My subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil.

Flannery O'Connor · The source reads: “I have settled, in short, from reading my own writings, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil.” · Mystery and Manners (1969), On Her Own Work

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 · Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction (1960)

A story really isn’t any good unless it successfully resists paraphrase.

Flannery O'Connor · Mystery and Manners (1969), On Her Own Work

Living had got to be such a habit with him that he couldn’t conceive of any other condition.

Flannery O'Connor · A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955), A Late Encounter with the Enemy

More Faith Quotes

We are in God’s hand.

William Shakespeare · King Henry V (1598–1599), III, vi

Grace is given of God, but knowledge is bought in the market.

Arthur Hugh Clough

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Often credited to Gautama Buddha · Found in no Buddhist scripture; the nearest canonical line, in the Udana, says a person searching the world finds no one dearer than himself, and this self-love version first appears in print in 2001, with a near-identical earlier form credited to the meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg.

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“My subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil.”

“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.”

“A story really isn’t any good unless it successfully resists paraphrase.”

“Living had got to be such a habit with him that he couldn’t conceive of any other condition.”

“We are in God’s hand.”

“Grace is given of God, but knowledge is bought in the market.”

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”