Latest Phillip Lopate Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• It bothers me when I can't, for example, remember a name. I don't know if it's pre-senility or whether there are too many names packed in our brains.

  Phillip Lopate

  Names, Brain, Example

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• I've had an enduring appreciation of psychology.

  Phillip Lopate

  Appreciation, Psychology, Endure

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Indeed, at times it's best to shut up.

  Phillip Lopate

  Shut Up

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• My wife and daughter have accused me of being too silent at breakfast but I don't want to talk when I don't have much to say.

  Phillip Lopate

  Daughter, Wife, Breakfast

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• For most of my life, I have wanted broad impact but now, at 72, I'm not so sure that's always my first priority.

  Phillip Lopate

  Impact, Priorities, Firsts

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Domesticity has been a challenge for me but painful as it's been, engaging with family has been a school for reducing solipsism and increasing my understanding of people's different reactions to stress.

  Phillip Lopate

  Stress, School, People

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• If someone in my family is getting emotionally bent out of shape, I've had to learn to adapt.

  Phillip Lopate

  Shapes, My Family, Bent

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• I really do like to write and when I'm not, I think, "Okay, I'll be a good citizen now" but fact is, that's secondary.

  Phillip Lopate

  Writing, Thinking, Citizens

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• I'm fortunate in being able to find great satisfaction in my work.

  Phillip Lopate

  Able, Satisfaction, Fortunate

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• My other work, teaching, also is satisfying because I can be with people but in controlled circumstances, which aren't as likely to yield the pain of dealing with family.

  Phillip Lopate

  Pain, Teaching, Yield

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Hedonism can be a rational response to a difficult life.

  Phillip Lopate

  Difficult, Hedonism, Rational

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• The essay is a wonderful medium. I might mention that some writers who longed to be novelists were better as essayists: Sontag, Baldwin, Vidal, Mary McCarthy, Mailer.

  Phillip Lopate

  Novelists, Might, Wonderful

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Contradictory strands create an essay that's richly ambivalent.

  Phillip Lopate

  Contradictory, Essays, Ambivalent

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience.

  Phillip Lopate

  Fun, Writing, Having Fun

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• In new work, we need to see the shadow, however faint, of previous literary effort.

  Phillip Lopate

  Effort, Shadow, Needs

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Most good essays are conversations with yourself - not just your decided thoughts but your dilemmas.

  Phillip Lopate

  Conversation, Dilemma, Essays

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• You must read a lot of personal essays - you needn't reinvent the wheel.

  Phillip Lopate

  Wheels, Essays, Personal Essays

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• Confession makes you a more trustworthy narrator.

  Phillip Lopate

  Narrators, Trustworthy, Confession

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• The essay must be artistically rendered: You must keep the reader engaged, whether with wit, conflict, mischief, and/or yes, with honesty.

  Phillip Lopate

  Honesty, Conflict, Wit

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

• A personal essay often includes some or a lot of personal confession. That makes the reader feel less lonely in their confusion and darkness.

  Phillip Lopate

  Lonely, Confusion, Darkness

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com