American author (1954- )
My father was a writer, so I grew up writing and reading and I was really encouraged by him. I had some sort of gift and when it came time to try to find a publisher I had a little bit of an "in" because I had his agent I could turn to, to at least read my initial offerings when I was about 20. But the only problem was that they were just awful, they were just terrible stories and my agent, who ended up being my agent, was very, very sweet about it, but it took about four years until I actually had something worth trying to sell.
ANNE LAMOTT
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interview, Big Think, Apr. 6, 2010
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
I love memoirs. They are probably my favorite literary form, along with biographies. The more confessional, the better. There is so, so, so little truth in the popular culture, and I am starved and grateful for any I can find.
ANNE LAMOTT
Salon, Nov. 3, 2014
You can either practice being right or practice being kind.
ANNE LAMOTT
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
I am a terrible and lazy Christian. I do not believe that the Bible is the literal word of God. I just skip about a third of it. I love the parts I love so much, but I find a lot of it just appalling. When a right-wing person quotes a passage in order to attack and stigmatize another person--or group of people--I just roll my eyes.
ANNE LAMOTT
interview, Friends Journal, Jan. 30, 2013
I am all the ages I've ever been.
ANNE LAMOTT
Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
I thought, That's it, I'm going to throw myself under the wheels of the car. I'm going to run over my own head. But I couldn't even do that because I couldn't get up any speed. If you ran over your head in this gridlock, you probably wouldn't even end up dead, and your hair would be all f***ed up.
ANNE LAMOTT
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Lighthouses don't go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
Then the singing enveloped me. It was furry and resonant, coming from everyone's very heart. There was no sense of performance or judgment, only that the music was breath and food.
ANNE LAMOTT
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Anything you say from your heart to God is a prayer.
ANNE LAMOTT
interview, Friends Journal, Jan. 30, 2013
My natural tendency is to complicate everything--and then to spray words and ideas onto everything afterwards. I've had to develop the habit of keeping things simple.
ANNE LAMOTT
interview, Friends Journal, Jan. 30, 2013
Part of me loves and respects men so desperately, and part of me thinks they are so embarrassingly incompetent at life and in love. You have to teach them the very basics of emotional literacy. You have to teach them how to be there for you, and part of me feels tender toward them and gentle, and part of me is so afraid of them, afraid of any more violation.
ANNE LAMOTT
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
My heart was broken and my head was just barely inhabitable.
ANNE LAMOTT
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
We'll have the Jesusiest time ever!
ANNE LAMOTT
address at the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College, 2000
I very rarely read the responses to my Salon pieces, because (as you may have noticed) the trolls can be SO evil. So violent in their hostility to me and my work. OK, wait, wait, wait. That's a lie. I do read the responses--and get mesmerized, like cobra hypnosis. But I laugh (mostly) at the trolls, and think about what tiny little weenies they must have. (They seem to be mostly men.) And then ALL these smart, funny people leap to my defense, which is medicine, and fills me with love and thankfulness.
ANNE LAMOTT
Salon, Nov. 3, 2014
Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
The three things I cannot change are the past, the truth, and you.
ANNE LAMOTT
Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers
The road to enlightenment is long and difficult, and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.
ANNE LAMOTT
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Talking to the parents of older kids was helpful for me, since parents of kids the same age as yours won't admit how horrible their children are.
ANNE LAMOTT
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith