Joan Didion Quotes
Most popular Joan Didion Quotes
![Grammar is a piano I play by ear. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/22/32122A-grammar-is-a-piano-i-play-by-ear-joan-didion.png)
Grammar is a piano I play by ear.
![Writers are always selling somebody out. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/16/42416A-writers-are-always-selling-somebody-out-joan-didion.png)
Writers are always selling somebody out.
![We tell ourselves stories in order to live. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/24/40124A-we-tell-ourselves-stories-in-order-live-joan-didion.png)
We tell ourselves stories in order to live.
![To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/50/33950A-to-cure-jealousy-is-to-see-it-what-it-is-joan-didion.png)
To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self.
![California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/64/27564A-california-is-a-place-in-which-boom-mentality-sense-chekhovian-joan-didion.png)
California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.
![Character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life—is the source from which self-respect springs. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/21/27921A-character-the-willingness-to-accept-responsibility-ones-own-life-is-joan-didion.png)
Character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life—is the source from which self-respect springs.
![I...have another cup of coffee with my mother. We get along very well, veterans of a guerilla war we never understand. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/04/36104A-ihave-another-cup-of-coffee-with-my-mother-we-get-joan-didion.png)
I...have another cup of coffee with my mother. We get along very well, veterans of a guerilla war we never understand.
![I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/66/1566A-i-write-entirely-to-find-out-what-im-thinking-what-joan-didion.png)
I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.
![To free ourselves from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves—there lies the great, singular power of self-respect. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/16/39616A-to-free-ourselves-from-the-expectations-others-give-us-back-joan-didion.png)
To free ourselves from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves—there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.
![New York was no mere city. It was instead an infinitely romantic notion, the mysterious nexus of all love and money and power, the shining and perishable dream itself. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/86/36486A-new-york-was-no-mere-city-it-was-instead-infinitely-joan-didion.png)
New York was no mere city. It was instead an infinitely romantic notion, the mysterious nexus of all love and money and power, the shining and perishable dream itself.
![Writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. It's an aggressive, even a hostile act. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/44/42744A-writing-is-the-act-of-saying-i-imposing-oneself-upon-joan-didion.png)
Writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. It's an aggressive, even a hostile act.
![Most of our platitudes notwithstanding, self-deception remains the most difficult deception. The tricks that work on others count for nothing in that very well-lit back alley where one keeps assignations with oneself. - Joan Didion quote.](/img/q/79/39479A-most-of-our-platitudes-notwithstanding-self-deception-remains-most-difficult-joan-didion.png)
Most of our platitudes notwithstanding, self-deception remains the most difficult deception. The tricks that work on others count for nothing in that very well-lit back alley where one keeps assignations with oneself.