that ends in bitterness.

Flannery O'Connor

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the h

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.

Flannery O'Connor

Manners are of such great consequence to the novelist that a

Manners are of such great consequence to the novelist that any kind will do. Bad manners are better than no manners at all, and because we are losing our customary manners, we are probably overly conscious of them; this seems to be a condition that produces writers.

Flannery O'Connor

Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles

Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them.

Flannery O'Connor

Authors & Writing

There was a time when the average reader read a novel simply

There was a time when the average reader read a novel simply for the moral he could get out of it, and however na?ve that may have been, it was a good deal less na?ve than some of the limited objectives he has now. Today novels are considered to be entirely concerned with the social or economic or psychological forces that they will by necessity exhibit, or with those details of daily life that are for the good novelist only means to some deeper end.

Flannery O'Connor

I am a writer because writing is the thing I do best.

I am a writer because writing is the thing I do best.

Flannery O'Connor

It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment

It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment to the poor, for even when he writes about the rich, he is more concerned with what they lack than with what they have.

Flannery O'Connor

Authors & Writing

Everywhere I go, I'm asked if I think the universities stifl

Everywhere I go, I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

Flannery O'Connor

At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers,

At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.

Flannery O'Connor