I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that.

- Jim Harrison

Yeah, but now suddenly - you know, universities are notoriously market oriented, too.

- Jim Harrison

The trajectory started when I was on the roof of our house looking out at a swamp when I was 19. I had written for several years, starting at about 15, but that day on the roof I took my vows and acknowledged my calling.

- Jim Harrison

I don't see gender as the most significant fact of human existence.

- Jim Harrison

I got $30 from Nation magazine for a poem and $500 for my first book of poems.

- Jim Harrison

I rarely read or buy a book because of a review.

- Jim Harrison

I see more genuine sociability between the races in Mississippi than I see in Michigan. No question.

- Jim Harrison

The fact is, the media never gets off the interstate unless there's a major explosion.

- Jim Harrison

Writers can write outside their ethnicity or sex depending how open and vulnerable they wish to be.

- Jim Harrison

Writing as a woman presents enormous problems but I have attempted it several times and haven't had many complaints.

- Jim Harrison

New Yorkers are mostly interested in New York - in case you haven't noticed.

- Jim Harrison

There is a neurologist, a woman over at Harvard who wanted me to come talk to them, and in France I have a lot of readers in the sciences. I can't tell you why.

- Jim Harrison

I can write anywhere.

- Jim Harrison

I do have trouble with titles.

- Jim Harrison

I enjoy about 1 out of 100 movies, it's about the same proportion to books published that I care to read.

- Jim Harrison

I thought, frankly, that it would be more pleasant to write a memoir than it was.

- Jim Harrison

I used to get criticized for putting food in novels.

- Jim Harrison

I'm not rational enough to be a good journalist.

- Jim Harrison

So when I made some money, I didn't have any idea how one handled such a situation because no one in our family ever had any money.

- Jim Harrison

I couldn't run a tight schedule, and if you're any good at teaching, you get sucked dry because you like your students and you're trying to help them, but you don't have any time left to write yourself.

- Jim Harrison