Quote by George Saunders

The best thing that ever happened to me is that nothing happened in writing. I ended up working for engineering companies, and that's where I found my material, in the everyday struggle between capitalism and grace. Being broke and tired, you don't come home your best self.

The best thing that ever happened to me is that nothing happ

Summary

This quote suggests that the author's lack of success in their writing career turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Instead, they found inspiration and material for their work by working in engineering companies, where they witnessed the clash between capitalism and grace in everyday life. The author implies that their financial struggles and exhaustion prevented them from being their best self, indicating the challenging circumstances that can ironically stimulate creativity and depth in their writing.

Topics

By George Saunders

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

You can still make today the day you change yourself. It's n

You can still make today the day you change yourself. It's never too late!

All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rat

All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.

William Faulkner

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a nat

A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.

Alexander Hamilton

Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alo

Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone; For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

There's always moral instruction whether the writer inserts

There's always moral instruction whether the writer inserts it deliberately or not. The least effective moral instruction in fiction is that which is consciously inserted. Partly because it won't reflect the storyteller's true beliefs, it will only reflect what he BELIEVES he believes, or what he thinks he should believe or what he's been persuaded of. But when you write without deliberately expressing moral teachings, the morals that show up are the ones you actually live by. The beliefs that you don't even think to question, that you don't even notice-- those will show up. And that tells much more truth about what you believe than your deliberate moral machinations.

Orson Scott Card

Morality Fiction On Fiction Writing

They told me that I had a leaky valve, which is something th

They told me that I had a leaky valve, which is something that is certainly not life-threatening. It's common and it's something that had I not known about it, would I have lived? Sure. But it's something that I think is important to know, especially as I get older and given that I have heart disease in my family.

Anything worthy is worth the fight!

Anything worthy is worth the fight!

Success Inspirational

Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be m

Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart.

I'm not a knee-jerk conservative. I passionately believe in

I'm not a knee-jerk conservative. I passionately believe in free markets and less government, but not to the point of being a libertarian.

When times are bad is when the real entrepreneurs emerge.

When times are bad is when the real entrepreneurs emerge.

Robert Kiyosaki

Just make up your mind at the very outset that your work is

Just make up your mind at the very outset that your work is going to stand for quality... that you are going to stamp a superior quality upon everything that goes out of your hands, that whatever you do shall bear the hall-mark of excellence.

Orison Swett Marden

I shan't be pulling the levers there but I shall be a very g

I shan't be pulling the levers there but I shall be a very good back-seat driver.

Margaret Thatcher