Adam Gopnik Quotes, born August 24, 1956, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an American writer, essayist, and commentator, celebrated for his incisive and lyrical contributions to The New Yorker since 1986, where he’s written essays, criticism, and memoirs. Best known for his book Paris to the Moon (2000), which chronicles his family’s five years in Paris, Gopnik has also authored Through the Children’s Gate (2006), A Thousand Small Sanities (2019), and the children’s novel The King in the Window (2005). A three-time National Magazine Award winner and recipient of France’s Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, his work blends humor, cultural observation, and philosophical depth.
These 15 quotes—sourced from his books, essays, interviews, and posts on X—reflect his insights on culture, freedom, human nature, and writing, capturing his witty intellect and cosmopolitan spirit.
15 Adam Gopnik Quotes
- “Men choose Hamlet because every man sees himself as a disinherited monarch. Women choose Alice [in Wonderland] because every woman sees herself as the only reasonable creature among crazy people who think they are disinherited monarchs.” (Paris to the Moon, 2000)
- “Wit and puns aren’t just decor in the mind; they’re essential signs that the mind knows it’s on, recognizes its own software, can spot the bugs in its own program.” (The New Yorker, n.d.)
- “We breathe in our first language, and swim in our second.” (Paris to the Moon, 2000)
- “The special virtue of freedom is not that it makes you richer and more powerful but that it gives you more time to understand what it means to be alive.” (A Thousand Small Sanities, 2019)
- “Going to a restaurant is one of my keenest pleasures. Meeting someplace with old and new friends, ordering wine, eating food, surrounded by strangers, I think is the core of what it means to live a civilised life.” (Paris to the Moon, 2000)
- “Love, like light, is a thing that is enacted better than defined: we know it afterward by the traces it leaves on paper.” (Paris to the Moon, 2000)
- “The loneliness of the expatriate is of an odd and complicated kind, for it is inseparable from the feeling of being free, of having escaped.” (Paris to the Moon, 2000)
- “We don’t know that we’ve lost half a minute from our lives but we feel it somehow, we feel its absence. Something is missing, we think. And so we long for the thing we’ve missed and can’t name.” (The King in the Window, 2005)
- “I love you forever’ really means ‘Just trust me for now,’ which is all it ever means, and we just hope to keep renewing the ‘now,’ year after year.” (Through the Children’s Gate, 2006)
- “All tastes have the quality of being in some way artificial and invented. The secret of life is to have enough detachment from your tastes and your values to see that they are a little bit absurd.” (The New Yorker, n.d.)
- “You can’t have a decent food culture without a decent coffee culture: the two things grow up together.” (Paris to the Moon, 2000)
- “Writing is the process of finding something to distract you from writing, and of all the helpful distractions—adultery, alcohol, and acedia, all of which aided our writing fathers—none can equal the Internet.” (The New Yorker, n.d.)
- “The scale and the brutality of our prisons are the moral scandal of American life.” (The New Yorker, n.d.)
- “What New York represents, perfectly and consistently, in literature and life alike, is the idea of Hope. Hope for a new life, for something big to happen, hope for a better life or a bigger apartment.” (Through the Children’s Gate, 2006)
- “Comedy and democratic courage are the same thing seen at different moments, and what they have in common is the will to defy authority in the cause of humanity.” (Post on X, @adamgopnik, 2022-03-14)
Adam Gopnik’s quotes are a vibrant blend of wit, cultural insight, and humanistic hope, inspiring readers to savor life’s pleasures, question conventions, and embrace the pursuit of meaning. Which one’s got you pondering the art of living? Drop it in the comments and keep Gopnik’s literary legacy sparkling!
Emma Thompson
Hi, I'm Emma Thompson, founder of MyLittleDesire. I share relationship advice, love quotes, and thoughtful gift ideas to help you express your feelings and strengthen your bonds. Let's celebrate love together!
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