find work you love to do

“Let us go forth with fear and courage and rage to save the world.”
― Grace Paley

“There is a long time in me between knowing and telling.”
― Grace Paley, Enormous Changes at the Last Minute

“The only thing you should have to do is find work you love to do. And I can't imagine living without having loved a person. A man, in my case. It could be a woman, but whatever. I think, what I always tell kids when they get out of class and ask, 'What should I do now?' I always say, 'Keep a low overhead. You're not going to make a lot of money.' And the next thing I say: 'Don't live with a person who doesn't respect your work.' That's the most important thing—that's more important than the money thing. I think those two things are very valuable pieces of information.”
― Grace Paley

“You become a writer because you need to become a writer - nothing else.”
― Grace Paley

“The only recognizable feature of hope is action.”
― Grace Paley

“That heartbreaking moment when you finish an amazing book, and you are forced to return to reality.”
― Grace Paley

“Write what will stop your breath if you don’t write.”
― Grace Paley

“Everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life.”
― Grace Paley

“You write from what you know but you write into what you don't know.”
― Grace Paley

“I saw my ex-husband in the street. I was sitting on the steps of the new library.
Hello, my life, I said. We had once been married for twenty-seven years, so I felt justified.
He said, What? What life? No life of mine.”
― Grace Paley, Enormous Changes at the Last Minute