Peter De Vries
Peter De Vries
Peter De Vrieswas an American editor and novelist known for his satiric wit. He has been described by the philosopher Daniel Dennett as "probably the funniest writer on religion ever"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth27 February 1910
CountryUnited States of America
time able ministers
Time heals nothing-which should make us better able to minister.
writing lasts discouraged
I tried to write worse but it was no good; my generalizations came out as before, each more exquisite than the last. I grew discouraged.
splinters pieces sticks
We are nothing but a string of gut on a stick of bone riding this piece of astral soot for one piteous splinter of eternity.
fads way looks
Look at it this way: Psychoanalysis is a permanent fad.
cookies shapes diction
Words fashioned with somewhat over precise diction are like shapes turned out by a cookie cutter.
easter race ideas
"You ought to be ashamed," a woman in an Easter bonnet told Stein. "Your race gave us our religion..." "From ancient polytheism, the belief in lots of gods," the woman continued a little more eruditely, "the Hebrew nation led us on to the idea that there is only one." "Which is just a step from the truth," said Stein.
exercise unnatural
Exercise is an unnatural act.
pick-me-up trying despair
Try the Lamentations of Jeremiah. They always pick me up.
self abuse celibacy
Celibacy is the worst form of self-abuse.
true-love enmity love-one-another
We must love one another, yes, yes, that's all true enough, but nothing says we have to like each other.
writing should-have beginning-middle-and-end
Every novel should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
years expanding-universe billions
Anyone informed that the universe is expanding and contracting in pulsations of eighty billion years has a right to ask. What's in it for me?
brain ears devices
We know the human brain is a device to keep the ears from grating on one another.
pay rich taxes
The rich aren't like us, they pay less taxes.