Charles J. Shields Quotes

#1. In the late 1990s, I left the teaching field to write biographies and histories for young adults.

Charles J. Shields

#2. The great purpose in life is to take your destiny out of the hands of others.

Charles J. Shields

#3. She just wanted to be comfortable in her own skin ... But she would not stop to seek others' approval. The notion that she should never seemed to enter her head. Her right to live as she pleased was not up for negotiation, even if it ran against the grain of the milieu at Huntingdon.

Charles J. Shields

#4. Self-pity is a sin. It is a form of living suicide.

Charles J. Shields

#5. Edith Vonnegut behaved like a guest in her children's lives. To her way of thinking, parenting came under the general heading of household tasks, which, as a wealthy woman, she could pay others to do.

Charles J. Shields

#6. The first article carrying Vonnegut's byline, 'This Business of Whistle Purchasing,' a lighthearted criticism of a school fund-raiser, was submitted at the urging of his sophomore English teacher.

Charles J. Shields

#7. There is more to be pondered in the grain and texture of life than traditional fiction allows. The work of essayists is vital precisely because it permits and encourages self-knowledge in a way that is less indirect than fiction, more open and speculative.

Charles J. Shields

#8. All great works of literature either dissolve a genre or invent one.

Charles J. Shields

#9. Bernard Vonnegut, named for his paternal grandfather, was born August 29, 1914. He was a serious-looking little boy, even in informal photographs.

Charles J. Shields

#10. If you want to write serious books, you must be ready to break the forms.

Charles J. Shields

#11. On the strength of Vonnegut's reputation, 'Breakfast of Champions' spent a year on the best-seller lists, proving that he could indeed publish anything and make money.

Charles J. Shields

#12. Engaging and well paced, the book fills in the reality behind Vonnegut's work

Charles J. Shields