57 Claire Messud Quotes for You to Enjoy

Claire Messud

American Novelist

Born: 1966

Life Me People World Writing You

Related authors: Elie Wiesel Ernest Hemingway H. P. Lovecraft James Baldwin John Updike Leo Rosten Nathaniel Hawthorne Richard Bach

I remember going to a son's friend's bar mitzvah, and the text that he chose to explicate was right at the beginning of Genesis. It was not about a fall from grace or a fall from perfection; it was about an awakening into consciousness, which is what it means to be human. Claire Messud

For those of us whose thoughts digress; for whom unexpected juxtapositions are exhilarating rather than tiresome; who aim, if always inadequately, to convey life's experience in some semblance of its complexity - for such writers, the semi-colon is invaluable. Claire Messud

If I look at my make-up, Canada is a huge part of what I am. Claire Messud

Part Look Am Huge Canada Huge Part

I always feel as though I'm not quite Canadian enough for everybody. Claire Messud

Enough Everybody Though Feel Always Canadian Quite

When you move around a lot, there are little bits of you from everywhere. I mean, my father's French, and I speak French, and there's a kind of struggle in me that says, 'I'd like to be French.' But I've never been fully part of that culture, that role. Claire Messud

As a kid, I used to tell all these stories. I remember meeting a childhood friend, and we were talking. We remembered that I had made up this story about going to Mars. And she looked at me and said, 'I didn't sleep for a week after that!' Claire Messud

Me Remember Made Meeting Kid Tell Mars About Week Had Remembered Looked She Talking Said Were Friend Up Going Childhood Stories After Story Used Sleep

I love my books, and with all their dog-ears and under-linings they are irreplaceable, but I sometimes wish they'd just vanish. Claire Messud

Love Sometimes Wish Books Vanish Irreplaceable Just

I went around in my teens and early 20s thinking that life was a con trick. I had managed to grow up believing in all sorts of romantic ideas about hard work and justice and truth, and it seemed the real world was much more complicated and shaded than I wanted to believe. Claire Messud

Life Work Truth Hard Work Justice World Complicated Believe Thinking Teens Trick About Seemed More Had Con Ideas Sort Around Real Up Than Romantic Wanted The Real World Real World Much Hard Grow Grow Up Believing Early Early 20s