“Sometimes I say that writing a novel is the same as constructing a chair: a person must be able to sit in it, to be balanced on it. If I can produce a great chair, even better. But above all I have to make sure that it has four stable feet.”

— José Saramago

Interview with Katherine Vaz, José Saramago http://bombsite.com/issues/999/articles/3565, BOMB Magazine, June 2001.

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José Saramago 138

Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in … 1922–2010

Donald Judd (1928–1994) artist

Source: 1990s, "It’s Hard to Find a Good Lamp," 1993, p. 21

“Somebody can sit at home and say, "What does this guy have to complain about?" But at the same time it's a comfortable chair to be sitting in and make those judgments. When all of a sudden you're successful and sought after overnight, you are instantly opened to a lot of sides of humanity that the average person is never going to see. And those can often be pretty disheartening, and it can make somebody pretty lonely.”

Chris Cornell (1964–2017) American singer-songwriter, musician

Soundgarden Era

“A woman with an education may be able to spend more time sitting in a chair instead of lying on her back. A sound advantage, I should think.”

Anne Bishop (1955) American fiction writer

Source: Daughter of the Blood

“Somebody has been sitting in my chair!”

Robert Southey book Goldilocks and the Three Bears

"The Story of the Three Bears", The Doctor (1837).

“Books everywhere. On the shelves and on the small space above the rows of books and all along the floor and under chairs, books that I have read, books that I have not read.”

Edna O'Brien book Country Girl

Source: Country Girl

“I say that home is where there is a chair and a glass.”

Graham Greene book The Power and the Glory

Source: The Power and the Glory

“I kill a sofa for you and you go and sit in a chair?” Skulduggery asked. “I don’t think you appreciate the sacrifice that has been made for you.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Death Bringer

“We will leave the empty chairs to those who say we can't sit there; we're fine all by ourselves.”

Alessia Cara (1996) Canadian singer

Source: "Wild Things" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De30ET0dQpQ, Know-It-All (2015), New York: Def Jam Recordings

“PM: What annoys you most about yourself?
M: Practically everything. I miss not being able to stand up straight. I tend to slide into rooms and sit on the chair behind the door.”

Morrissey (1959) English singer

From "Wilde child", interview by Paul Morley, Blitz (April 1988).
In interviews etc., About himself and his work

“"I am," I said
To no one there
An no one heard at all
Not even the chair
"I am," I cried
"I am," said I
And I am lost, and I can't even say why
Leavin' me lonely still.”

Neil Diamond (1941) American singer-songwriter

I Am...I Said
Song lyrics, Stones (1971)

“Sometimes I say that writing a novel is the same as constructing a chair: a person must be able to sit in it, to be balanced on it. If I can produce a great chair, even better. But above all I have to make sure that it has four stable feet.”

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José Saramago 138

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