Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth19 March 1933
CountryUnited States of America
hands giving stills
It's best to give while your hand is still warm.
people ideology
You cannot observe people through an ideology. Your ideology observes for you.
world novelists easier
I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.
people lucky would-be
Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you.
taste enough given
You tasted it. Isn't that enough? Of what do you ever get more than a taste? That's all we're given in life, that's all we're given of life. A taste. There is no more.
war order political
World War III will be triggered off not by suppressed nationalists seeking political independence, as happened the first time around when the Serbs at Sarajevo shot the heir to the Austrian throne, but by some semiliterate, whacked-out "loner" who lobs a rocket into a nuclear arsenal in order to impress Brooke Shields.
commitment writing use
I have a slogan I use when I get anxious writing, which happens quite a bit: ‘the ordeal is part of the commitment.’ It’s one of my mantras. It makes a lot of things doable.
fun games faces
Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.
writing sisterhood skulls
The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.
battle age massacres
Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.
reading noise fiction
Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.
thrill horror lost
The horror of being caged has lost its thrill.
lessons worst teach
He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.
love-you telling-the-truth force
You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.