Jean Stafford Quotations

She did observe, with some dismay, that far from conquering all, love lazily sidestepped practical problems.

From time to time, I need a rest from the exercitation of my intellect.

For me, there is nothing worse than the knowledge that my life holds nothing for me but being a writer.

He does what I have always needed to have done to me, and that is that he dominates me.

Irony, I feel, is a very high form of morality.

(My bounded brain was as) unalterable as a ball.

A small silence came between us, as precise as a picture hanging on the wall.

You say that you hope I will be recognized as the best novelist of my generation. I want you to know now and know completely that that would mean to me absolutely nothing.

For all practical purposes I left home when I was 7.

I know this, and the knowledge eats me like an inward animal: there is nothing worse for a woman than to be deprived of her womanliness.