“I don't really know where my ideas come from. I start with a time and ...” — Jennifer Egan Quote

“I don't really know where my ideas come from. I start with a time and a place. That's what I need to get started, and an intellectual question.”

“Soiled, forgotten coats of arms were carved above their massive doorways, and these unsettled Ted: such universal, defining symbols made meaningless by nothing more than time.”

“Between books, I have to throw out everything I did before, because the tools I've used to write the previous book will not only not work for the next project, they will ruin it.”

“It's not the most intellectual job in the world, but I do have to know the letters.”

“We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.”

“Don't get me wrong - intellectual snobbery is vulgar and gauche.”