The trick is to realize that one is not important, except insofar as one’s example can serve to elucidate a more widespread human trait and make read…

- Phillip Lopate

A personal essay often includes some or a lot of personal confession. That makes the reader feel less lonely in their confusion and darkness.

- Phillip Lopate

I'm fortunate in being able to find great satisfaction in my work.

- Phillip Lopate

Confession makes you a more trustworthy narrator.

- Phillip Lopate

I am apt to be harsh in my secret judgments of others, seeing them as defective because they are not enough like me.

- Phillip Lopate

The essay must be artistically rendered: You must keep the reader engaged, whether with wit, conflict, mischief, and/or yes, with honesty.

- Phillip Lopate

... I vowed that I would always respect the right of an individual to kill himself. Whether suicide was a moral or immoral act I no longer felt sure,…

- Phillip Lopate

Domesticity has been a challenge for me but painful as it's been, engaging with family has been a school for reducing solipsism and increasing my und…

- Phillip Lopate

Why am I attracted to all these lying quotes all of a sudden? Here’s another one. This one by Phillip Lopate: ‘(Children know it better than adults) …

- Phillip Lopate