Geoff Dyer Quotes

I could not sit seriously down to write a serious Romance under any other motive than to save my life, & if it were indispensable for me to keep it up & never relax into laughing at myself or other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first chapter. No - I must keep my own style & go on in my own way; and though I may never succeed again in that, I am convinced that I should totally fail in any other.

The style developed over decades, really, but I started out writing pretty traditional stories, then became impatient. It was a writer named Russell Edson who showed me that one could write in any way at all.

Nobody can make more fun of me than I already make of myself.

It's funny, because I never think of myself as Little Miss All-Together.

Apparently, I don't want to take myself too seriously.

Nobody can write better jokes putting me down than me.

As I write, I control my anxiety and anguish thanks to the invaluable aid of irony and humor. But every night I am subdued by an anxiety that knows no irony, and I must wait until the next day to rediscover the blend of anguish and humor that characterizes my writing and that generates my style.

I do shows, stage shows all the time, and I'm so afraid that people are going to recognize themselves, and they never do. They never do. They're always like, 'Oh, that woman was ridiculous,' and yeah, they're talking about themselves.

I never think I'm making fun of my culture. In fact I'm making fun of myself, because I catch myself doing some very stupid things.

It's better to make fun of yourself because you've always got someone around to make fun of, and they can't sue you.

I'm all about being self-deprecating because I think it's hilarious.

I believe an editor's job is to help a writer sound like himself or herself.

Self-deprecation is my game.

The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the single most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.

You can say the nastiest things about yourself without offending anyone.

Writers are encouraged to "keep 'em laughing" and complain "with good humor" in order to "win" allies. The joke is always on ourselves.

I think Douglas [Adams] is writing with an eye to irony for adults at the same time as entertaining children.

People say both Obama and I have trouble laughing at ourselves. We can't laugh at ourselves. That would be racist!

That's how it always is with me: the thing that sets me down to start writing is usually not what I end up doing. Because, as much as I love genre, and I try to deliver the goods, I go off from it. I go do my own thing.

Well, I'm quite a self-deprecating person.

I think that's why I've lasted this long because I love everything I make fun of! I make fun of myself first! I mean, I started my career by calling my films "trash" - the local critics used to complain that I beat the critic to the typewriter.

This paper of yours is so lightly written that you must have sweated terribly.

You see, I'm fond of teasing, it's a second nature with me—and I'm used to teasing myself. Plaguing myself, if you prefer; I don't tease nicely.

I was naïve when I was young, I was sheltered. I had illusions about who I was going to be, delusions, and a little bit of pretentiousness. And I thought, "I'll write the guy like that. It'll allow me to make fun of everyone else if I make fun of myself."

So, then, what is style? There are two chief aspects of any piece of writing: 1) what you say and 2) how you say it. The former is "content" and the latter is "style."