Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

89 Inspiring Quotes By Alice Munro, The Author Of Open Secrets

Famous As: Canadian Short Story Writer and Winner of 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature
Born On: July 10, 1931
Born In: Wingham, Canada
Age: 92 Years

Alice Ann Munro is a short story writer from Canada, who is credited for revolutionizing the craft of writing a short story and has won the highest literary awards for the body of work that she has churned out over a period of several decades. Munro has been an active short story writer from an early age and her first story, ‘The Dimensions of a Shadow’, was published when she was still only a teenager. She attended the University of Western Ontario to study journalism and English. Her first short story collection, ‘Dance of the Happy Shades’ was published in 1968 and won her an award. From then on she went from strength to strength as she reeled off many more short story collections over the years; notable among them being ‘Lives of Girls and Women’, ‘Friend of My Youth’, ‘The Moons of Jupiter’, ‘Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You’ and ‘Open Secrets’ among others. Munro introduced a new style of short stories in which the narrative is non-linear in nature and that was something that made her stories truly remarkable. She won the Man Booker International Prize in 2009 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 for her efforts. Here are some of her most well-known quotes.

Listed In:
The constant happiness is curiosity.

The constant happiness is curiosity.

Alice Munro
The conversation of kisses. Subtle, engrossing, fearless, transforming.

The conversation of kisses. Subtle, engrossing, fearless, transforming.

Alice Munro
Never underestimate the meanness in people's souls... Even when they're being kind... especially when they're being kind.

Never underestimate the meanness in people's souls... Even when they're being kind... especially when they're being kind.

Alice Munro
Always remember that when a man goes out of the room, he leaves everything in it behind... When a woman goes out she carries everything that happened in the room along with her.

Always remember that when a man goes out of the room, he leaves everything in it behind... When a woman goes out she carries everything that happened in the room along with her.

Alice Munro
Because if she let go of her grief even for a minute it would only hit her harder when she bumped into it again.

Because if she let go of her grief even for a minute it would only hit her harder when she bumped into it again.

Alice Munro
In your life there are a few places, or maybe only the one place, where something happened, and then there are all the other places.

In your life there are a few places, or maybe only the one place, where something happened, and then there are all the other places.

Alice Munro
You cannot let your parents anywhere near your real humiliations.

You cannot let your parents anywhere near your real humiliations.

Alice Munro
Moments of kindness and reconciliation are worth having, even if the parting has to come sooner or later.

Moments of kindness and reconciliation are worth having, even if the parting has to come sooner or later.

Alice Munro
Why is it a surprise to find that people other than ourselves are able to tell lies?

Why is it a surprise to find that people other than ourselves are able to tell lies?

Alice Munro
She was learning, quite late, what many people around her appeared to have known since childhood that life can be perfectly satisfying without major achievements.

She was learning, quite late, what many people around her appeared to have known since childhood that life can be perfectly satisfying without major achievements.

Alice Munro
He never wanted to be away from her. She had the spark of life.

He never wanted to be away from her. She had the spark of life.

Alice Munro
I can't play bridge. I don't play tennis. All those things that people learn, and I admire, there hasn't seemed time for. But what there is time for is looking out the window.

I can't play bridge. I don't play tennis. All those things that people learn, and I admire, there hasn't seemed time for. But what there is time for is looking out the window.

Alice Munro
Love removes the world for you, and just as surely when it's going well as when it's going badly.

Love removes the world for you, and just as surely when it's going well as when it's going badly.

Alice Munro
People’s lives, in Jubilee as elsewhere, were dull, simple, amazing, and unfathomable – deep caves paved with kitchen linoleum.

People’s lives, in Jubilee as elsewhere, were dull, simple, amazing, and unfathomable – deep caves paved with kitchen linoleum.

Alice Munro
Life would be grand if it weren't for the people.

Life would be grand if it weren't for the people.

Alice Munro
They were all in their early thirties. An age at which it is sometimes hard to admit that what you are living is your life.

They were all in their early thirties. An age at which it is sometimes hard to admit that what you are living is your life.

Alice Munro
She would live now, not read.

She would live now, not read.

Alice Munro
Few people, very few, have a treasure, and if you do you must hang onto it. You must not let yourself be waylaid, and have it taken from you.

Few people, very few, have a treasure, and if you do you must hang onto it. You must not let yourself be waylaid, and have it taken from you.

Alice Munro
My head was a magpie's nest lined with such bright scraps of information.

My head was a magpie's nest lined with such bright scraps of information.

Alice Munro
There were people whom you positively ached to please. If you failed with such people they would put you into a category in their minds where they could kee you and have contempt for you forever.

There were people whom you positively ached to please. If you failed with such people they would put you into a category in their minds where they could kee you and have contempt for you forever.

Alice Munro
What she wants to do if she can get the time to do it, is not so much to live in the past as to open it up and get one good look at it

What she wants to do if she can get the time to do it, is not so much to live in the past as to open it up and get one good look at it".

Alice Munro
Every year, when you're a child, you become a different person.

Every year, when you're a child, you become a different person.

Alice Munro
You think that would have changed things? The answer is of course, and for a while, and never.

You think that would have changed things? The answer is of course, and for a while, and never.

Alice Munro
We say of some things that they can't be forgiven, or that we will never forgive ourselves. But we do--we do it all the time.

We say of some things that they can't be forgiven, or that we will never forgive ourselves. But we do--we do it all the time.

Alice Munro
Who can ever say the perfect thing to the poet about his poetry?

Who can ever say the perfect thing to the poet about his poetry?

Alice Munro
What she felt was a lighthearted sort of compassion, almost like laughter. A swish of tender hilarity, getting the better of all her sores and hollows, for the time given.

What she felt was a lighthearted sort of compassion, almost like laughter. A swish of tender hilarity, getting the better of all her sores and hollows, for the time given.

Alice Munro
He was evidently the sort of person who posed questions that were traps for you to fall into.

He was evidently the sort of person who posed questions that were traps for you to fall into.

Alice Munro
And now such a warm commotion, such busy love.

And now such a warm commotion, such busy love.

Alice Munro
Braininess is not attractive unless combined with some signs of elegance; class.

Braininess is not attractive unless combined with some signs of elegance; class.

Alice Munro
There would never be any room in her for anything else. No room for anything but the realization of what she had done.

There would never be any room in her for anything else. No room for anything but the realization of what she had done.

Alice Munro