20+ Harry Mathews Quotes On Education, Marriage

Harry Mathews is an American author who is best known for his experimental fiction. He was a member of the Oulipo, a French literary group that focused on creating works with mathematical and structural constraints. His works often explore themes of identity, language, and the absurd. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Harry Mathews on education, life, love.

And then, when I left Princeton in the middle of my sophomore year, I went into the navy. — Harry Mathews

I also had this mistaken dream, fantasy really - perhaps because I'm good at languages - of being able in both Italy and France to become someone else through my fluency in the language. — Harry Mathews

My idea was to go to Vienna to study conducting and perhaps play in an orchestra first, so I thought before I got to Vienna I could do with a little training in Paris. — Harry Mathews

I'd been brought up on the Upper East Side in a WASP society, which was death on crutches. — Harry Mathews

I left Princeton, but I graduated Harvard, in 1952. — Harry Mathews

Syntax and vocabulary are overwhelming constraints --the rules that run us. Language is using us to talk --we think we're using the language, but language is doing the thinking, we're its slavish agents. — Harry Mathews

It has always been something I could do, and it may seem odd that in my case I seem to create an interesting narrative and frustrate the readers opportunities to follow it at every step. — Harry Mathews

I graduated in 1952 and went to Europe, with Niki and our first child Laura, who was then a year old. — Harry Mathews

After the navy, I transferred to Harvard and finished there. I was there the spring term of 1951 and I stayed through the summer term and a whole other year, so I was able to do two years in a little less than a year and a half. — Harry Mathews

I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, for a while, about which the less said the better, and then I was in the Mediterranean, about which the more said the better. — Harry Mathews

Translation is the paradigm, the exemplar of all writing. It is translation that demonstrates most vividly the yearning for transformation that underlies every act involving speech, that supremely human gift. — Harry Mathews

And I finished college because I thought how much it would upset my parents if I didnt. — Harry Mathews

Write about the things that attract you. Choose your subjects the way you used to choose your toys: out of desire. — Harry Mathews

I think situations are more important than plot and character. — Harry Mathews

It’s true, I had an extremely delicious life, but that was my life at home, and perhaps because I was only a child, or for whatever reasons, I found the company of others, especially other boys, quite terrifying and upsetting. — Harry Mathews

What I said about John was that he liberated me from my anxieties about writing in a correct, acceptable way. — Harry Mathews

You make something. You give up expressing and start inventing. — Harry Mathews

A man is too apt to forget that in this world he cannot have everything. A choice is all that is left him. — Harry Mathews

There are many things I’ve written that I didn’t really understand until a long time later. — Harry Mathews

Music had been my first love among the arts, and I was fascinated by it, as I still am. — Harry Mathews

Life Lessons by Harry Mathews

1. Harry Mathews taught us to think outside the box and to be creative with our writing. He encouraged us to take risks and to explore new ideas, even if they seem strange or unconventional.
2. He also showed us the importance of experimentation and collaboration, often working with other writers to create something unique and interesting.
3. Finally, Mathews demonstrated the power of humor and wit in literature, showing us that even the most serious topics can be explored in a humorous and entertaining way.