Alan Lightman – Quotes

I wouldn’t overall say

I wouldn’t overall say that The Diagnosis is a funny book. I would say that it has comic moments. It’s a modern tragedy. Alan Lightman

In fiction writing, I

In fiction writing, I would say there are several different strands that have been woven through my own writing, and each influenced by a different group of writers. Alan Lightman

I go to live in Maine for the summer. Without computer, and without the telephone service we are mercifully without the faxes and e-mails. So it’s really about two and a half months that I’ll feel like I can recover some silence in my life…which is so hard to find. Alan Lightman

It’s exciting having a

It’s exciting having a student who is not used to expressing their emotional side and bringing that out in them and see that developing and helping to nurture that. That’s an exciting thing. In a class of fifteen there are usually two very good writers, equal to good student writers anywhere in the country. Those … Read more

I think people all

I think people all over the institution recognize that different ways of understanding are valuable. Artists may think in a different way than biologists or chemists, but you can learn something from that. It is true that the arts at MIT don’t have the same amount of funding or same status as the sciences or … Read more

I’m humbled and enormously

I’m humbled and enormously grateful to be connected to [Franz] Kafka in a any way. He is one of the writers I admire. I think he has been a big influence on me. I appreciate the idea of the individual person battling the society – which is true in all his books. Alan Lightman

Franz Kafka is an

Franz Kafka is an idea person. His books begin and end in ideas. Ideas have always been important to me in my writing. To the point that I have to be careful that they don’t take over. Alan Lightman

In fiction writing ideas

In fiction writing ideas have to be handled extremely carefully. You can’t let your characters just be mouthpieces for your ideas. They have to live and breathe on their own. Alan Lightman

I think all tragedies

I think all tragedies are best told with some humor. You have to relieve the darkness to let the reader get through it. Also, that life has happiness and sadness mixed together. If you told a story that was all darkness, it wouldn’t be real. Alan Lightman

I think it is

I think it is always a long shot getting a book made into a film. Making that book into a film is going to be quite a challenge. Alan Lightman