16 Mona Simpson Quotes for You to Enjoy

Mona Simpson

American Author

Born: Jun 14, 1957

About Love Me Mother People Time

Related authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald Frederick Douglass Helen Keller Henry David Thoreau Joyce Meyer Mark Twain Og Mandino Zig Ziglar

I left the Midwest when I was twelve years old, and I haven't lived in a small town since. Mona Simpson

Old Small Small Town Since Town Years Left Midwest Twelve Lived

It's a different thing to write a love story now than in the time of Jane Austen, Eliot, or Tolstoy. One of the problems is that once divorce is possible, once break-ups are possible, it can all become a little less momentous. Mona Simpson

Love Time Problems Become Love Story Once Possible One Of The Problems Write Divorce Austen Than Different Story Jane Jane Austen Little Less Momentous Tolstoy Different Thing Now Thing

'Casebook' is my attempt at a love story. I had a vision of a difficult love. Mona Simpson

Love Vision Love Story Difficult Attempt Had Story

I suppose 'My Hollywood' is only as politically meaningful as it is deeply inside the least powerful of its characters. I wanted it to reveal scenes of subtle exploitation, odd instances of accidental power and challenges to decency specific to its time, but also impulses of generosity that transcend our particular era's messes. Mona Simpson

Time Challenges Power Decency Exploitation Our Characters Inside Only Scenes Generosity Powerful Particular Suppose Also Messes Reveal Least Accidental Era Odd Politically Impulses Transcend Wanted Subtle Hollywood Meaningful Specific Deeply

I felt like any other American kid. I already worked at a steady job as an ice cream scooper, but I didn't feel less in any way than my more affluent friends from school. Mona Simpson

I've never had an exclusive relationship to a room where I write. I used to want one. Mona Simpson

Relationship Write Never Had Exclusive Where Want Room Used

In my 30s, I wrote in the back house of a ramshackle Spanish Revival we rented across from the ocean in the Santa Monica Canyon. I wrote thousands of pages there, but in order to see another adult human being, I had to steal out through the brambly side of the house, along the driveway down to the street. Mona Simpson

Human Being Ocean Down Side Back Out Thousands See Steal Through Adult Had Driveway Along House Wrote Another Revival Human Being Order Spanish Canyon Across Pages Santa Santa Monica Street Monica

Writers collect stories of rituals: John Cheever putting on a jacket and tie to go down to the basement, where he kept a desk near the boiler room. Keats buttoning up his clean white shirt to write in, after work. Mona Simpson

Work White Down Collect John Clean Rituals Write Writers He Putting Tie Go His Up Shirt Jacket Where Stories After Room Keats Near Basement Kept Desk

Instead of a dedicated room, my best trigger is the actual habit of reading over the texts from the day before. Marking. Changing. Fussing. This ritual amounts to a habit of trust. Trust that I can make it better. That if I keep trying, I will come closer to something true. Mona Simpson

Best Day Trust Better Will Reading Before Changing Marking Trigger Something Habit Ritual Instead True Over Come Make Texts Trying Closer Room Dedicated Keep Actual Amount

I grew up with a single mother, and although we didn't have a lot of money, she cared a great deal about what we ate. We were the original health-food family. We shopped at what were called health-food stores before Whole Foods - everything came from bins. Mona Simpson

Great Family Money Mother Great Deal Single Before Everything Ate About Foods She Although Deal Single Mother Came Were Lot Up Grew Stores Original Whole Whole Foods Cared

My mother was a single parent, a speech therapist who worked for a company that kept a substantial percentage of the income they billed for her to teach stroke victims in convalescent hospitals to talk again. Mona Simpson

My first job was to run a concessions cart. Later, I found a position at the Pacific Film Archive. Thus began a long series of jobs, each one slightly better than the last, that continued for a decade, until I sold my first novel, and still goes on, even now. Mona Simpson

Better Job Long First Sold Later Slightly Jobs Run Cart Long Series Thus First Job Until Still Continue Began Than Decade Goes Pacific Even Novel Series Each Even Now Film Found Now Each One Last Position

If a mother is sitting in a chair at the office, someone needs to be at home with her child. In some cases, that is a father. Much of the time, the material manifestation of the conflict is a nanny. Mona Simpson

Time Home Needs Conflict Mother Father Some Someone Cases Nanny Material Child Office Sitting Manifestation Much Chair Her

The first person besides my mother who believed in me was a man whose last name I never knew. He was my boss, the manager of Swenson's Ice Cream shop. Mona Simpson

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