Susan Orlean

“Every corny thing that's said about living with nature - being in harmony with the earth, feeling the cycle of the seasons - happens to be true.”

— Susan Orlean

“There will always be vain, obsessive people who want to own rare and extraordinary things whatever the cost there will always be people for whom owning beautiful, dangerous animals brings a sense of power and magic.”

— Susan Orlean

“One of my favorite activities as a teen-ager was to watch television over the phone with my best friend.”

— Susan Orlean

“I am of mixed minds about the issue of privacy. On one hand, I understand that information is power, and power is, well, power, so keeping your private information to yourself is essential - especially if you are a controversial figure, a celebrity, or a dissident.”

— Susan Orlean

“When my son was born, and after a day of lying-in I was told that I could leave the hospital and take him home, I burst into tears. It wasn't the emotion of the moment: it was shock and horror.”

— Susan Orlean

“Sometimes I'm dazzled by how modern and fabulous we are, and how easy everything can be for us that's the gilded glow of technology, and I marvel at it all the time.”

— Susan Orlean

“Recently, I have come to assume that any call to my landline is from a telemarketer or an automated call from Terminex, letting me know that our regularly scheduled pest-extermination service will occur on its regular schedule. So I usually ignore my home phone.”

— Susan Orlean

“I don't turn to greeting cards for wisdom and advice, but they are a fine reflection of the general drift of the culture.”

— Susan Orlean

“I want a chainsaw very badly, because I think cutting down a tree would be unbelievably satisfying. I have asked for a chainsaw for my birthday, but I think I'll probably be given jewelry instead.”

— Susan Orlean

“I have long been one of those tedious people who rails against the coronation of 'student-athletes.' I have heard the argument that big-time athletics bring in loads of money to universities. I don't believe the money goes anywhere other than back into the sports teams, but that's another story.”

— Susan Orlean

“I once had a boyfriend who couldn't write unless he was wearing a necktie and a dress shirt, which I thought was really weird, because this was a long time ago, and no one I knew ever wore dress shirts, let alone neckties it was like he was a grown-up reenacter or something.”

— Susan Orlean

“The first thing I think about when I wake up most mornings is the fact that I'm tired. I have been tired for decades. I am tired in the morning and I am tired while becalmed in the slough of the afternoon, and I am tired in the evening, except right when I try to go to sleep.”

— Susan Orlean

“Knowledge is a beautiful thing, but there are a few things I wish I didn't know.”

— Susan Orlean

“Parents, it seems, have an almost Olympian persistence when it comes to suggesting more secure and lucrative lines of work for their children who have the notion that writing is an actual profession. I say this from experience.”

— Susan Orlean

“In the course of transferring all my CDs to my iPod, I have found myself wandering the musical hallways of my past and reacquainting myself with music I haven't listened to in years.”

— Susan Orlean

“I went to a football school, which meant that I went to a university that served up education and was simultaneously operating a sports franchise.”

— Susan Orlean

“The thing is, I have a zillion apps, and I'm always looking for the perfect arrangement for them, so scrambling my home screen is part of that eternal quest.”

— Susan Orlean

“Buying a car used to be an experience so soul-scorching, so confidence-splattering, so existentially rattling that an entire car company was based on the promise that you wouldn't have to come in contact with it.”

— Susan Orlean

“When I wonder what the future of books will be, I often think about horses. Before automobiles existed, everyone had a horse. Then cars became available, and their convenience, compared to horses, was undeniable.”

— Susan Orlean

“My ace in the hole as a human being used to be my capacity for remembering birthdays. I worked at it. Whenever I made a new friend, I made a point of finding out his or her birthday early on, and I would record it in my Filofax calendar.”

— Susan Orlean