KeenBrain
KeenBrain
KeenBrain

Patrick Modiano Quotes


Share this page on

Quotes by Patrick Modiano

Showing 1-10 of 21 Quotes by Patrick Modiano

Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way they did it before the digital age. The photograph, as it was printed in the darkroom, became visible bit by bit. As you read your way through a novel, the same chemical process takes place.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


I quickly realised that it is difficult to get started when writing a novel. You have this dream of what you want to create, but it is like walking around a swimming pool and hesitating to jump in because the water is too cold.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


A novelist's lack of awareness of and critical distance to his own body of work is due to a phenomenon that I have noticed in myself and many others: as soon as it is written, every new book erases the last one, leaving me with the impression that I have forgotten it.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


A novelist can never be his own reader, except when he is ridding his manuscript of syntax errors, repetitions, or the occasional superfluous paragraph.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


The more things remain obscure and mysterious, the more they interest me. I even try to find mystery in things that have none.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


I think I became a writer because I didn't know of anything else to do. Maybe some incident from my childhood influenced me.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


When I was younger, I just put off the writing until later in the day, but now I write early every morning to get it done. I can only write for a few hours at a time; after that, my attention fades.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


Encourage aspiring writers to continue writing when things are going against them, when it feels hard. Explain the typical obstacles that occur, and encourage and reassure them to continue, never to give up.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


Recently, I looked back at my first manuscripts and was struck by the lack of space, of breath. That's exactly how it felt, back then... like I was suffocating.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


For a long time, I've had a recurring dream - I dream I don't have to write any more, that I'm free. I'm not free, alas; I'm still clearing the same terrain, with the impression that it's never finished.

~Patrick Modiano

Topics: None

Keywords: None


Suggest an Edit


Cite the source


Save to Favorites


Collect


Biography

Nationality: French

Type: Novelist

Born: July 30th, 1945

Links

Find Patrick Modiano on Amazon

Related Authors

Honore De Balzac
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
Gustave Flaubert
Anatole France
Andre Gide
Marquis De Sade
Antoine De Saint-Exupery
George Sand

Popular Authors

Thich Nhat Hanh John F. Kennedy Stephen King Norman Vincent Peale Adam Smith Charles R. Swindoll Mae West William Butler Yeats

Change your beliefs...change your life.

Get a related quote or insight every day.

(it's 100% free)

Follow Us On

Today's Birthdays

1810 - P. T. Barnum

1586 - Thomas Hooker

1849 - William Thomas Stead

1853 - Cecil Rhodes

1857 - Clara Zetkin

1882 - Hazrat Inayat Khan

1889 - Jean Cocteau

1890 - Frederick Lewis Allen

1899 - Marcel Achard

1902 - Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Birthdays on July 5th
All Birthdays

Popular Topics

Age Amazing Car Easter Good Humor Patriotism Strength