Latest Jerry Stahl Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I need - and occasionally love - to write for the same reasons I always did: hard as writing is, it's generally easier than life.

  Jerry Stahl

  Writing, Needs, Reason

  "Go Forth". Interview with Brandon Hobson, logger.believermag.com. December 17, 2013.

• The art and act of writing - speaking just for myself - involves getting your proverbial ass in the proverbial chair.

  Jerry Stahl

  Art, Writing, Ass

  "Go Forth". Interview with Brandon Hobson, logger.believermag.com. December 17, 2013.

• How do you write when you're not miserable? The solution, of course, is to make yourself miserable about not writing.

  Jerry Stahl

  Writing, Miserable, Courses

  "Go Forth". Interview with Brandon Hobson, logger.believermag.com. December 17, 2013.

• I always tell myself, when I remember the non-stop self-generated hell party that used to be my life, I wouldn't be here if I didn't go there.

  Jerry Stahl

  Party, Self, Remember

  "Go Forth". Interview with Brandon Hobson, logger.believermag.com. December 17, 2013.

• I think it's just too kinda juicy and compelling to imagine people in their private lives, but then half the time people's private lives are just so much more bizarre and Ted Haggard-like than you could ever imagine. It's almost hard to write fiction anymore.

  Jerry Stahl

  Writing, Thinking, People

  Interview with Jessica Jardine, Travis Hunter, www.avclub.com. March 5, 2009.

• I didn't really start publishing books until I was 40 because I was busy being a McDonald's employee. So there's always a sense of trying to make up for lost time.

  Jerry Stahl

  Book, Mcdonalds, Trying

  Source: www.avclub.com

• My own theory is that people are just so desperate for somebody they can feel better than, in America. Now that everyone's going broke and working 17 jobs - if they have one at all - at least they can look at these guys behind bars and think, "At least I get to wear my own clothes to work."

  Jerry Stahl

  Jobs, Feel Better, Thinking

  Source: www.avclub.com

• You can't really compare hells. But I suppose the hell of being strung out on another person's addictive behavior is its own special thing.

  Jerry Stahl

  Special, Hell, Behavior

  "Jerry Stahl Talks Smack". Interview with Royal Young, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 25, 2013.

• If you're an asshole, you have an excuse for being an asshole because you're a junkie. But then once you give up the drugs, and you're still an asshole, that's problematic.

  Jerry Stahl

  Giving Up, Drug, Excuse

  "Jerry Stahl Talks Smack". Interview with Royal Young, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 25, 2013.

• I think there's a phenomenon of people who want to be around something that seems "dangerous." It makes them feel more real.

  Jerry Stahl

  Real, Thinking, People

  "Jerry Stahl Talks Smack". Interview with Royal Young, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 25, 2013.

• I always figured I myself would never be lucky enough to die, I'd just live on and on in this increasingly dreary spiral.

  Jerry Stahl

  Lucky, Enough, Spirals

  "Jerry Stahl Talks Smack". Interview with Royal Young, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 25, 2013.

• For me there was never a lot of glamor involved in being a junkie, it was about trying to hide the puke and bloodstains on my shirt.

  Jerry Stahl

  Trying, Shirts, Junkie

  "Jerry Stahl Talks Smack". Interview with Royal Young, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 25, 2013.

• You need an entire drama to construct your life around to avoid living it.

  Jerry Stahl

  Drama, Needs, Constructs

  "Jerry Stahl Talks Smack". Interview with Royal Young, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 25, 2013.

• The traditional dictionary definition of the difference is that an alcoholic will steal your wallet in a blackout, come to, and apologize for it. A junkie will steal your wallet and then help you look for it. But ultimately I think all addictions boil down to just not being able to be with yourself for any long degree of time.

  Jerry Stahl

  Thinking, Differences, Addiction

  "Jerry Stahl Talks Smack". Interview with Royal Young, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 25, 2013.

• Junkies are liars. They have to be professionally.

  Jerry Stahl

  Liars, Junkie

  "Jerry Stahl Talks Smack". Interview with Royal Young, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 25, 2013.

• I don't really know how to do much else besides write.

  Jerry Stahl

  Writing, Know How, Knows

  "Go Forth". Interview with Brandon Hobson, logger.believermag.com. December 17, 2013.

• I used to say, for me, writing was like walking a high wire, and heroin made me forget there was no net. Which is a fancy way of saying dope made me forget how shitty I felt for being on dope.

  Jerry Stahl

  Writing, Dope, Wire

  "Go Forth". Interview with Brandon Hobson, logger.believermag.com. December 17, 2013.