Daniel Woodrell Quotes

Long, dark, and lovely she had been, in those days before her mind broke and the parts scattered and she let them go.

Fading light buttered the ridges until shadows licked them clean and they were lost to nightfall.

Never. Never ask for what ought to be offered.

The heart makes dreams seem like ideas.

Ree, brunette and sixteen, with milk skin and abrupt green eyes, stood bare-armed in a fluttering yellowed dress, face to the wind, her cheeks reddening as if smacked and smacked again.

He unscrewed the lid, set it on the dash, snorted from the bottle twice, banged the steering wheel, and said, 'You got to be ready to die every day - then you got a chance.'

I said shut up once already, with my mouth.

This is how sudden things happened that haunted forever.

The opening novel of the 'Bayou Trilogy' was the first one I finished.

I was not much used to women except for mothers. Everything I did, they did different.

Pine trees with low limbs spread over fresh snow made a stronger vault for the spirit than pews and pulpits ever could.

I, myself, often wished to be spared the expectation of better days ahead or such.

I had been born shoved to the margins of the world, sure, but I had volunteered for the pits.

There's an overlap between social-realist fiction and crime fiction - a sweet spot there.

I didn't really expect to be coming to the Oscars.

I have a book in the pipeline of short stories. You want to hear an agent scream, say 'I'm thinking about doing a collection of short stories set in the Ozarks.

I felt like a number of things in me as a writer just clicked.

I always loved the verve and vivacity of pulp and I kind of merged it with my own interest in family stories.

But I've been at writing long enough now to know that every three or four books I have to start a new direction.

The heart's in it then, spinning dreams, and torment is on the way. The heart makes dreams seem like ideas.

I've bumped into at least three people in town who all insist 'Winter's Bone' is about them.

When I left Iowa, I definitely never wanted to stand in front of a group of academics again and see if they approved of me. I made up my mind to take my work to the actual reading public.

A person has to show some spirit -- fate just about never shines on chickenshits.

When I started to be a writer, I was not going to run the risk of boring you.

It's not always to the benefit of the story to have it so preordained.

No god craves weaklings.

I slept for over a full day, as you know, but I won’t say I rested.

I FELL DEEP down in there, until this bright light raised me from sleep. Coming out of a pit such as that, you think the bright light could be God or a cop on patrol.

I'm very attracted to poetry for all the reasons someone likes poetry. The notion of compression seems to fit my personality.

When poetry is on the money, 12 words can slay you. I admire that greatly.

I guess it's ridiculously romantic, but I wanted to be a full tilt, sink-or-swim writer.

I think all regions have had their peculiarities of speech rounded off by television, radio, and people travel so much more now.

Texas humor and Southern humor are pretty similar.

You wake up in this here world, my sweet li'l mister, you got to wake up tough. You go out that front door tough of a mornin' and you stay tough 'til lights out—have you learned that?