American author (1954- )
Then the singing enveloped me. It was furry and resonant, coming from everyone's very heart. There was no sense of performance or judgment, only that the music was breath and food.
ANNE LAMOTT
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
You can either practice being right or practice being kind.
ANNE LAMOTT
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
You don't always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
I thought, That's it, I'm going to throw myself under the wheels of the car. I'm going to run over my own head. But I couldn't even do that because I couldn't get up any speed. If you ran over your head in this gridlock, you probably wouldn't even end up dead, and your hair would be all f***ed up.
ANNE LAMOTT
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I'm grateful for it the way I'm grateful for the ocean.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
Anything you say from your heart to God is a prayer.
ANNE LAMOTT
interview, Friends Journal, Jan. 30, 2013
Lighthouses don't go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
I am all the ages I've ever been.
ANNE LAMOTT
Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
My father was a writer, so I grew up writing and reading and I was really encouraged by him. I had some sort of gift and when it came time to try to find a publisher I had a little bit of an "in" because I had his agent I could turn to, to at least read my initial offerings when I was about 20. But the only problem was that they were just awful, they were just terrible stories and my agent, who ended up being my agent, was very, very sweet about it, but it took about four years until I actually had something worth trying to sell.
ANNE LAMOTT
interview, Big Think, Apr. 6, 2010
Part of me loves and respects men so desperately, and part of me thinks they are so embarrassingly incompetent at life and in love. You have to teach them the very basics of emotional literacy. You have to teach them how to be there for you, and part of me feels tender toward them and gentle, and part of me is so afraid of them, afraid of any more violation.
ANNE LAMOTT
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
My natural tendency is to complicate everything--and then to spray words and ideas onto everything afterwards. I've had to develop the habit of keeping things simple.
ANNE LAMOTT
interview, Friends Journal, Jan. 30, 2013
We'll have the Jesusiest time ever!
ANNE LAMOTT
address at the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College, 2000
I very rarely read the responses to my Salon pieces, because (as you may have noticed) the trolls can be SO evil. So violent in their hostility to me and my work. OK, wait, wait, wait. That's a lie. I do read the responses--and get mesmerized, like cobra hypnosis. But I laugh (mostly) at the trolls, and think about what tiny little weenies they must have. (They seem to be mostly men.) And then ALL these smart, funny people leap to my defense, which is medicine, and fills me with love and thankfulness.
ANNE LAMOTT
Salon, Nov. 3, 2014
My heart was broken and my head was just barely inhabitable.
ANNE LAMOTT
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
The road to enlightenment is long and difficult, and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.
ANNE LAMOTT
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
I am a terrible and lazy Christian. I do not believe that the Bible is the literal word of God. I just skip about a third of it. I love the parts I love so much, but I find a lot of it just appalling. When a right-wing person quotes a passage in order to attack and stigmatize another person--or group of people--I just roll my eyes.
ANNE LAMOTT
interview, Friends Journal, Jan. 30, 2013
Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird
I always want to know why, and I almost never have a good answer.
ANNE LAMOTT
interview, Friends Journal, Jan. 30, 2013
We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid. The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time.
ANNE LAMOTT
Bird by Bird