Flannery O'Connor quotes

Flannery O'Connor was an American writer known for her Southern Gothic style and darkly humorous stories. Born in Georgia in 1925, O'Connor's works often tackle themes of faith, morality, and the complexities of human nature. Her most famous works include "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Wise Blood". O'Connor's unique storytelling and sharp wit have earned her a lasting legacy in American literature. Learn more about this influential author and her captivating works by exploring her novels and short stories.

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking to the system.

- Flannery O'Connor

Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it.

- Flannery O'Connor

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.

- Flannery O'Connor

Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.

- Flannery O'Connor

When a book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry is to take over God's business.

- Flannery O'Connor

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.

- Flannery O'Connor

She looked at nice young men as if she could smell their stupidity.

- Flannery O'Connor

People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.

- Flannery O'Connor

I write to discover what I know.

- Flannery O'Connor

I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.

- Flannery O'Connor

I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebody else's. But behind all of them there is only one truth and that is that there's no truth.

- Flannery O'Connor

I don't deserve any credit for turning the other cheek as my tongue is always in it.

- Flannery O'Connor

I do not know You, God, because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside.

- Flannery O'Connor

I am not afraid that the book will be controversial, I'm afraid it will not be controversial.

- Flannery O'Connor

Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

- Flannery O'Connor

Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.

- Flannery O'Connor

Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.

- Flannery O'Connor