Stephen Elliott quotes:

The best book I read in 2007 was Stoner by John Williams. It's perhaps the best book I've read in years.

In every book I ever wrote the point was to do as much as you could after coming to terms with your limitations.

Tom Kealey might be my favorite short story writer and this astonishing collection is long overdue.

You'd be amazed how much fun you can have if you get out of your own head. The problem is that now people are only interested in themselves. What we have is a non-voting generation. That's what they should call you guys, the non-voting generation. You think you can't fix anything until you fix yourselves. Well, let me be the first to tell you, you will never fix yourselves. p.32

A stranger can see in an instant something in you that you might spend years learning about yourself. How awful we all are when we look at ourselves under a light, finally seeing our reflections. How little we know about ourselves. How much forgiveness it must take to love a person, to choose not to see their flaws, or to see those flaws and love the person anyway. If you never forgive you'll always be alone.

If you never forgive you'll always be alone.

That's why you have to write your book right now, if that's what you want to do. If you wait until you have the time, and the security, you might not want to do it. You're in a race against your own enthusiasm. Don't put it off because someone told you it's never too late. That's the worst lie. It's never too late today, but it's often too late tomorrow.

What we remember, and how we order and interpret what we believe to be true, are what shapes who we are.