Top 21 Quotes & Sayings by John O'Hara

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American novelist John O'Hara.

Last updated on September 19, 2024.

John Henry O'Hara was one of America's most prolific writers of short stories, credited with helping to invent The New Yorker magazine short story style. He became a best-selling novelist before the age of 30 with Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. While O'Hara's legacy as a writer is debated, his champions rank him highly among the under-appreciated and unjustly neglected major American writers of the 20th century. Few college students educated after O'Hara's death in 1970 have discovered him, chiefly because he refused to allow his work to be reprinted in anthologies used to teach literature at the college level.

American - Novelist | January 31, 1905 - April 11, 1970

Source: Wikipedia

An artist is his own fault.

John O'Hara

Little old ladies of both sexes. Why do I let them bother me?

John O'Hara

Much as I like owning a Rolls-Royce, I could do without it. What I could not do without is a typewriter, a supply of yellow second sheets and the time to put them to good use.

John O'Hara

They say great themes make great novels. but what these young writers don't understand is that there is no greater theme than men and women.

John O'Hara

America may be unique in being a country which has leapt from barbarism to decadence without touching civilization.

John O'Hara

When Caroline Walker fell in love with Julian English she was a little tired of him. That was in the summer of 1926, one of the most unimportant years in the history of the United States, and the year in which Caroline Walker was sure her life had reached a pinnacle of uselessness.

John O'Hara

Well, men go to musicals. Women are the ones that buy the tickets for plays.

John O'Hara

I can get very depressed by a review that is unfair, unreasonable, and totally destructive.

John O'Hara

Our story opens in the mind of Luther L. (L for LeRoy) Fliegler, who is lying in his bed, not thinking of anything, but just aware of sounds, conscious of his own breathing, and sensitive to his own heartbeats. Lying beside him is his wife, lying on her right side and enjoying her sleep.

John O'Hara

Socially, I never belonged to any class, rich or poor. To the rich I was poor, and to the poor I was poor pretending to be like the rich.

John O'Hara

Illinois is a state of suspended animation and the people live in hibernation from Oct. to whenever it ever gets warmer.

John O'Hara

The trouble is people leave too much to luck. They get married and then trust to luck. They should be sure in the first place.

John O'Hara

But whats the use of being old if you cant be dumb?

John O'Hara

Never play cards with a man named Doc, and never eat at a place called Mom's.

John O'Hara

Becoming the reader is the essence of becoming a writer.

John O'Hara

Book reviewers are little old ladies of both sexes.

John O'Hara

In every marriage the wife has to keep her mouth shut about at least one small thing her husband does that disgusts her.

John O'Hara

So who's perfect? ... Washington had false teeth. Franklin was nearsighted. Mussolini had syphilis. Unpleasant things have been said about Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde. Tchaikovsky had his problems, too. And Lincoln was constipated.

John O'Hara

Hot lead can be almost as effective coming from a linotype as from a firearm.

John O'Hara