Grace Paley Quotes

I'd rather let the fiction speak for itself and I don't want to write fiction that tells people how to feel, and I don't want to be judgmental in the fiction.

I don't have a great eye for detail. I leave blanks in all of my stories. I leave out all detail, which leaves the reader to fill in something better.

I believe the structure of 'House of Leaves' is far more difficult to explain than it is to read. And while I'd like to lay claim to some extraordinary act of originality, truth is I'm only taking advantage of capabilities inherent in everyone.

I think once you write fiction, you put it out, and it can be interpreted in a variety of ways, some of which are going to be shocking to the writer.

I often use nameless places in my work as a way of allowing the readers to create more of the novel and to make it potentially about their experiences, what they know, a city that they have perhaps seen on television.

I try to write short novels and leave details out not because I want to be minimalist, but because I think that it enables the readers' creativity and interaction with the book.

Canada was conceived of by men of two different equally rich cultures, of two distinctive communities. Bilingualism and biculturalism are facts of Canadian life and should not be hidden or avoided. They're important, even vital to Canada as a nation, but they’re assets, not liabilities, positive factors, not negative ones.

There are men of eighteen different languages; they are scattered here and there upon the [Hudson] river.

Miami is America’s most diverse city… We have 140 languages we speak..

The main hope of harmony in our troubled world lies rather in the plurality of our identities, which intertwine with each other and are resistant to drastic divisions

… a polyglot boarding house

I think being biracial is a different experience. I think that, and coming from the U.K., I feel as much white as I do black. And so it's really important for me to address these issues of identity in my work. But also, you know, we're always stronger when we work on, you know, what we have in common. And I love exploring that in my work.

At different times my children went to Polish, British, and American schools, and they learned about 'the nation' in all of them.

I don't want to come and conquer American films or the American market. I just want to do movies that I care about, stories that I like.

Sometimes, like in 'Invisible Monsters,' I get too out of control, and instead of a plot point every chapter, I want a plot point in every sentence.

I don't like getting stuck into someone's definition of what you can or can't do with a story.

We are surrounded by people with accents because America is a nation of immigrants. Beyond that, the people who made your iPhone and the shirt on your back are probably Asians, and we're really not that disconnected from each other; we have very intimate relationships with the world, whether or not we realize it.

I don't think art is bound by language or country.

In the novels I most admire, there is this sense that, within the confines of the world, the possibilities are always opening in new and surprising ways - that was a quality I strived to capture, with the hope that the reader would be willing to follow me.

Just because you are Latino does not mean you can't be global.

The architecture scene in China is the most open and free climate compared to many other places. You can find many opportunities.

I love L.A. partly because it feels like there are so many parts of the world in this city.

I'm the sort of writer who likes to leave doors open for readers.

You really want a company that's full of people from all these different backgrounds and then allow them to be creative as possible, come together, and come up with great ideas.

It's better to live a world where you can hear different languages and sensibilities.