There is something very pleasing about the principles of science and the rules of math, because they are so inevitable and so harmonious - in the abstract, anyway.
Lydia DavisWe all have an ongoing narrative inside our heads, the narrative that is spoken aloud if a friend asks a question. That narrative feels deeply natural to me. We also hang on to scraps of dialogue. Our memories donโt usually serve us up whole scenes complete with dialogue. So I suppose Iโm saying that I like to work from what a character is likely to remember, from a more interior place.
Lydia DavisWe feel an affinity with a certain thinker because we agree with him; or because he shows us what we were already thinking; or because he shows us in a more articulate form what we were already thinking; or because he shows us what we were on the point of thinking; or what we would sooner or later have thought; or what we would have thought much later if we hadnโt read it now; or what we would have been likely to think but never would have thought if we hadnโt read it now; or what we would have liked to think but never would have thought if we hadnโt read it now.
Lydia DavisAs the writer, I may choose to ignore the emotional heart of the matter, and focus on details, and trust that the heart of the matter will be conveyed nevertheless.
Lydia Davis