5 Quotes & Sayings By Ann Beattie

Ann Beattie is a New York Times bestselling author whose novels have been translated in over twenty languages. She's also a regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and New York Review of Books. Her books have been shortlisted for the Orange Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her twin daughters and husband, who make sure she never runs out of words.

1
Nothing is so lovely as a quietly snoring dog and some evening Brahms, as you sit in a comfortably overstuffed chair with your feet on the footstool. Ann Beattie
2
This is a story, told the way you say stories should be told: Somebody grew up, fell in love, and spent a winter with her lover in the country. This, of course, is the barest outline, and futile to discuss. It’s as pointless as throwing birdseed on the ground while snow still falls fast. Who expects small things to survive when even the largest get lost? People forget years and remember moments. Seconds and symbols are left to sum things up: the black shroud over the pool. Love, in its shortest form, becomes a word. What I remember about all that time is one winter. The snow. Even now, saying “snow, ” my lips move so that they kiss air. No mention has been made of the snowplow that seemed always to be there, scraping snow off our narrow road – an artery cleared, though neither of us could have said where the heart was. . Ann Beattie
3
It's not about having things figured out, or about communicating with other people, trying to make them understand what you understand. It's about a chicken dinner at a drive-in. A soft pillow. Things that don't need explaining. Ann Beattie
4
Clichés so often befall vain people. Ann Beattie