Amy Waldman Quotes

Powerful Amy Waldman for Daily Growth

About Amy Waldman

Amy Waldman is an American novelist and journalist known for her evocative storytelling that delves into the intricacies of society, culture, and history. Born in 1968, she spent her early years in New York City, where her interest in writing was first kindled. After graduating from Harvard University with a degree in English Literature, Waldman worked as a journalist for several years, covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for The New York Times. This experience would later influence her debut novel, 'The Submission' (2011), which explores themes of identity, community, and artistry in the aftermath of 9/11. Waldman's second novel, 'A Door in the Earth' (2017), is set against the backdrop of post-conflict Sri Lanka, offering a poignant exploration of reconciliation, memory, and the human capacity for forgiveness. Her work has been widely acclaimed for its nuanced portrayal of complex characters and thoughtful examination of societal issues. Waldman's life experiences have greatly influenced her writing. She spent time in India as a Fulbright Scholar, and her experiences there are reflected in her writing. Her journalistic background also informs her narrative style, with a keen eye for detail and an ability to create immersive worlds. Amy Waldman continues to write, explore, and enrich literature with her unique voice and perspective. Her works serve as poignant reminders of our shared humanity and the complexities that define it.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The city is a living, breathing entity that is made up of its people and their stories."

This quote highlights the notion that cities are not just physical structures but vibrant organisms composed of their inhabitants and their narratives. It suggests that a city's essence lies in the collective experiences, emotions, and interactions of its people. The city is a dynamic tapestry woven from individual stories, reflecting humanity's resilience, creativity, and diversity. In essence, understanding a city means delving into its inhabitants' lives and the shared tales that shape their urban environment.

"New York is not just a place; it's an idea, a dream, a symbol."

Amy Waldman's quote suggests that New York City transcends its physical location and embodies an abstract concept or ideal, serving as a beacon of opportunity, ambition, and diversity. It symbolizes the aspirations and dreams of countless individuals worldwide who see it as a symbol of success, innovation, and cultural pluralism. This quote highlights the unique allure and significance that New York City holds in people's imaginations.

"Memory, after all, is the story we tell ourselves about the past."

This quote suggests that our perception and understanding of past events are often shaped by how we recall them, or the "story" we tell ourselves. Memory isn't merely a passive recording of facts but an active process where personal biases, emotions, and experiences influence how we remember things. Essentially, Amy Waldman underscores the idea that our memories are not always objective accounts of reality, but rather, they reflect our subjective interpretations and narratives about the past.

"To forget what has been done, to close one's eyes to history, is a terrible thing."

This quote by Amy Waldman emphasizes the importance of remembering our past actions, especially those with historical significance. Forgetting or ignoring history can lead to repeating mistakes and overlooking valuable lessons that guide us in making informed decisions for our future. Awareness and understanding of our past help shape a more just and enlightened society.

"The city can be a refuge from the world and yet a mirror of it at the same time, reflecting both its best and worst impulses."

The quote highlights the duality that cities embody: they offer a safe haven, a place of respite for individuals, yet they also serve as a reflection of the world's diverse qualities. This duality can be seen in the coexistence of kindness, creativity, and progression alongside chaos, inequality, and strife within urban environments. Essentially, cities provide an opportunity to escape the challenges of the broader world while offering a microcosm that mirrors its complexities.

Religious speech is extreme, emotional, and motivational. It is anti-literal, relying on metaphor, allusion, and other rhetorical devices, and it assumes knowledge within a community of believers.

- Amy Waldman

Other, Religious, Rhetorical, Assumes

And as journalists we look for differences - differences between countries, cultures, classes, and communities. We're very sensitized to difference, but it's much harder to write about similarities across countries, cultures, classes, and communities.

- Amy Waldman

Differences, Very, Classes, Similarities

So the premise of 'The Submission' is that there's an anonymous competition to design a 9/11 memorial and it's won by an American Muslim, an architect born and raised in Virginia, and his name is Mohammad Khan.

- Amy Waldman

Born, Muslim, Architect, Premise

Work less than you think you should. It took me a while to realise there was a point each day when my creativity ran out and I was just producing words - usually lousy ones - for their own sake. And nap: it helps to refresh the brain, at least mine.

- Amy Waldman

Own, Least, While, Nap

The September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon prompted a fundamental shift in the American government's approach to Islamic terrorism.

- Amy Waldman

Center, Shift, Islamic, Prompted

Fiction just has a lot more room for ambivalence and internal conflict, contradiction, and for me that sums up so much of what people felt after 9/11 - confusion even. And I think that's hard to capture in journalism.

- Amy Waldman

Fiction, I Think, Internal, Confusion

As a reporter you tend to seek coherence from your subject or your source - it all needs to add up and make sense. In truth, in reality, there's often a great deal of murkiness and muddiness, confusion and contradiction.

- Amy Waldman

Deal, Coherence, Subject, Confusion

I read Claire Messud's 'The Emperor's Children,' I read Joseph O'Neill's 'Netherland' - but to me, they're not 9/11 novels. In 'The Emperor's Children,' 9/11 felt to me like a piece of the plot; the novel wasn't wrestling with what 9/11 meant. And 'Netherland' felt the same way. I liked both books a lot but I don't see them as 9/11 novels.

- Amy Waldman

Claire, Liked, Lot, Emperor

I found 'The Twin' sitting on a coffee table at a writers' colony in 2009. It carried praise from J.M. Coetzee. That seemed ample justification for using it to avoid my own writing. I finished it - weeping - a day later, and I've been puzzling over its powerful hold on me ever since.

- Amy Waldman

Own, Been, Colony, Coffee Table

In Germany, you have a huge official memorial to the murdered Jews and then you have this artist who's been putting these stumbling blocks, these brass cobblestones, outside the houses Jews were taken away from. It's somewhat controversial and has met some resistance.

- Amy Waldman

Some, Away, Been, Memorial

As a novelist, you deepen your characters as you go, adding layers. As a reporter, you try to peel layers away: observing subjects enough to get beneath the surface, re-questioning a source to find the facts. But these processes aren't so different.

- Amy Waldman

Away, Source, Your, Deepen

Imagination, it turns out, is a great deal like reporting in your own head. Here is a paradox of fiction-writing. You are crafting something from nothing, which means, in one sense, that none of it is true. Yet in the writing, and perhaps in the reading, some of a character's actions or lines are truer than others.

- Amy Waldman

Here, Some, Deal, Reporting

I had been a reporter for 15 years when I set out to write my first novel. I knew how to research an article or profile a subject - skills that I assumed would be useless when it came to fiction. It was from my imagination that the characters in my story would emerge.

- Amy Waldman

Fiction, Been, Subject, Article

Over the centuries, and even today, the Bible and Christian theology have helped justify the Crusades, slavery, violence against gays, and the murder of doctors who perform abortions. The words themselves are latent, inert, harmless - until they aren't.

- Amy Waldman

Christian, Against, Gays, Latent

I'm kind of a mash-up of taste - Graham Greene and Jane Austen; W.G. Sebald and Alice Munro.

- Amy Waldman

Kind, Taste, Graham, Austen

I think in the wake of 9/11, like a lot of Americans, you know, we were all very traumatized by the attacks, traumatized in a totally different way by some of what happened afterward in response. And I think there have been these questions hovering in the past decade of, what kind of country are we? Who are we?

- Amy Waldman

Country, Some, Very, Traumatized

While researching 'The Submission,' I went to a protest against the Ground Zero mosque in New York when I was about to give birth to twins. It was about 100 degrees. People thought I was very dedicated.

- Amy Waldman

Thought, Mosque, Very, Ground Zero

My parents are aging and there are difficult issues. It's strange to have children at the beginning of life and parents nearing the end.

- Amy Waldman

Beginning, Difficult, Issues, Aging

History is the history of human behavior, and human behavior is the raw material of fiction. Most people recognize that novelists do research to get the facts right - how a glove factory works, for example, or how courtesans in imperial Japan dressed.

- Amy Waldman

Raw Material, Novelists, Human Behavior

My children, who are almost two: watching them develop has made me pay much closer attention to how we become who we are.

- Amy Waldman

Pay, Made, Almost, Closer

I wasted years worrying about what other people thought.

- Amy Waldman

Thought, Other, Wasted, Worrying

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