What art ought to do is tell stories which are moment-by-moment wonderful, which are true to human experience, and which in no way explain human expe…

- John Gardner

As a rule of thumb I say, if Socrates, Jesus and Tolstoy wouldn't do it, don't.

- John Gardner

We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see image…

- John Gardner

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing i…

- John Gardner

When people are serving, life is no longer meaningless.

- John Gardner

One of the many interesting challenges nature presents us is its apparent disinterest in maintaining the order humans crave.

- John Gardner

Art, of course, is a way of thinking, a way of mining reality.

- John Gardner

The citizen can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one el…

- John Gardner

I know everything, you see,' the old voice wheedled. 'The beginning, the present, the end. Everything. You now, you see the past and the present, lik…

- John Gardner