Philip Roth Quotes

I feel like life is much greater than a hero or a villain: there's good people that sometimes make mistakes.

I cotton to the idea that people are much closer to being flawed; they have problems and don't always make the right choices.

L'homme n'est qu'un sujet plein d'erreur, naturelle et ineffa c° able sans la gra" ce. Man is nothing but a subject full of natural error that cannot be eradicated except through grace.

Don't try to behave as though you were essentially sane and naturally good. We're all demented sinners in the same cosmic boat - and the boat is perpetually sinking.

There is only one inborn error. and that is the notion that we exist in order to be happy.

We're not all evil or all good, and we all make mistakes to one degree or another.

Our best works are shot through with sin and contain something for which we need to be forgiven.

To err is human, but to forgive, well that's right on.

We are all human, and all do wrong.

Perhaps it is only human nature to inflict suffering on anything that will endure suffering, whether by reason of its genuine humility, or indifference, or sheer helplessness.

There are faults we would fain pardon.

Being capable of anything is a bullshit concept, unless it means you also admit that you're capable of cheating, lying and killing.

I'm like everybody else: weak, full of mistakes, but basically good.

We all do foolish things when we are in love. Don't we, your grace?

I always do the wrong. I do the wrong thing so much that the times I actually do the right thing stand out so brightly in my memory that I forget I always do the wrong thing.

Wise men are not wise at all times.

The imperfections of a man, his frailties, his faults, are just as important as his virtues.You can't separate them. They're wedded.

Contradiction is the heart and soul of character and drama. You're always looking for it. I loved her so much I hit her; that's character. I loved her so much I hit her again; that's even more character.

I think imperfections are important, just as mistakes are important. You only get to be good by making mistakes, and you only get to be real by being imperfect.

Imperfections create character.

There are novels that end well, but in between there are human beings acting like human beings. And human beings are not perfect. All of the motives a human being may have, which are mixed, that's the novelists' materials. That's where they have to go. And a lot of that just isn't pretty. We like to think of ourselves as really, really good people. But look in the mirror. Really look. Look at your own mixed motives. And then multiply that.

If there's anyone out there that has never said something that they wish they could take back -- if you're out there, please pick up that stone and throw it so hard at my head that it kills me. Please. I want to meet you...I is what I is, and I'm not changing.

I quite like mistakes. I think they're human.

People are good or half good or a quarter good, and it changes all the time- but even on the best day nobody's perfect.