H.A. Lamb Quotes

Time partially reconciles us to anything. I gradually became content--doggedly contented, as wild animals in cages.

There is a pleasure in affecting affectation.

The most mortifying infirmity in human nature, to feel in ourselves, or to contemplate in another, is perhaps cowardice.

When one is innocent of pain, of the havoc it can wreak, one is never cruel. Cruelty is born of pain, of a need to hurt in turn.

The God who hates trees is the founding father of patriarchy.

the sins of children rise up in judgment against their parents.

a weak and irresolute disposition is often more destructive than determined vice.

The greatest griefs are silent.

Fiction writing is a strange business when you think about it. You sit down and weave a network of lies to explore deeper truths.

Love stories are probably all Ive ever been able to write or want to write.

What if I don’t like adventure? Then cultivate a taste for it. Take a chance. That’s how you grow.

I won't read novels while writing novels.

My Italian-American heritage, of which I'm very proud and with which I identify strongly, surfaces in several of my novels.

I'm a very rooted person. I grew up in Norwich, Connecticut, I still live in Connecticut.

I write to find out what the story means to me, that is what I try to do especially with the first draft.

I love the most the students with troubled lives.

I like to be surprised. The best writing is when it defies me, when it starts going a different way than I had planned.

With destruction comes renovation.

I like to write first-person because I like to become the character I'm writing.

When I was a kid... I needed to belong.

If you risked love, it took you wherever you wanted to go. If you repressed it, you ended up unhappy.

I try to stick with what moves me or teaches me about myself, same thing I hope the novels do for others.

I need to get lost and sometimes my characters lead me to places I don't expect to go.

I wanted to connect a modern story with a myth that I had read.

I am a plodder, I make an appointment with my computer everyday and I have no idea where I am going.

I work hard, do my best and send it out to the world hoping that people can relate to it. I accept any reaction and hope they think it is worth reading.

I try to find something that applies not to me only, but to others, but don't try to control it too much. Essentially it is about what moves us, teaches us about ourselves.

Dialogue comes naturally to me and I can hear the characters' voices in the scenes.

Hardest thing: creating something out of nothing - the first draft is torturous.

The roundness of life's design may be a sign that there is a presence beyond ourselves.

Life is a whoopee cushion, a chair pulled away just as you were taking a seat.

The point is this: that the stream of memory may lead you to the river of understanding. And understanding, in turn, may be a tributary to the river of forgiveness.

First I laughed my way through Elinor Lipman's book of political tweets. Then I put my ear to the ground and listened to Molly Ivins guffawing from the grave. Lipman is a piquant poetic rock star!

I usually learn more from the situations I hate than the ones I love.

Connecticut is in my blood.

The evidence of God exists in the roundness of things.

A rare theorist turned experimentalist.

Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.

Love is like breathing. You take it in and let it out.

Routine feeds the illusion of safety...

Look, don't just stare at the pages, " I used to tell my students. "Become the characters. Live inside the book.

Persistence can look a lot like stupid.

It takes great courage to write great books. Find your courage and find your voice.

The surest path to success is to learn to have a healthy relationship with failure. If we aren't failing, then we aren't doing anything interesting.

Maybe that's what love is. Having someone who guides you through different experiences, coaxes you to try news things but still makes you feel safe.

-- that books were mirrors, reflective in sometimes unpredictable ways.

Books are like ice cream there is a flavor for everyone!

Nobody's perfect. Well, there was this one guy, but we killed him....

So, what’s the status?” said Ira as he pulled himself down to his couch.“Will is turning into a starship, ” Hugo replied, clearly only half in jest. “We’re about to watch history in the making.

I needed her to stop. Needed not to hear the pain in her voice--to see the way she was twisting the pocketbook strap. If she kept talking, she might break down and tell me everything.