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Elizabeth Strout Quotes

Powerful Elizabeth Strout for Daily Growth

About Elizabeth Strout

**Elizabeth Strout** is an acclaimed American novelist and short-story writer, best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'Olive Kitteridge.' Born on January 7, 1956, in Portland, Maine, Strout spent her early years surrounded by her extended family, which she credits as a significant influence in her writing. After graduating from the University of Bowdoin in 1978 with a Bachelor's degree in English, Strout worked various jobs while nurturing her passion for writing. It was not until her mid-30s that she decided to pursue her dreams full-time. Strout's first novel, 'Amy and Isabelle,' published in 1998, received critical acclaim and established her as a promising literary voice. The novel explores the complex relationship between a mother and daughter, drawing on Strout's own experiences growing up in Maine. In 2009, Elizabeth Strout published 'Olive Kitteridge,' a collection of interconnected short stories centered around the titular character. The book was met with widespread praise and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009. Adapted into an HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand, it further solidified Strout's literary reputation. In 2016, Strout published 'My Name Is Lucy Barton,' a novel about a daughter reconnecting with her estranged mother during a hospital stay. The novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the prestigious Story Prize. Today, Elizabeth Strout continues to write and publish novels that delve into the human condition, exploring themes of family, love, loss, and redemption. Her work has been translated into over thirty languages, making her one of America's most beloved contemporary authors.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"People are not just one thing."

This quote underscores the complexity and multifaceted nature of people. No individual is simply defined by a single trait or label. We each have multiple aspects, experiences, and emotions that contribute to our identities. Understanding this can foster empathy, patience, and respect in our interactions with others.

"We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside."

This quote by Elizabeth Strout suggests that the mysteries, wonders, and beauty we yearn to discover in the world around us are often mirrored within ourselves. The implication is that our innate curiosity about life and its complexities may stem from our own inner depths, waiting to be understood and explored. In essence, it's a call to look inward for enlightenment and self-discovery.

"When you're a child, it doesn't occur to you that some people can be cruel and unkind, because everyone who matters to you is kind and good."

This quote highlights the innocence and purity of a child's perspective. As children, we naturally assume that everyone in our immediate circle, our family, friends, and caregivers, are inherently kind and good. This assumption arises because we have yet to encounter unkindness or cruelty beyond the scope of our small world. However, as we grow older, we inevitably realize that not everyone possesses these qualities, which can be a harsh revelation. It serves as a poignant reminder of the innocence and trusting nature of childhood and the heartbreak of discovering that not all people are kind and good.

"The truth about the world is that most of it is hidden. Under the surface."

This quote by Elizabeth Strout highlights the inherent mystery and depth of the world we live in. It suggests that a significant portion of our reality lies beneath the surface, unseen or unnoticed. The statement encourages us to dig deeper and question what appears obvious, as truth often resides in the hidden layers of life. In essence, it emphasizes the importance of seeking understanding and wisdom beyond the superficial aspects of existence.

"What a glorious thing it is to do something you love."

This quote highlights the profound joy and fulfillment that comes from pursuing passions and activities we genuinely enjoy. By engaging in tasks we love, we experience a unique sense of satisfaction, purpose, and happiness, which enriches our lives and contributes to overall well-being. Doing something we love serves as a powerful source of motivation, inspiring us to grow, learn, and excel in our chosen pursuits. Embracing this mindset allows us to lead meaningful, enriching lives while sharing our talents with the world.

I don't especially like to travel, not the way many people do. I know many people that love to go to far-off and different places, and I've never been like that. I seem to get homesick as quickly as a child.

- Elizabeth Strout

Love, Been, Different Places, Homesick

I got a gerontology certificate a million years ago along with my law degree, so I've been interested in older people for many years. Some people grow up with a lot of kids around, but I just grew up with a lot of old people.

- Elizabeth Strout

Some, Been, Certificate, Older People

I'm writing for my ideal reader, for somebody who's willing to take the time, who's willing to get lost in a new world, who's willing to do their part. But then I have to do my part and give them a sound and a voice that they believe in enough to keep going.

- Elizabeth Strout

Voice, Willing, Reader, New World

For years I did most of my reading on the F train between Brooklyn and Manhattan. I had long commutes, and I read tons of books on that train; I loved it.

- Elizabeth Strout

Reading, Manhattan, Read, Tons

'Pnin' by Vladimir Nabokov, which is a literally small book, fit right in my common law book. I would sit in class and read it.

- Elizabeth Strout

Law, Small, Which, Common Law

I love arranging the words and having them fall on the ear the right way, and you know you're not quite there, and you're redoing it and redoing it, and there's a wonderful thrill to it. But it is hard. It's a job of tremendous anxiety for me.

- Elizabeth Strout

Love, Thrill, Tremendous, Arranging

I don't know if I have a memory of not thinking I was a writer - it goes that far back. I went to law school because I didn't know how to earn a living otherwise. I tried to ignore the pull, but it wouldn't let me.

- Elizabeth Strout

Thinking, Memory, Back, Law School

If you get divorced in New York, you go into therapy and will talk to anybody you meet on the sidewalk about it.

- Elizabeth Strout

New, Will, Sidewalk, Divorced

My parents were very, very, very strict.

- Elizabeth Strout

Parents, Very, Were, Strict

I've always been tremendously interested in criminal law. It goes to a deep interest I have in prisons and the criminal element, and what we do as a society with it. I've always been touched by the idea of criminality.

- Elizabeth Strout

Deep, Always, Been, Prisons

Bullies are just frightened people.

- Elizabeth Strout

People, Just, Bullies, Frightened

The fact of the matter is I always have a really high sense of responsibility to the reader, whether it's a few readers that I get or a lot of readers, which I was lucky enough to get with 'Olive.' I feel responsible to them, to deliver something as truthful and straight as I can.

- Elizabeth Strout

Lucky, Fact, Reader, Truthful

I sometimes miss the sense of excitement that I remember having when I was younger. I miss that sense of, 'Oh wow.' I think it's part of aging.

- Elizabeth Strout

Think, I Remember, I Think, Wow

I'm drawn to New England because that's where my roots are, and I miss it. I come from many generations of New Englanders, and so, in my writing, I've been drawn back there to the landscape and the light and the type of personality that's revealed.

- Elizabeth Strout

Back, Been, Generations, Revealed

I don't want to live in Maine full time, but the physical beauty is very striking. It is the exact opposite of New York. When you walk through my small town to get a cup of coffee, you bump into five people you know.

- Elizabeth Strout

Small, Through, Very, Exact

I do reread, kind of obsessively, partly for the surprise of how the same book reads at a different point in life, and partly to have the sense of returning to an old friend.

- Elizabeth Strout

Surprise, Kind, Old, Old Friend

I love the comfort of daily life's routines: things like being able to read a paper on the subway. It's no accident that my favourite word is 'quotidian.'

- Elizabeth Strout

Love, Like, Read, Routines

I do write by hand. I just think - I don't know, it's a physical thing for me. It's a bodily thing. It literally has to earn its way through my hand.

- Elizabeth Strout

Think, Through, Literally, Physical Thing

Oh, I do a tremendous amount of rewriting. I just obsessively rewrite. Although sometimes there are sections, sometimes you're just lucky and a paragraph will just kind of come out. And that's great. But that's not ordinary in a day's work.

- Elizabeth Strout

Lucky, Sometimes, Paragraph, Tremendous Amount

I was a pretty terrible lawyer. A really, really terrible lawyer.

- Elizabeth Strout

Terrible, Pretty, Really, Lawyer

As a novelist, I like the contained drama and complexity of the courtroom, though I don't watch those shows on TV. I prefer the hospital shows because I wanted to be a doctor.

- Elizabeth Strout

Complexity, TV, Though, Courtroom

My first job was when I was about 12, cleaning houses in the afternoons for different elderly women in town. I hated it.

- Elizabeth Strout

Cleaning, Elderly, Town, First Job

I like people a lot, but I am not comfortable in literary New York situations. There is deep anxiety and tension around success here. I don't share problems I'm having about my work, and I think conversations around publishing are boring.

- Elizabeth Strout

Deep, Here, I Think, Situations

In a way, I'm very interested in writing about Maine, because I think Maine represents its own kind of history. It's the oldest state, and it's the whitest state.

- Elizabeth Strout

Think, Maine, Very, Oldest

Oh, I wish I organized my books. But I don't. I'm not an organized person. The best I can do is put the books I really like in one sort of general area, and poetry in another.

- Elizabeth Strout

I Wish, Like, Area, Organized

I think, really, that the only way a person can open their heart to someone who is so much another is really by knowing them... whether that's in a classroom, or a soccer team, or a food pantry, or any of those things. I mean, we're kind of more alike than we are different.

- Elizabeth Strout

I Think, Another, Whether, Classroom

I'm so deeply interested in what it feels like to be other people that I get to operate under the illusion when I'm writing fiction that I'm not really revealing that much about myself. But, of course, I am, and I know that I am. And yet there's this sort of membrane that I get to work behind as I write my fiction, and I love it.

- Elizabeth Strout

Love, Behind, Feels, Operate

I grew up on a dirt road in Maine, and pretty much everybody on that dirt road was related to me, and they were old. And so grumpy.

- Elizabeth Strout

Old, Pretty, Everybody, Maine

In the kind of New England I'm from, you are expected to stay and marry somebody from New England - well, Maine, actually - so I think it was seen as a betrayal when I left for New York, which has been my refuge.

- Elizabeth Strout

Been, Marry, I Think, Maine

I don't think of myself as a fast reader. I just read a lot. When someone else might think, 'I might do the dishes,' I don't. But then the dishes multiply.

- Elizabeth Strout

Think, Read, Reader, Dishes

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