Justin Ulmer

“Why were so many Americans treated by their government as though their lives were as disposable as paper tissues? Because that was the way authors customarily treated bit-part players in their made-up tales... Once I understood what was making America such a dangerous, unhappy nation of people who had nothing to do with real life, I resolved to shun storytelling. I would write about life. Every person would be exactly as important as any other. All facts would also be given equal weightiness. Nothing would be left out. Let others bring order to chaos. I would bring chaos to order, instead, which I think I have done.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

“It's amazing the limitation of the human anatomy, the fact that food and air must share a common passage.”
― Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly

“Give him a name and you have a character. Give him character and you have a person.”
― Justin Ulmer

“I shall ever despise the man who can be gratified by the passion which he never wished to inspire, nor solicited the avowal of.”
― Jane Austen, Lady Susan