A Quote by John Edgar Wideman

Books are an attempt to control something that's uncontrollable.

John Edgar Wideman

Quote Topics

Attempt Books Control Something Uncontrollable

Quote Author

John Edgar Wideman
American - Novelist
Born: June 14, 1941

Books are an attempt to control something that's uncontrollable. That's one of the beauties of African American life. There was this thing called slavery and adjustments were made. It literally destroyed millions, but it didn't destroy the inner lives of all the people who experienced it. There are still horrible things that go on because of the myth of race, but we don't have to succumb totally. If I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to do it. Because what would be the point?

John Edgar Wideman

The characters in my novels, from the very first one, are always on some quixotic effort of attempting to control something that is uncontrollable - some element of the world that is essentially random and out of control.

John Irving

I think all art is about control, the encounter between control and uncontrollable.

Richard Avedon

I think all art is about control - the encounter between control and the uncontrollable.

Richard Avedon

As a competitor, I try to do everything in my power to control the uncontrollable.

Doug Baldwin

I am attracted to characters who think they are in control, but their situation is uncontrollable.

Eric Bana

Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.

Epictetus

They suffered from the terrible delusion that something could be done. They seemed prepared to make the world the way they wanted it or die in the attempt, and the trouble with dying in the attempt was that you died in the attempt.

Terry Pratchett

And by letting go of trying to control the uncontrollable...you ironically increase...the probability of getting what you want.

Michael Neill

I long ago abandoned the notion of a life without storms, or a world without dry and killing seasons. Life is too complicated, too constantly changing, to be anything but what it is. And I am, by nature, too mercurial to be anything but deeply wary of the grave unnaturalness involved in any attempt to exert too much control over essentially uncontrollable forces. There will always be propelling, disturbing elements, and they will be there until, as Lowell put it, the watch is taken from the wrist.

Kay Redfield Jamison

If you look at the best-seller list, it is mostly thrillers. Very few books attempt to create an image of the life we live. I knew there were writers who wore tweed coats and lived in Connecticut and somehow made a living, and that's what I aimed to do. I've tried to write as well as I can with books that say something to any reader.

John Updike

To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. As part of the universal city that is the universe, human beings have a duty of care to all fellow humans. The person who followed these precepts would achieve happiness.

Epictetus

When people read his books they have an uncontrollable desire to hang the author in the town square. I can’t think of a higher honor for a writer.