Jim Harrison Quotes

Michigan is two radically different places - the North and the South which makes for good drama and contrast... view

By: Jim Harrison

Naturally we would prefer seven epiphanies a day and an earth not so apparently devoid of angels... view

By: Jim Harrison

Writers can write outside their ethnicity or sex depending how open and vulnerable they wish to be... view

By: Jim Harrison

The fact is, the media never gets off the interstate unless there's a major explosion... view

By: Jim Harrison

Short things are short all over and long things are long all over... view

By: Jim Harrison

So when I made some money, I didn't have any idea how one handled such a situation because no one in our family ever had any money... view

By: Jim Harrison

Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness. And they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy... or they become legend... view

By: Jim Harrison

Success and money can really be quite blinding... view

By: Jim Harrison

New Yorkers are mostly interested in New York - in case you haven't noticed... view

By: Jim Harrison

The old fun thing is when somebody typed up the first chapter of War and Peace. And then made a precis of the rest of it and sent it out and only one publisher recognized it... view

By: Jim Harrison

The only advice I can give to aspiring writers is don't do it unless you're willing to give your whole life to it. Red wine and garlic also helps... view

By: Jim Harrison

The trajectory started when I was on the roof of our house looking out at a swamp when I was 19. I had written for several years, starting at about 15, but that day on the roof I took my vows and acknowledged my calling... view

By: Jim Harrison

We are all naturally xenophobic... view

By: Jim Harrison

Writing as a woman presents enormous problems but I have attempted it several times and haven't had many complaints... view

By: Jim Harrison

Yeah, but now suddenly - you know, universities are notoriously market oriented, too... view

By: Jim Harrison

Your kids inevitably want to move where they had their vacations when they were younger... view

By: Jim Harrison

I got $30 from Nation magazine for a poem and $500 for my first book of poems... view

By: Jim Harrison

I've never felt influenced by Ernest Hemingway though I suppose there is something inevitable there... view

By: Jim Harrison

There is a neurologist, a woman over at Harvard who wanted me to come talk to them, and in France I have a lot of readers in the sciences. I can't tell you why... view

By: Jim Harrison

I enjoy about 1 out of 100 movies, it's about the same proportion to books published that I care to read... view

By: Jim Harrison

I see more genuine sociability between the races in Mississippi than I see in Michigan. No question... view

By: Jim Harrison

Because most writers have totally unrealistic concepts of how publishing works... view

By: Jim Harrison

Everybody has a gun in their car in Detroit... view

By: Jim Harrison

I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that... view

By: Jim Harrison

I can write anywhere... view

By: Jim Harrison

I couldn't run a tight schedule, and if you're any good at teaching, you get sucked dry because you like your students and you're trying to help them, but you don't have any time left to write yourself... view

By: Jim Harrison

I do have trouble with titles... view

By: Jim Harrison

I'm not rational enough to be a good journalist... view

By: Jim Harrison

I don't see gender as the most significant fact of human existence... view

By: Jim Harrison

I rarely read or buy a book because of a review... view

By: Jim Harrison

After a lifetime of world travel I've been fascinated that those in the third world don't have the same perception of reality that we do... view

By: Jim Harrison

I should add that I very much enjoy certain cities especially Paris, New York and Chicago... view

By: Jim Harrison

I thought, frankly, that it would be more pleasant to write a memoir than it was... view

By: Jim Harrison

I used to get criticized for putting food in novels... view

By: Jim Harrison

I write novellas because I don't like loose sprawling prose... view

By: Jim Harrison

I'm actually forced to write about Michigan because as a native of that state it's the place I know best... view

By: Jim Harrison

I don't know what psychotherapy does. I have been seeing the same person for 26 years now... view

By: Jim Harrison