13 Quotes & Sayings By David Markson

David Markson was born in 1910 in North Carolina. He studied English at the University of North Carolina, but he never received a degree. During the 1930s, he was a journalist on the San Francisco Chronicle, worked for advertising agencies in New York City, and wrote travel pieces for Life. He moved to Paris in 1940, where he worked on the Paris Herald Tribune until 1942 Read more

After World War II, he worked for American magazines in London and New York City until 1950. Markson returned to Paris in 1950 and began writing full-time. His works include "Postures," "Lapis Lazuli," "The Innocents," "The Memoirs of an Amnesiac," "Spitting Blood," "Wittgenstein's Nephew," and "A Void."

You can learn more by going to the opera than...
1
You can learn more by going to the opera than you ever can by reading Emerson. Like that there are two sexes. David Markson
3
I like Mr. Dickens’ books much better than yours, Papa. Said one of Thackeray’s daughters. David Markson
4
I still notice the burned house, mornings, when I walk along the beach. "Well, obviously I do not notice the house. What I notice is what remains of the house. One is still prone to think of a house as a house, however, even if there is not remarkably much left of it. David Markson
5
Was it really some other person I was so anxious to discover...or was it only my own solitude that I could not abide? David Markson
6
Although one curious thing that might sooner or later cross the woman's mind would be that she had paradoxically been practically as alone before all of this had happened as she was now, incidentally. Well, this being an autobiographical novel I can categorically verify that such a thing would sooner or later cross her mind, in fact. One manner of being alone simply being different from another manner of being alone, being all that she would finally decide that this came down to, as well. Which is to say that even when one's telephone still does function one can be as alone as when it does not. . David Markson
7
Once, somebody asked Robert Schumann to explain the meaning of a certain piece of music he had just played on the piano. What Robert Schumann did was sit back down at the piano and play the piece of music again. David Markson
8
Coincidences undeniably imply meaning. I am rereading Hart Crane.I notice the date On which he stepped off that boat Was April 26.Tomorrow is April 26.The year of his suicide was 1932.I was four. I am now fifty-one. One undeniable implication in this case then Is that the year, today, Is 1979.Afterward, Crane’s mother scrubbed floors. Eventually, I may or may not Jump overboard. Are there questions? . David Markson
9
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me. David Markson
10
Once, I had a dream of fame. Generally, even then, I was lonely. David Markson
11
Still, how I nearly felt. In the midst of all that looking. David Markson
12
Have I ever said that Turner once actually had himself lashed to the mast of a ship, to be able to later do a painting of a storm? Which has never failed to remind me of the scene in which Odysseus does the identical thing, of course, so that he can listen to the Sirens singing but will stay put. David Markson