Janette Turner Hospital Quotes

Every story is different, so what is a detail in one might not be in something else. Diversity is something I embrace and love about my work.

At one point, when I was 20 and living in Kentucky, I got shot - it was a land dispute over six inches of property that ran a hundred yards through my grandfather's land. It was really over the honor of my family and that of another family.

I hope my daughter, and one day my granddaughters, will be at Dodgers Opening Day.

The land of my fathers. My fathers can have it.

Yes, I've never inherited a penny!

If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again.

How many times can you put together 26 different stories without running out?

…the transmission of…property from generation to generation in the same name raised up a distinct set of families who, being privileged by law in the perpetuation of their wealth were thus formed into a Patrician order.

There are so many stories to be told, by so many good writers.

Being my father's son is a kind of privilege.

My father used to say I would inherit his house but not his seat.

We are all great landed proprietors, if we only knew it. What we lack is not land, but the power to enjoy it. Moreover, this great inheritance has the additional advantage that it entails no labor, requires no management. The landlord has the trouble, but the landscape belongs to everyone who has eyes to see it.

There can be a lot of longevity in the repetition of things being told again and again in a variety of ways.

The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.

I think my biggest problem, though, at least in drafts, is not repeating myself. After eight books I get worried that a character or piece of dialog might be too much like something I've already done. So it's a challenge to keep it fresh.

Politics always change. Stories never do.

If you've a story, make sure it's a whole one, with details close to hand. It's the difference between a good lie and getting caught.

A story-a true story-can heal as much as medicine can.

But it was too early to know: there were always more pages to go, more words to be written, before the story was over.

My father owned a small piece of land. He carried it with him wherever he went.

We are wearing coats of trust. When one tells a story this is what happens.

If everything goes right, we get a good experience. If everything goes wrong, we get a good story.

I regard large inherited wealth as a misfortune, which merely serves to dull men's faculties. A man who possesses great wealth should, therefore, allow only a small portion to descend to his relatives. Even if he has children, I consider it a mistake to hand over to them considerable sums of money beyond what is necessary for their education. To do so merely encourages laziness and impedes the healthy development of the individual's capacity to make an independent position for himself.

For every once upon a time there must be a story to follow, because if a story doesn't, something else will, and it might not be as harmless as a story.

Peter Rabbit, for all its gentle tininess, loudly proclaims that no story is worth the writing, no picture worth the making, if it is not a work of imagination.