By Nava Atlas | On September 4, 2017 | Updated December 6, 2022 | Comments (1)
Katherine Anne Porter (1890 – 1980), the American author and journalist, made a name for herself with her short stories and her magnum opus novel Ship of Fools (1962). Following is a forthright selection of quotes by Katherine Anne Porter, who never shied away from speaking her truth.
“My life has been incredible, I don’t believe a word of it.” That’s a famous quote that reflects a penchant for self-invention. She was considered somewhat flamboyant by some; unknowable by others.
Porter often took many years to accomplish her literary goals; writing was a way to face questions encountered in her own life. Her writing voice was rooted in realism and a sense of passion. Read More→
By Emma Ward | On September 1, 2017 | Updated August 18, 2026 | Comments (0)
Miles Franklin (1879 – 1954) was an Australian writer best known for her 1901 novel, My Brilliant Career. The following selection of quotes from My Brilliant Career help us to know the author better, for it has elements of autobiography.
Franklin may not be as well remembered by readers worldwide as she is in her native land, but her works are well worth exploring.
This description is from the St. Martin’s Press edition of My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin:
“Originally published in 1901, My Brilliant Career was written when Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin was only sixteen years old. But Miles Franklin was decades ahead of her time, and this book was written for an audience not yet born.
For the character of Sybilla Melvyn, Miles Franklin created someone who voices with incredible charm but deadly accuracy the fears, conflicts, and torments of every young woman coming of age in a man’s world. Red-haired, impetuous, sharp-tongued, Sybilla has ambitions that reach far beyond here small-town life in the Australian outback.”
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By Taylor Jasmine | On August 30, 2017 | Updated November 18, 2022 | Comments (0)
Françoise Sagan (1935 – 2004), the French novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, was always best know for her debut novel, Bonjour Tristesse, published when she was just 18. Following is a selection of quotes by François Sagan on love, life, and writing.
Sagan went on to have an incredibly prolific career after her freshman effort, coupled with a wild and turbulent life that featured fast cars, drugs, and many love affairs.
Her turbulent life eventually caught up with her health; she spent her last few years ill and and she died in 2004 of a pulmonary embolism at the age of sixty-nine. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On August 22, 2017 | Updated November 18, 2022 | Comments (16)
Dorothy Parker (1893 – 1967) was American journalist, short story writer, and poet. Here’s you’ll find a sampling of quotes by Dorothy Parker that show off her wit and wisdom.
Parker is best remembered for her trenchant wisecracking and wit, which she used to great effect in her reviews, nonfiction, and verse. She was also one of the founding members of the Algonquin Roundtable, an exclusive group of New York City literati.
She got her start in magazine writing, including theatre criticism for Vanity Fair. In the 1920s, she became known for her book review column, “Constant Reader,” in the New Yorker. Her reviews — some snarky, others sensitive, always pithy — were a pleasure to read. The magazine also published some of her short stories. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On August 21, 2017 | Updated July 24, 2026 | Comments (0)
Sylvia Plath (1932 – 1963) has achieved cult-like status as a major American poet. Ambitious, brilliant, and beautiful, she was cursed with a lifelong struggle with depression that led to suicide at the age of thirty.
Because most of her work was published after her untimely death, she wasn’t alive to enjoy very many of the fruits of her labors. But her place in the American literary canon is secure and well deserved.
Her poetry as well as her journals are frank and revelatory about her personal life and innermost thoughts. Passages from her journals reveal her attempts to balance nagging self-doubt with a hunger to write and create. Here are introspective quotes by Sylvia Plath from a variety of sources. Read More→
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