CHARLES DE LINT QUOTES VI

Canadian writer (1951- )

There are people who take the heart out of you, and there are people who put it back.

CHARLES DE LINT

"Dead Man's Shoes", The Ivory and the Horn


There's more to life than just surviving ... but ... sometimes just surviving is all you get.

CHARLES DE LINT

The Onion Girl

Tags: survival


Our time's the most precious thing we've got to offer folks, and the worst thing a body can do is to take it away from us.

CHARLES DE LINT

"Saxophone Joe and the Woman in Black", The Ivory and the Horn

Tags: time


I'd say that any character or setting can be given a bit of an otherworldly sheen and be the better for it. The one thing I insist on with my own writing is that I won't let magic solve my characters' real world problems. The solutions have to come from the characters themselves.

CHARLES DE LINT

interview, Fairy Room, February 27, 2013


There are few joys to compare with the telling of a well-told tale.

CHARLES DE LINT

Yarrow: An Autumn Tale


The best artists know what to leave out. They know how much of the support should show through as the pigment is applied, what details aren't necessary.

CHARLES DE LINT

"Dream Harder, Dream True", The Ivory and the Horn

Tags: artists


I believe a good writer can write a good book with any sort of character, in any sort of setting, but I prefer to write about the outsider. It might just be because I've been one (or perceived myself to be one) for so much of my life. But the simple fact of being marginalized immediately brings conflict to a story before the narrative even begins, and that's gold for a writer because it means that your character already has depth before events begin to unfold.

CHARLES DE LINT

"One Thing Leads to Another: An Interview with Charles de Lint", The Yalsa Hub, September 19, 2013


We're all made of stories. When they finally put us underground, the stories are what will go on.

CHARLES DE LINT

attributed, Make it Matter


The real problem is, people think life is a ladder, and it's really a wheel.

CHARLES DE LINT

The Ivory and the Horn

Tags: life


Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known?

CHARLES DE LINT

"Where Desert Spirits Crowd the Night", The Ivory and the Horn