Edna Ferber Quotes

Writing, to be memorable, must be done in a state of impassioned serenity.

No woman ought to pretend she's intelligent. And if she is she ought to have the intelligence to pretend she isn't.

I'm tired of hearing you men say that this and that and the other isn't woman's work. Any work is woman's work that a woman can do well.

Cherry cobbler is shortcake with a soul.

Men often marry their mothers.

A placated bully is a hand-fed bully.

here in Texas maybe we've got into the habit of confusing bigness with greatness.

The very rich and the very social are, often, the very stuffy.

But I have felt that to be a Jew was, in some ways at least, to be especially privileged.

About mistakes it's funny. You got to make your own; and not only that, if you try to keep people from making theirs they get mad.

don't you hate people who say they're not complaining and then complain?

There are ... just two kinds of girls. Those who go down town Saturday nights, and those who don't.

A story must simmer in its own juice for months or even years before it's ready to serve.

There's no sauce for play like work.

Your idea of bliss is to wake up on a Monday morning knowing you haven't a single engagement for the entire week. You are cradled in a white paper cocoon tied up with typewriter ribbon.

Does one eat peanuts at a ball game?' 'It ain't hardly legal if you don't.

People permit life to slide past them like a deft pickpocket, their purse-not yet missed and now too late-in his hand.

Christmas is not a season. It is a feeling.

You lose in the end unless you know how the wheel is fixed or can fix it yourself.

I think that in order to write really well and convincingly, one must be somewhat poisoned by emotion.

The astronomers tell us that other planets are gifted with two - four - even nine lavish moons. Imagine the romantic possibilities of nine moons.

Imported actors, like certain wines, sometimes do not stand the ocean trip. This can be as true of American actors in Europe as it is of European actors in America.

Science had married the wilderness and was taming the savage shrew.

I like any place that isn't here.

celebratin' New Year's Eve is like eatin' oranges. You got to let go your dignity t' really enjoy 'em.

But almost any place is Baghdad if you don't know what will happen in it.

That just goes to show, remarked Pearlie, that you must never judge a woman in a kimono or a bathing suit.

It's fun telling you tall Texas tales. You always look like a little girl who's hearing Cinderella for the first time.

A life like this develops the comedy sense. You can't play tragedy while you're living it.

Living in the past is a dull and lonely business looking back strains the neck muscles causes you to bump into people not going your way.

Life cannot defeat a writer who is in love with writing - for life itself is a writer's love until death.

Life can't defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer's lover until death.

Roast beef, medium, is not only a food. It is a philosophy.