Lynn Coady Quotes

Powerful Lynn Coady for Daily Growth

About Lynn Coady

Lynn Coady is a distinguished Canadian short story writer, known for her powerful narrative style and deeply humanistic characters. Born on October 17, 1963, in St. John's, Newfoundland, she grew up in a family that valued literature and storytelling. This early exposure to oral traditions greatly influenced her writing. Coady earned a Bachelor of Arts from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1985 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1992. Her debut collection, 'Morality Tales' (1994), was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, foreshadowing a successful career in literary fiction. Her second work, 'The Antagonist' (2006), marked a significant milestone in her career. This novel explores themes of family, guilt, and redemption through the perspective of an ageing man coming to terms with his past actions. The book was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Coady's writing often reflects her deep connection to Newfoundland and its unique cultural landscape. Her collection, 'Play the Monster Blind' (2010), won the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize, cementing her place among Canada's literary elite. The book explores a range of human experiences, from love to violence, through the lens of everyday life in Newfoundland. In addition to writing, Coady is also a dedicated teacher and mentor. She has taught creative writing at various institutions, including the University of British Columbia, Memorial University, and the Humber School for Writers. Her teachings emphasize the importance of storytelling as a means of understanding and connecting with others. Lynn Coady continues to write and influence a new generation of writers, with her latest work, 'Strange Haven' (2018), further cementing her status as one of Canada's most compelling storytellers.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Life can be difficult, but that doesn't mean it has to break you."

This quote suggests resilience in the face of life's challenges. It implies that despite the hardships we may encounter, our inherent strength can help us endure and grow from these experiences without succumbing to them completely. The message is one of hope and encouragement, reminding us that even though life can be tough, it doesn't define our fate; rather, we have the power to shape our own destiny by rising above adversity.


"It's hard enough to live in a world where no one really knows what they're doing."

This quote by Lynn Coady underscores the universal human experience of uncertainty. It suggests that we all navigate through life without complete certainty, making decisions based on our best judgment and available information. In essence, it highlights the fact that in a complex world, we must often rely on trial and error, learn from mistakes, and adapt to new circumstances as they arise. This quote also serves as a reminder of the importance of empathy and understanding towards others, given that everyone is grappling with their own unique challenges and uncertainties.


"We are all storytellers, each of us inventing and reinventing ourselves with every interaction."

This quote emphasizes that we all have the ability to shape our own narratives, not just through personal reflections or internal monologues, but also in our interactions with others. Every conversation, every encounter, provides an opportunity for us to present ourselves, share our experiences, and subtly (or overtly) convey who we are or who we wish to be perceived as. This process of self-presentation is not static, but dynamic, continually evolving as we navigate through life and engage with different people. Essentially, Coady suggests that we are all constantly creating and redefining our own stories in the context of our relationships with others.


"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

This quote by Lynn Coady emphasizes the idea that instead of trying to foresee what will happen in the future, we should take control of our actions and shape it according to our desires. It suggests that our ability to influence the future lies not only in predicting it but also in actively creating it through our decisions and actions. In essence, it encourages proactive thinking and self-determination.


"Sometimes, the most important thing you can do for another person is to listen to them; to let them talk about their own experience and not to try to fix it or judge it, but simply to be there and to let them know that they are heard and understood."

This quote emphasizes the importance of empathy and active listening in human connections. By truly hearing another person's story, validating their feelings, and refraining from offering solutions or judgments, we provide a space where they can express themselves freely. In essence, we empower them by acknowledging their experiences and making them feel understood. This act of genuine listening can foster deeper relationships and promote healing in others.


Now, as a writer, the whole world is your nail polish display, and what's more, you can help yourself. A thrilling, colourful array of gorgeous human peculiarity revolves before your eyes, and you still can't quite believe it's all yours for the taking.

- Lynn Coady

Before, Your, Whole, Thrilling

Guys know how to read each other's signals. They know how to telegraph love for one another without throwing their arms around one another.

- Lynn Coady

Love, Other, Read, Signals

One day it hit me: Truest friends, God bless their hearts, could not care less. They love you, they're pleased you're getting married and, ultimately, they don't give a fig how you get it done.

- Lynn Coady

Love, One Day, Truest, Fig

However long, it's definitely the presence of other people that brings out the weirdness - that collision of your own way of being with the everyday lives of others, the abrupt awareness - always a surprise no matter how often it's happened - that their lives are very different from your own.

- Lynn Coady

However, Everyday Lives, Collision

I've always been a sucker for any technology engineered primarily for the entertainment of the human race - even such technology as has been disguised as 'useful' or 'improving' when we all know the real virtue lies in its ability to distract and divert.

- Lynn Coady

Entertainment, Been, Sucker

I started out in the journalism program, but I got kicked out. I wasn't very good at it. It wasn't where I wanted to be ultimately.

- Lynn Coady

Started, Very, Program, Kicked

I would just randomly blurt out things like, 'What if a man showed up today and was carrying an umbrella, but it wasn't raining?' Eventually, people started to call me weird.

- Lynn Coady

Raining, Like, Eventually, Umbrella

When revising, consider whether you have written anything that will hurt or offend a member of your immediate family. If the answer is no, go back and add something.

- Lynn Coady

Will, Go, Add, Revising

Ever since 'Strange Heaven,' I haven't really reread my old work. Not so much because I don't like the writer I was, or because I find flaws in the writing, but more because I get so burnt out on a novel once I've finished writing, revising, editing and copy editing it that I genuinely never want to look at it again after it's gone to press.

- Lynn Coady

Find, Out, Genuinely, Revising

The novel, as a genre, was once considered a diversion every bit as frivolous as Facebook, but over the years, we've managed to convince ourselves that reading fiction is as important to our mental digestion as fresh fruits and vegetables are to the processes that take place a little further down.

- Lynn Coady

Mental, Fiction, Considered, Frivolous

We live in a society that celebrates familial connection above any other kind of relationship. We are shown photos of our great-grandparents and encouraged to marvel over facial similarities. We are told to take pride in our bloodlines, celebrate our ancestry.

- Lynn Coady

Other, Ancestry, Photos, Similarities

As a novelist, you have to pick your battles. You are tired. You have begun to experience the first ominous tinglings of carpal tunnel syndrome. You wake up in the middle of the night with both hands lying across your chest like a couple of plucked bird carcasses, dead of all sensation.

- Lynn Coady

Wake Up, Hands, Couple, Ominous

The creative process taps into our deepest subconscious, and we are each of us sex-crazed - products of a shame-based Judeo-Christian culture that has irrevocably warped us all to varying degrees.

- Lynn Coady

Creative, Process, Our, Irrevocably

Occasionally, chewing over some random letter writer's dilemma, I'll find myself imagining scenarios where the problem could be sidestepped by an innocent fib or series of evasive manoeuvres. Then, I slap myself on the wrist.

- Lynn Coady

Innocent, Some, Scenarios, Slap

I spent so many years in terror of 'making it legal' because the expression rang all too true - the wedding ritual struck me as nothing but a flowery front for the fulfilment of countless, tedious contracts and obligations.

- Lynn Coady

Obligations, So Many Years, Flowery

You don't need to have Asperger's to feel bewildered in a culture that relies so heavily on inconsequential chit-chat to grease the wheels of day-to-day life.

- Lynn Coady

Wheels, Need, Grease, Inconsequential

That's what fascinates me about these writers' retreats: You're in these small spaces with small groups of people, and all of the sudden, the spotlight is shining on you harder than it normally is.

- Lynn Coady

Small, About, Groups, Retreats

A bunch of chairs lined up in front of a podium equals school.

- Lynn Coady

School, Podium, Equals, Lined

Grownups, as a rule, should always be ready to pay for their own meals - or else ready to graciously accept their date's insistence on paying. The point is, one doesn't sit there batting one's eyelashes, fully expecting someone else to claim the bill.

- Lynn Coady

Own, Date, Batting, Grownups

Readers who claim a preference for short-form over long often tell me it's because they don't have time to commit to a book-length chunk of writing.

- Lynn Coady

Tell, Over, Preference, Claim

Audience participation can often inject a dose of adrenalin into your average dial-tone literary reading, especially if a handful of audience-members are mentally unhinged, and let's face it - you can always depend on at least one crackpot at these things.

- Lynn Coady

Average, Participation, Dose

No one expects the doormat to stand upright, shake itself off, and amble down the street to seek its own happiness.

- Lynn Coady

Down, Own, Shake, Expects

Here it is, 2011, and I feel zero shame when I tell you I would like to marry my smartphone. It is a handful of pure delight.

- Lynn Coady

Shame, Here, Like, Delight

I've never understood people who treat their loved ones worse and with less respect than they would a total stranger or minor acquaintance.

- Lynn Coady

Treat, Loved Ones, Minor, Understood

Somewhere in our cultural subconscious, we crave these figures that are big and strong and unassailable, like masculine fortresses. It's like how the 9/11 firemen were venerated.

- Lynn Coady

Strong, Big, Figures, Firemen

In the late sixties, when revolution and upheaval were everywhere, feminists were ridiculed for focusing on housework.

- Lynn Coady

Late, Upheaval, Feminists, Sixties

True adulthood occurs the moment we grasp that the people who raised us do not exist solely for our comfort and reassurance. From that point on, the steady stream of unconditional love and support we've expected from them all our lives has to flow both ways.

- Lynn Coady

Love, Occurs, Our, Reassurance

I really do think of it in moral terms. I think that we can't kid ourselves that the storytelling impulse is innocent and does nothing but bring good to the world.

- Lynn Coady

Think, Storytelling, I Think, Impulse

We like long-form narrative journalism, and we feel there aren't enough high-profile outlets in Canada running the kind of stories we want to showcase - long, meaty, thoughtful, investigative.

- Lynn Coady

Kind, Like, Stories, Investigative

Here's the thing about lingerie: The only time we see it outside our own bedrooms, it is on women who are gloriously freakish in their physical perfection.

- Lynn Coady

Own, Here, Lingerie, Bedrooms

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