Tama Janowitz Quotes

• Long after the bomb falls and you and your good deeds are gone, cockroaches will still be here, prowling the streets like armored cars.

  Tama Janowitz

  Fall, Kind Deeds, Long

  Slaves of New York "Modern Saint 271" (1986)

  40 Copy quote

• The older a woman gets, the more invisible you become.

  Tama Janowitz

  Invisible

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  6 Copy quote

• Most of my life is just spent lying in bed. I mean, it's enough pressure to write the words. Do I need to use the additional energy exerted by sitting up?

  Tama Janowitz

  Lying, Writing, Mean

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  5 Copy quote

• Why would I want to read something about somebody that's just a really nice, decent person who overcomes terrible trials? That's not how life is to me.

  Tama Janowitz

  Nice, Overcoming, Trials

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• In my writing I wanted to be liked for writing really unlikeable stuff. There were books that people, particularly women, hated so much. They said, "I threw it against the wall!" Which, in my opinion, was a compliment. Because it's very hard to get somebody to throw something.

  Tama Janowitz

  Wall, Book, Writing

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I feel like I sort of missed the eighties. At the time, we didn’t know we were having fun, which is probably the way it always is.

  Tama Janowitz

  Fun, Way, Feels

  "Q&A with Gotham Scribes Pete Hamill and Tama Janowitz". Interview with Boris Kachka, nymag.com.

  4 Copy quote

• I was like a social worker for lepers. My clients had a chunk of their body they wanted to give away; for a price I was there to receive it.

  Tama Janowitz

  Giving, Body, Clients

  Tama Janowitz (1991). “Slaves of New York”, p.2, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• On bad days, I think I'd like to be a plastic surgeon who goes to Third World countries and operates on children in villages with airlifts, and then I think, 'Yeah, right, I'm going to go back to undergraduate school and take all the biology I missed and then go to medical school.' No. No.

  Tama Janowitz

  Country, Children, Bad Day

  17 Copy quote

• I think powerful women don't care whether or not they're liked.

  Tama Janowitz

  Powerful, Thinking, Care

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• The novel is never really in the first draft. The novel really happens in the revisions.

  Tama Janowitz

  Revision, Firsts, Novel

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  5 Copy quote

• With publicity comes humiliation.

  Tama Janowitz

  Publicity, Humiliation

  1992 In the International Herald Tribune, 8 Sep.

  14 Copy quote

• Whether I'm critically well received, whether or not I sell books - of course it becomes progressively harder to get them published - nevertheless, it's what I do, every day.

  Tama Janowitz

  Book, Harder, Wells

  5 Copy quote

• I think the sixties must have been quite a lot of fun.

  Tama Janowitz

  Fun, Thinking, Has Beens

  "Q&A with Gotham Scribes Pete Hamill and Tama Janowitz". Interview with Boris Kachka, nymag.com.

  4 Copy quote

• Brownstein's is a fresh and jaunty voice, with a jazz snap all his own.

  Tama Janowitz

  Voice, Jazz, Snaps

  4 Copy quote

• Whether you're acting or you're writing, your skin is just basically ripped off and you're putting yourself out there. At least the acting part comes with a bit more social interaction. And you're a bit less isolated because you are working with the director and the crew, and there's a general camaraderie. Writing, you're totally isolated. You're just trying to get the words on paper.

  Tama Janowitz

  Writing, Acting, Skins

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I think in a lot of ways, writing, when you're really in there, is like being an actress because you're in somebody else's head.

  Tama Janowitz

  Writing, Thinking, Way

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• If you want to write about a person who isn't nice, people say, "This is a bad book. It's about somebody I couldn't stand." But that's not the point. You don't have to like a character to like a book. Most of the time, people would misjudge and say, "I didn't like the book." No, you didn't like the character. That doesn't make it any less interesting of a book. In fact, to me, it makes it more interesting.

  Tama Janowitz

  Nice, Book, Writing

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• As a writer, I don't think it's my responsibility to make a point. I just write and hope there's someone who'll like it.

  Tama Janowitz

  Writing, Responsibility, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• Crimes, sins, nightmares, hunks of hair: it was surprising how many of them has something to dispose of. The more I charged, the easier it was for them to breathe freely once more.

  Tama Janowitz

  Hair, Nightmare, Sin

  Tama Janowitz (1991). “Slaves of New York”, p.2, Simon and Schuster

  4 Copy quote

• I'm writing what I want to write. But it's almost an act of rebellion on my part. Because as a person, I've always wanted to be very likeable, and I think that's a horrible thing, particularly for women. You're always like, "Oh, I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings. I hope they like me!" And that's just so stupid.

  Tama Janowitz

  Hurt, Stupid, Writing

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I think it's true about people now being closer to their parents, since the '60s, really. The parents are no longer from a different planet, the 1950s ideas of American family. We could be friends with our parents. After the '60s, it wasn't like a person smoking pot was what the parents would be appalled at.

  Tama Janowitz

  Thinking, Ideas, People

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I felt my whole life was a facsimile of a life.

  Tama Janowitz

  Whole Life, Whole, Felt

  "Q&A with Gotham Scribes Pete Hamill and Tama Janowitz". Interview with Boris Kachka, nymag.com.

  4 Copy quote

• I don't want my novel to be like Madame Bovary, finely crafted with the life edited out of it. I want my novel to be like a friend telling me a story -- so we go off on thoughts; that's the way it is.

  Tama Janowitz

  Stories, Want, Way

  4 Copy quote

• If you want to be a writer, all you need is a piece of paper and a pencil, and I had a manual typewriter. It doesn't cost money to write. It costs money to make art. So I would just write. I would hand out stories in the classes in high school. And the teacher would say, "Whatever you do, don't become a writer."

  Tama Janowitz

  Teacher, Art, Writing

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• Fame is really great in a lot of ways, you know? People are a lot nicer to you. Like, the more famous you are, the more free presents you get. And invitations to really amazing things.

  Tama Janowitz

  People, Way, Fame

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

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