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Top 380 Paul Auster Quotes (2025 Update)

Paul Auster Quote: “To leave the world a little better than you found it. That’s the best a man can ever do.”

1. “To leave the world a little better than you found it. That’s the best a man can ever do.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Everything can change at any moment, suddenly and forever.”

2. “Everything can change at any moment, suddenly and forever.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Translators are the shadow heroes of literature, the often forgotten instruments that make it possible for different cultures to talk to one another, who have enabled us to understand that we all, from every part of the world, live in one world.”

3. “Translators are the shadow heroes of literature, the often forgotten instruments that make it possible for different cultures to talk to one another, who have enabled us to understand that we all, from every part of the world, live in one world.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Hero Quotes

Paul Auster Quote: “Changing your mind is probably one of the most beautiful things people can do. And I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things over the years.”

4. “Changing your mind is probably one of the most beautiful things people can do. And I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things over the years.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “One should never underestimate the power of books.”

5. “One should never underestimate the power of books.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “The world is so unpredictable. Things happen suddenly, unexpectedly. We want to feel we are in control of our own existence. In some ways we are, in some ways we’re not. We are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence.”

6. “The world is so unpredictable. Things happen suddenly, unexpectedly. We want to feel we are in control of our own existence. In some ways we are, in some ways we’re not. We are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Writing is, after all, a gesture towards other people, giving something to others. And so it’s not a completely hermetic exercise. It’s really an opening up.”

7. “Writing is, after all, a gesture towards other people, giving something to others. And so it’s not a completely hermetic exercise. It’s really an opening up.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “But lost chances are as much a part of life as chances taken, and a story cannot dwell on what might have been.”

8. “But lost chances are as much a part of life as chances taken, and a story cannot dwell on what might have been.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head.”

9. “Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Reading Quotes

Paul Auster Quote: “Stories happen only to those who are able to tell them, someone once said. In the same way, perhaps, experiences present themselves only to those who are able to have them.”

10. “Stories happen only to those who are able to tell them, someone once said. In the same way, perhaps, experiences present themselves only to those who are able to have them.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “Our lives carry us along in ways we cannot control, and almost nothing stays with us. It dies when we do, and death is something that happens to us every day.”

11. “Our lives carry us along in ways we cannot control, and almost nothing stays with us. It dies when we do, and death is something that happens to us every day.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Stories only happen to those who are able to tell them.”

12. “Stories only happen to those who are able to tell them.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “We grow older, but we do not change. We become more sophisticated, but at bottom we continue to resemble our young selves, eager to listen to the next story and the next, and the next.”

13. “We grow older, but we do not change. We become more sophisticated, but at bottom we continue to resemble our young selves, eager to listen to the next story and the next, and the next.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “You’re too good for this world, and because of that the world will eventually crush you.”

14. “You’re too good for this world, and because of that the world will eventually crush you.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “The pictures do not lie, but neither do they tell the whole story. They are merely a record of time passing, the outward evidence.”

15. “The pictures do not lie, but neither do they tell the whole story. They are merely a record of time passing, the outward evidence.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “If you’re not ready for everything, you’re not ready for anything.”

16. “If you’re not ready for everything, you’re not ready for anything.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “I never feel I’m standing on solid ground, and I do write with a certain kind of trembling fear.”

17. “I never feel I’m standing on solid ground, and I do write with a certain kind of trembling fear.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “As long as you are dreaming, there is always a way out.”

18. “As long as you are dreaming, there is always a way out.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “You can’t put your feet on the ground until you’ve touched the sky.”

19. “You can’t put your feet on the ground until you’ve touched the sky.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Memory is the space in which a thing happens for a second time.”

20. “Memory is the space in which a thing happens for a second time.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “The story is not in the words; it’s in the struggle.”

21. “The story is not in the words; it’s in the struggle.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “Literature is essentially loneliness. It is written in solitude, it is read in solitude and, in spite of everything, the act of reading allows a communication between two human beings.”

22. “Literature is essentially loneliness. It is written in solitude, it is read in solitude and, in spite of everything, the act of reading allows a communication between two human beings.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “The pen will never be able to move fast enough to write down every word discovered in the space of memory. Some things have been lost forever, other things will perhaps be remembered again, and still other things have been lost and found and lost again. There is no way to be sure of any this.”

23. “The pen will never be able to move fast enough to write down every word discovered in the space of memory. Some things have been lost forever, other things will perhaps be remembered again, and still other things have been lost and found and lost again. There is no way to be sure of any this.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “I write the paragraph, then I’m crossing out, changing words, trying to improve it. When it seems more or less OK, then I type it up because sometimes it’s almost illegible, and if I wait, I might not be able to read it the next day.”

24. “I write the paragraph, then I’m crossing out, changing words, trying to improve it. When it seems more or less OK, then I type it up because sometimes it’s almost illegible, and if I wait, I might not be able to read it the next day.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “As my friend George Oppen once said to me about getting old: what a strange thing to happen to a little boy.”

25. “As my friend George Oppen once said to me about getting old: what a strange thing to happen to a little boy.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “The truth of the story lies in the details.”

26. “The truth of the story lies in the details.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “Every man is the author of his own life.”

27. “Every man is the author of his own life.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Just because you wander in the desert, it does not mean there is a promised land.”

28. “Just because you wander in the desert, it does not mean there is a promised land.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Money’s important. Everyone cares about money. And when you don’t have money, money becomes the overriding obsession of your life.”

29. “Money’s important. Everyone cares about money. And when you don’t have money, money becomes the overriding obsession of your life.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “I had jumped off the edge, and then, at the very last moment, something reached out and caught me in midair. That something is what I define as love. It is the one thing that can stop a man from falling, powerful enough to negate the laws of gravity.”

30. “I had jumped off the edge, and then, at the very last moment, something reached out and caught me in midair. That something is what I define as love. It is the one thing that can stop a man from falling, powerful enough to negate the laws of gravity.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “We are continually shaped by the forces of coincidence.”

31. “We are continually shaped by the forces of coincidence.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Existence was bigger than just life. It was everyone’s life all together, and even if you lived in Buffalo, New York and had never been more than ten miles from home, you were part of the puzzle, too. It didn’t matter how small your life was.”

32. “Existence was bigger than just life. It was everyone’s life all together, and even if you lived in Buffalo, New York and had never been more than ten miles from home, you were part of the puzzle, too. It didn’t matter how small your life was.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “I had made an empirical discovery and it carried all the weight of a mathematical proof.”

33. “I had made an empirical discovery and it carried all the weight of a mathematical proof.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “The biggest book for me, when I was fifteen, was Crime and Punishment, which I read in a kind of fever. When I put it down, I thought, if this is what novels are then I want to be a novelist.”

34. “The biggest book for me, when I was fifteen, was Crime and Punishment, which I read in a kind of fever. When I put it down, I thought, if this is what novels are then I want to be a novelist.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “And that’s why books are never going to die. It’s impossible. It’s the only time we really go into the mind of a stranger, and we find our common humanity doing this. So the book doesn’t only belong to the writer, it belongs to the reader as well, and then together you make it what it is.”

35. “And that’s why books are never going to die. It’s impossible. It’s the only time we really go into the mind of a stranger, and we find our common humanity doing this. So the book doesn’t only belong to the writer, it belongs to the reader as well, and then together you make it what it is.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “I don’t like pictures in books. I feel that the pictures diminish the words, and the words diminish the pictures, and it doesn’t work.”

36. “I don’t like pictures in books. I feel that the pictures diminish the words, and the words diminish the pictures, and it doesn’t work.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Every historical moment needs the stories to be told about it.”

37. “Every historical moment needs the stories to be told about it.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “In my later novels, I systematically used the convention, and then a moment came – when did it come? With The Book of Illusions, maybe – I thought, I don’t need them anymore, I don’t need them, I want to integrate the dialogue into the text.”

38. “In my later novels, I systematically used the convention, and then a moment came – when did it come? With The Book of Illusions, maybe – I thought, I don’t need them anymore, I don’t need them, I want to integrate the dialogue into the text.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Writing is such a strange, utterly mysterious process. First, there was nothing; then, suddenly, there was something. I don’t know where thoughts are born. Where the hell does it come from? I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

39. “Writing is such a strange, utterly mysterious process. First, there was nothing; then, suddenly, there was something. I don’t know where thoughts are born. Where the hell does it come from? I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

Paul Auster Quote: “When I am writing, even though it’s hard and I do struggle often, I am happier than when I’m not writing. I feel alive. Whereas when I’m not writing, I feel like your common every-day neurotic.”

40. “When I am writing, even though it’s hard and I do struggle often, I am happier than when I’m not writing. I feel alive. Whereas when I’m not writing, I feel like your common every-day neurotic.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “In the old physics, three times two equals six and two times three equals 6 are reversible propositions. Not in quantum physics. Three times two and two times three are two different matters, distinct and separate propositions.”

41. “In the old physics, three times two equals six and two times three equals 6 are reversible propositions. Not in quantum physics. Three times two and two times three are two different matters, distinct and separate propositions.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Libraries aren’t in the real world, after all. They’re places apart, sanctuaries of pure thought. In this way I can go on living on the moon for the rest of my life.”

42. “Libraries aren’t in the real world, after all. They’re places apart, sanctuaries of pure thought. In this way I can go on living on the moon for the rest of my life.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “People say you have to travel to see the world. Sometimes I think that if you just stay in one place and keep your eyes open, you’re going to see just about all that you can handle.”

43. “People say you have to travel to see the world. Sometimes I think that if you just stay in one place and keep your eyes open, you’re going to see just about all that you can handle.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “You think it will never happen to you, that it cannot happen to you, that you are the only person in the world to whom none of these things will ever happen, and then, one by one, they all begin to happen to you, in the same way they happen to everyone else.”

44. “You think it will never happen to you, that it cannot happen to you, that you are the only person in the world to whom none of these things will ever happen, and then, one by one, they all begin to happen to you, in the same way they happen to everyone else.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “There’s hope for everyone. That’s what makes the world go round.”

45. “There’s hope for everyone. That’s what makes the world go round.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “These are the last things, she wrote. One by one they disappear and never come back. I can tell you of the ones I have seen, of the ones that are no more, but I doubt there will be time. It is all happening too fast now, and I cannot keep up.”

46. “These are the last things, she wrote. One by one they disappear and never come back. I can tell you of the ones I have seen, of the ones that are no more, but I doubt there will be time. It is all happening too fast now, and I cannot keep up.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “We all want to believe in impossible things, I suppose, to persuade ourselves that miracles can happen.”

47. “We all want to believe in impossible things, I suppose, to persuade ourselves that miracles can happen.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “Every novel is an equal collaboration between the writer and the reader and it is the only place in the world where two strangers can meet on terms of absolute intimacy.”

48. “Every novel is an equal collaboration between the writer and the reader and it is the only place in the world where two strangers can meet on terms of absolute intimacy.”

— Paul Auster

Paul Auster Quote: “As long as there’s one person to believe it, there’s no story that can’t be true.”

49. “As long as there’s one person to believe it, there’s no story that can’t be true.”

— Paul Auster

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

Paul Auster Quote: “There’s love, and certainly children you care about more than yourself. But nevertheless, we’re alone in our heads.”

50. “There’s love, and certainly children you care about more than yourself. But nevertheless, we’re alone in our heads.”

— Paul Auster

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