Quotes by Flannery O'Connor

To know oneself is, above all, to know what one lacks.

Theres many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.

Conviction without experience makes for harshness.

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.

I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebody elses. But behind all of them there is only one truth and that is that theres no truth.

Faith is what someone knows to be true, whether they believe it or not.

The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode.

“Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.”

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.”

“Most of us have learned to be dispassionate about evil, to look it in the face and find, as often as not, our own grinning reflections with which we do not argue, but good is another matter. Few have stared at that long enough to accept that its face too is grotesque, that in us the good is something under construction. The modes of evil usually receive worthy expression. The modes of good have to be satisfied with a cliche or a smoothing down that will soften their real look.”

“I preach there are all kinds of truth, your truth and somebody elses, but behind all of them, theres only one truth and that is that there is no truth... No truth behind all truths is what I and this church preach! Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it. Where is there a place for you to be? No place... In yourself right now is all the place youve got.”

“The truth is not distorted here, but rather a distortion is used to get at truth.”