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97 Philip Roth Quotes That Will Broaden Your Horizon

Famous As: One of the Most Awarded American Writers of His Generation
Born On: March 19, 1933
Died On: May 22, 2018
Born In: Newark, New Jersey, United States
Died At Age: 85

Philip Milton Roth, who gained critical attention with his novella 'Goodbye, Columbus' in 1959 is a renowned American novelist. The book paints a humorous picture of an average Jew's life that fetched him the U.S. National Book Award in the category of fiction. A majority of Roth's fiction works are set against the background of New Jersey and Newark. As a writer, he has a supple, ingenious style. His autobiographical descriptions and social philosophy blurs the distinction between fiction and reality. Roth's publication "Portnoy's Complaint" (1969) is a psychoanalytical monologue of a lust-ridden Jewish bachelor who's addicted to young mothers. Despite being humorous, he was criticized for the sexually explicit content, use of abusive language and shameful details. Roth's most popular character Nathan Zuckerman portrays his fictional alter ego and appeared in several novels including the Human Stain. He earned the National Book Award for Goodbye, Columbus (1960), the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral (1997) and the National Book Critics Circle award. He won PEN/Faulkner Award three times in his life, UK's WH Smith Literary Award and the Franz Kafka Prize at Prague. He also won the Man Booker International Prize for his lifetime achievement in fiction. Roth, who's an incredibly talented literary troublemaker, explores uncomfortable family and cultural issues to inspire the youth with his work. We’ve collected some of the most “optimistic” quotes penned by Philip Roth, one of America’s most celebrated and thematically grim novelists. Presenting a collection of Philip Roth quotes that have been lifted from his novels, writings and sayings!

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Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

Philip Roth
He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.

He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.

Philip Roth
You put too much stock in human intelligence, it doesn't annihilate human nature.

You put too much stock in human intelligence, it doesn't annihilate human nature.

Philip Roth
Stop worrying about growing old. And think about growing up.

Stop worrying about growing old. And think about growing up.

Philip Roth
Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.

Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.

Philip Roth
The pleasure isn't in owning the person. The pleasure is this. Having another contender in the room with you.

The pleasure isn't in owning the person. The pleasure is this. Having another contender in the room with you.

Philip Roth
Literature takes a habit of mind that has disappeared. It requires silence, some form of isolation, and sustained concentration in the presence of an enigmatic thing.

Literature takes a habit of mind that has disappeared. It requires silence, some form of isolation, and sustained concentration in the presence of an enigmatic thing.

Philip Roth
You tasted it. Isn't that enough? Of what do you ever get more than a taste? That's all we're given in life, that's all we're given of life. A taste. There is no more.

You tasted it. Isn't that enough? Of what do you ever get more than a taste? That's all we're given in life, that's all we're given of life. A taste. There is no more.

Philip Roth
Actually we did not have the feelings we said we had until we spoke them--at least I didn't; to phrase them was to invent them and own them.

Actually we did not have the feelings we said we had until we spoke them--at least I didn't; to phrase them was to invent them and own them.

Philip Roth
How easy life is when it's easy, and how hard when it's hard.

How easy life is when it's easy, and how hard when it's hard.

Philip Roth
Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you.

Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that -- well, lucky you.

Philip Roth
You cannot observe people through an ideology. Your ideology observes for you.

You cannot observe people through an ideology. Your ideology observes for you.

Philip Roth
All that we don’t know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.

All that we don’t know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing.

Philip Roth
I came to New York and in only hours, New York did what it does to people: awakened the possibilities. Hope breaks out.

I came to New York and in only hours, New York did what it does to people: awakened the possibilities. Hope breaks out.

Philip Roth
It's best to give while your hand is still warm.

It's best to give while your hand is still warm.

Philip Roth
Life is just a short period of time in which you are alive.

Life is just a short period of time in which you are alive.

Philip Roth
You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.

You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.

Philip Roth
--nor had I understood til then how the shameless vanity of utter fools can so strongly determine the fate of others

--nor had I understood til then how the shameless vanity of utter fools can so strongly determine the fate of others

Philip Roth
Nothing lasts and yet nothing passes either, and nothing passes just because nothing lasts.

Nothing lasts and yet nothing passes either, and nothing passes just because nothing lasts.

Philip Roth
Everyone becomes a part of history whether they like it or not and whether they know it or not.

Everyone becomes a part of history whether they like it or not and whether they know it or not.

Philip Roth
I am marked like a road map from head to toe with my repressions. You can travel the length and breadth of my body over superhighways of shame and inhibition and fear.

I am marked like a road map from head to toe with my repressions. You can travel the length and breadth of my body over superhighways of shame and inhibition and fear.

Philip Roth
There are no uncontaminated angels

There are no uncontaminated angels

Philip Roth
I turn sentences around. That's my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it and turn it around again...

I turn sentences around. That's my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it and turn it around again...

Philip Roth
Nothing bad can happen to a writer. Everything is material.

Nothing bad can happen to a writer. Everything is material.

Philip Roth
You be greater than your feelings. I don't demand this of you - life does. Otherwise you'll be washed away by feelings. You'll be washed out to sea and never seen again.

You be greater than your feelings. I don't demand this of you - life does. Otherwise you'll be washed away by feelings. You'll be washed out to sea and never seen again.

Philip Roth
Doctor doctor, what do you say, lets put the id back in yid

Doctor doctor, what do you say, lets put the id back in yid

Philip Roth
There’s no remaking reality... Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes. There’s no other way.

There’s no remaking reality... Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes. There’s no other way.

Philip Roth
Old age isn't a battle: old age is a massacre.

Old age isn't a battle: old age is a massacre.

Philip Roth
The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

Philip Roth
I kept waiting for him to lay bare something more than this pointed unobjectionableness, but all that rose to the surface was more surface

I kept waiting for him to lay bare something more than this pointed unobjectionableness, but all that rose to the surface was more surface

Philip Roth
Like all enjoyable things, you see, it has unenjoyable parts to it.

Like all enjoyable things, you see, it has unenjoyable parts to it.

Philip Roth
You have a conscience, and a conscience is a valuable attribute, but not if it begins to make you think you were to blame for what is far beyond the scope of your responsibility.

You have a conscience, and a conscience is a valuable attribute, but not if it begins to make you think you were to blame for what is far beyond the scope of your responsibility.

Philip Roth
In my childhood I led the life of a sage, when I grew up I started climbing trees

In my childhood I led the life of a sage, when I grew up I started climbing trees

Philip Roth
Writing turns you into somebody who's always wrong. The illusion that you may get it right someday is the perversity that draws you on.

Writing turns you into somebody who's always wrong. The illusion that you may get it right someday is the perversity that draws you on.

Philip Roth
And as he spoke, I was thinking, 'the kind of stories that people turn life into, the kind of lives people turn stories into.

And as he spoke, I was thinking, 'the kind of stories that people turn life into, the kind of lives people turn stories into.

Philip Roth
Dreams? If only they had been! But I don't need dreams, Doctor, that's why I hardly have them—because I have this life instead. With me it all happens in broad daylight!

Dreams? If only they had been! But I don't need dreams, Doctor, that's why I hardly have them—because I have this life instead. With me it all happens in broad daylight!

Philip Roth
How Far back must we go to discover the beginning of trouble?

How Far back must we go to discover the beginning of trouble?

Philip Roth
Oh, to be a center fielder, a center fielder- and nothing more

Oh, to be a center fielder, a center fielder- and nothing more

Philip Roth
I was a biography in constant motion, memory to the marrow of my bones.

I was a biography in constant motion, memory to the marrow of my bones.

Philip Roth
The danger with hatred is, once you start in on it, you get a hundred times more than you bargained for. Once you start, you can't stop.

The danger with hatred is, once you start in on it, you get a hundred times more than you bargained for. Once you start, you can't stop.

Philip Roth
Literature got me into this mess and literature is going to have to get me out of it.

Literature got me into this mess and literature is going to have to get me out of it.

Philip Roth
It’s a family joke that when I was a tiny child I turned from the window out of which I was watching a snowstorm, and hopefully asked,

It’s a family joke that when I was a tiny child I turned from the window out of which I was watching a snowstorm, and hopefully asked, "Momma, do we believe in winter?

Philip Roth
Who are the new people when you do meet them? They're the same old people in masks.
There's nothing new about them at all. They're people.

Who are the new people when you do meet them? They're the same old people in masks. There's nothing new about them at all. They're people.

Philip Roth
So. Now you know the worst thing I have ever done. I fucked my own family's dinner.

So. Now you know the worst thing I have ever done. I fucked my own family's dinner.

Philip Roth
A Jewish man with his parents alive is half the time a helpless infant!

A Jewish man with his parents alive is half the time a helpless infant!

Philip Roth
This is what you know about someone you have to hate: he charges you with his crime and castigates himself in you.

This is what you know about someone you have to hate: he charges you with his crime and castigates himself in you.

Philip Roth
I am the Raskolnikov of jerking off – the sticky evidence is everywhere!

I am the Raskolnikov of jerking off – the sticky evidence is everywhere!

Philip Roth
Now, I’m very vulnerable to female beauty, as you know. Everybody’s defenseless against something, and that’s it for me. I see it and it blinds me to everything else.

Now, I’m very vulnerable to female beauty, as you know. Everybody’s defenseless against something, and that’s it for me. I see it and it blinds me to everything else.

Philip Roth
Who are they now? They are the simplest version possible of themselves... They are out from under everything ever piled on top of them.

Who are they now? They are the simplest version possible of themselves... They are out from under everything ever piled on top of them.

Philip Roth
Anything can happen to anyone, but it usually doesn't. Except when it does.

Anything can happen to anyone, but it usually doesn't. Except when it does.

Philip Roth
He was no more, freed from
being, entering into nowhere without even knowing it. Just as he'd feared from the start.

He was no more, freed from being, entering into nowhere without even knowing it. Just as he'd feared from the start.

Philip Roth
Either foreswear fucking others or the affair is over.

Either foreswear fucking others or the affair is over.

Philip Roth
Religion is the opiate of the people!

Religion is the opiate of the people!

Philip Roth
Good Christ, a Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy till they die!

Good Christ, a Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy till they die!

Philip Roth
The legend engraved on the face of the Jewish nickel– on the body of every Jewish child!– not IN GOD WE TRUST, but SOMEDAY YOU'LL BE A PARENT AND YOU'LL KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE.

The legend engraved on the face of the Jewish nickel– on the body of every Jewish child!– not IN GOD WE TRUST, but SOMEDAY YOU'LL BE A PARENT AND YOU'LL KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE.

Philip Roth
There are no reasons. She is obliged to be as she is. We all are. Reasons are in books.

There are no reasons. She is obliged to be as she is. We all are. Reasons are in books.

Philip Roth
Too late, but I understand. That we don't perish of understanding everything too late, that is a miracle. But we do perish of that -- of just that.

Too late, but I understand. That we don't perish of understanding everything too late, that is a miracle. But we do perish of that -- of just that.

Philip Roth
People are unjust to anger — it can be enlivening and a lot of fun.

People are unjust to anger — it can be enlivening and a lot of fun.

Philip Roth
What use to skip those two grades in grammar school and get such a jump on everybody else,
when the result is to wind up so far behind?

What use to skip those two grades in grammar school and get such a jump on everybody else, when the result is to wind up so far behind?

Philip Roth
It's human to have a secret, but it's just as human to reveal it sooner or later.

It's human to have a secret, but it's just as human to reveal it sooner or later.

Philip Roth
War with Canada was far less of an enigma to me than what Aunt Evelyn was going to use for a toilet during the night

War with Canada was far less of an enigma to me than what Aunt Evelyn was going to use for a toilet during the night

Philip Roth
Everything dictated silence and self-control but I couldn't restrain myself and spoke my mind.

Everything dictated silence and self-control but I couldn't restrain myself and spoke my mind.

Philip Roth
... and I experienced the bitter helplessness of a taunted old man dying to be whole again.

... and I experienced the bitter helplessness of a taunted old man dying to be whole again.

Philip Roth
Spring me from this role I play of the smothered son in the Jewish joke! Because it's beginning to pall a little at thirty-three!

Spring me from this role I play of the smothered son in the Jewish joke! Because it's beginning to pall a little at thirty-three!

Philip Roth
I couldn't imagine anything that could have made Coleman more of a mystery to me than this unmasking. Now that I knew everything, it was as though I knew nothing

I couldn't imagine anything that could have made Coleman more of a mystery to me than this unmasking. Now that I knew everything, it was as though I knew nothing

Philip Roth
Don't judge it. Just write it. Don't judge it. It's not for you to judge it.

Interview in Esquire Magazine 10/10

Don't judge it. Just write it. Don't judge it. It's not for you to judge it. Interview in Esquire Magazine 10/10

Philip Roth
...The end is so immense, it is its own poetry. It requires little rhetoric. Just state it plainly.

...The end is so immense, it is its own poetry. It requires little rhetoric. Just state it plainly.

Philip Roth
What is astonishing is that we, who had no idea how anything was going to turn out, now know exactly what happened.

What is astonishing is that we, who had no idea how anything was going to turn out, now know exactly what happened.

Philip Roth
I do not say correct or savory. I do not say seemly or even natural. I say serious. Sensationally serious. Unspeakably serious. Solemnly, recklessly, blissfully serious.

I do not say correct or savory. I do not say seemly or even natural. I say serious. Sensationally serious. Unspeakably serious. Solemnly, recklessly, blissfully serious.

Philip Roth
The ending is immense. Tell it plainly

The ending is immense. Tell it plainly".

Philip Roth
Everything you say says either more than you wanted it to say or less than you wanted it to say; and everything you do does either more than you wanted it to do or less than you wanted it to do.

Everything you say says either more than you wanted it to say or less than you wanted it to say; and everything you do does either more than you wanted it to do or less than you wanted it to do.

Philip Roth
Everyone thinks at some time or other that in a hundred years no one now alive will be on earth - the overwhelming force will sweep the place clean.

Everyone thinks at some time or other that in a hundred years no one now alive will be on earth - the overwhelming force will sweep the place clean.

Philip Roth
My God, he thought, the man I once was!

The life that surrounded me! The force that was mine! No

My God, he thought, the man I once was! The life that surrounded me! The force that was mine! No "otherness" to be felt anywhere! Once upon a time I was a full human being.

Philip Roth
As far as I can see there is no conquering or exorcising the past with words - words born either of imagination or forthrightness.

As far as I can see there is no conquering or exorcising the past with words - words born either of imagination or forthrightness.

Philip Roth
I did not want to voice a word that would lift the cover and reveal that hideous emotion I always felt for her, the underside of love.

I did not want to voice a word that would lift the cover and reveal that hideous emotion I always felt for her, the underside of love.

Philip Roth
When you publish a book, it’s the world’s book. The world edits it.

When you publish a book, it’s the world’s book. The world edits it.

Philip Roth
You've got a good girl this time. Don't screw it up. Don't let her go.

You've got a good girl this time. Don't screw it up. Don't let her go.

Philip Roth
He was struck by how lives diverge and by how powerless each of us is up against the force of circumstance. And where does God figure in this?

He was struck by how lives diverge and by how powerless each of us is up against the force of circumstance. And where does God figure in this?

Philip Roth
It's so heartbreaking, violence, when it's in a house-like seeing the clothes in a tree after an explosion. You may be prepared to see death but not the clothes in the tree.

It's so heartbreaking, violence, when it's in a house-like seeing the clothes in a tree after an explosion. You may be prepared to see death but not the clothes in the tree.

Philip Roth
How much time could you spend staring out the ocean, even if it was the ocean you'd loved since you were a boy?

How much time could you spend staring out the ocean, even if it was the ocean you'd loved since you were a boy?

Philip Roth
Memoirs lie, but fiction tells the truth.

Memoirs lie, but fiction tells the truth.

Philip Roth
It was puzzling to own trees - they were not owned the way a business os owned or even a house is owned. If anything, they were held in trust. In trust. Yes, for all of posterity,...

It was puzzling to own trees - they were not owned the way a business os owned or even a house is owned. If anything, they were held in trust. In trust. Yes, for all of posterity,...

Philip Roth
Many farcical, illogical, incomprehensible transactions are subsumed by the mania of lust.

Many farcical, illogical, incomprehensible transactions are subsumed by the mania of lust.

Philip Roth
But to wish oneself into another's glory, as boy or as man, is an impossibility, untenable on psychological grounds if you are not a writer, and on aesthetic grounds if you are.

But to wish oneself into another's glory, as boy or as man, is an impossibility, untenable on psychological grounds if you are not a writer, and on aesthetic grounds if you are.

Philip Roth
The pompous son of a bitch knows everythingit's too bad he doesn't know anything else.

The pompous son of a bitch knows everythingit's too bad he doesn't know anything else.

Philip Roth
Mamma, don't you see -- you shouldn't hit me. He shouldn't hit me. You shouldn't hit me about God, Mamma. You should never hit anybody about God . . . .

Mamma, don't you see -- you shouldn't hit me. He shouldn't hit me. You shouldn't hit me about God, Mamma. You should never hit anybody about God . . . .

Philip Roth
...they'll say, 'He never recovered from that breakdown and this was the result. It had to be the breakdown--not even he was that dreadful a novelist.

...they'll say, 'He never recovered from that breakdown and this was the result. It had to be the breakdown--not even he was that dreadful a novelist.

Philip Roth
Were we just two more rootless jungle-dwelling erotomaniacs creamining in their pre-faded jeans over Historical New England, dreaming the old agrarian dream in their rent-a-car convertible

Were we just two more rootless jungle-dwelling erotomaniacs creamining in their pre-faded jeans over Historical New England, dreaming the old agrarian dream in their rent-a-car convertible

Philip Roth
Terrifying encounters with the end? I'm thirty-four! Worry about oblivion, he told himself, when you're seventy-five! The remote future will be time enough to anguish over the ultimate catastrophe!

Terrifying encounters with the end? I'm thirty-four! Worry about oblivion, he told himself, when you're seventy-five! The remote future will be time enough to anguish over the ultimate catastrophe!

Philip Roth
In short, dozens of conflicting, truncated impressions were already teasing to be understood, but the wisest course seemed to me to keep them to myself so long as I didn't begin to know what they added up to.

In short, dozens of conflicting, truncated impressions were already teasing to be understood, but the wisest course seemed to me to keep them to myself so long as I didn't begin to know what they added up to.

Philip Roth
She was so deeply imbedded in my consciousness that for the first year of school I seem to have believed that each of my teachers was my mother in disguise.

She was so deeply imbedded in my consciousness that for the first year of school I seem to have believed that each of my teachers was my mother in disguise.

Philip Roth
Why can't Jews with their Jewish problems be human beings with their human problems?

Why can't Jews with their Jewish problems be human beings with their human problems?

Philip Roth
No, I won't do it. I will not be locked into your head in this way. I will not participate in this drama for the sake of your fiction. Oh, darling, the hell with your fiction.

No, I won't do it. I will not be locked into your head in this way. I will not participate in this drama for the sake of your fiction. Oh, darling, the hell with your fiction.

Philip Roth
You know what I've come to realize about you kindly rich liberals who own the world? Nothing is further from your understanding than the nature of reality.

You know what I've come to realize about you kindly rich liberals who own the world? Nothing is further from your understanding than the nature of reality.

Philip Roth
But it is INTERESTING trying to get a handle on one's own subjectivity--something to think about, to play around with, and what's more fun than that?

But it is INTERESTING trying to get a handle on one's own subjectivity--something to think about, to play around with, and what's more fun than that?

Philip Roth
The tragedy of the man not set up for tragedy—that is every man's tragedy.

The tragedy of the man not set up for tragedy—that is every man's tragedy.

Philip Roth
Now that he was no longer grounded in his hate, we were going to talk about women.

Now that he was no longer grounded in his hate, we were going to talk about women.

Philip Roth