What people donโt realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.
Flannery O'ConnorThe two worst sins of bad taste in fiction are pornography and sentimentality. One is too much sex and the other too much sentiment.
Flannery O'ConnorFiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn't try to write fiction. It's not a grand enough job for you.
Flannery O'ConnorI believe the teacher's work is largely negative, that it is largely a matter of saying, "This doesn't work because ..." or "This does work because ..." The because is very important. The teacher can help you understand the nature of your medium, and he can guide you in your reading.
Flannery O'ConnorBut learned people can analyze for me why I fear hell and their implication is that there is no hell. But I believe in hell. Hell seems a great deal more feasible to my weak mind than heaven. No doubt because hell is a more earth-seeming thing. I can fancy the tortures of the damned but I cannot imagine the disembodied souls hanging in a crystal for all eternity praising God.
Flannery O'Connor