Bill Barich > Quotes

“The writer's life: Hard days, lots of work, no money, too much silence. Nobody's fault. You chose it. ”
― Bill Barich

“A good writer refuses to be socialized. He insists on his own version of things, his own consciousness. And by doing so he draws the reader's eye from its usual groove into a new way of seeing things.”
― Bill Barich

“H. L Mencken's Dictionary of the American Language supplies a long list of slang terms for being drunk, but the Irish are no slouches, either. They're spannered, rat-arsed, cabbaged, and hammered; ruined, legless, scorched, and blottoed; or simply trolleyed or sloshed. In Kerry, you're said to be flamin'; in Waterford, you're in the horrors; and in Cavan, you've gone baloobas, a tough one to wrap your tongue around if you ARE baloobas. In Donegal, you're steamin', while the afflicted in Limerick are out of their tree.”
― Bill Barich, A Pint of Plain

“So much must be established at birth . . . in the random choosing of a name.”
― Bill Barich, Carson Valley: A novel

“Racetracks seem to reward innocence. If babies were permitted to wager, they'd ultimately win so much money that management everywhere would bar them. NO BABIES ALLOWED, says a big sign at Hialeah. At Belmont Park, it reads, BEAT IT, BABIES.”
― Bill Barich, Traveling Light: A Year of Wandering, from California to England and Tuscany and Back Again