Jean Fritz Quotes

#1. My mother had been a Latin teacher, and she was always very fascinated with words. She and I shared books and responded to them.

Jean Fritz

#2. We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.

John F. Kennedy

#3. The question I am most often asked is how do I find my ideas? The answer is I don't. Ideas find me. A character in history will suddenly step right out of the past and demand a book. Generally, people don't bother to speak to me unless there's a good chance that I'll take them on.

Jean Fritz

#4. The first 13 years of my life, I lived in China. My parents were missionaries there, and I was an only child. Often I felt lonely and out of place. Writing for me became my private place, where no one could come.

Jean Fritz

#5. It is said that life and death are under the power of language.

Helene Cixous

#6. One of the most important things in my childhood were the new books that came in. I feel sorry for kids today who have so many other options like television that they may not value books as much as they could enjoy them.

Jean Fritz

#7. You can't sort of write the novel as if you're taking dictation from heaven.

Martin Amis

#8. When I discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day.

Jean Fritz

#9. Language thus becomes monumental because of the mutations of advertising.

Robert Smithson

#10. Only when a book is written out of passion is there much hope of its being read with passion.

Jean Fritz

#11. People ask how I think up my thoughts. Mostly I think them up while reading Paul Simon's lyrics.

Robert Breault

#12. My interest in writing about American history stemmed originally, I think, from a subconscious desire to find roots - I felt like a girl without a country. I have put down roots quite firmly by now, but in the process, I have discovered the joys of research and am probably hooked.

Jean Fritz

#13. I think one of the reasons that I got so good at it, as somebody making radio stories, is that on the radio I can actually - I can understand what's happening in the interview and can make a connection in a way that makes sense.

Ira Glass