"That which we call civilization is merely the accumulated debris of a chilling number of bad nights."
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Quote collection
Fran Lebowitz quotes (page 14 of 20)
389 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Knowingness is sexy. The opposite of sexy is naivete."
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"Writers have problems writing sex scenes, because writing one really well is pornography."
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"You should make it hard on yourself to write so you’re easier to read."
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"The first step in having any successful war is getting people to fight it."
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"I happen to love a good run almost as much as sex. Like sex, there are often times I don't think I'm interested until I'm into it. Unlike sex, I do have to get out of bed and into the elements. I hate leaving bed."
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"Instead of writing it wrong six times and then writing it right, I think it wrong six times and then write it right the seventh time."
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"In Rome people spend most of their time having lunch. And they do it very well - Rome is unquestionably the lunch capital of the world."
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"Will power is not telling anybody you quit smoking."
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"I have the exact opposite problem of every writer I've ever met: Every writer I've ever met writes things that are too long, and they have to edit them down."
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"[Friendships] are easy to get out of compared to love affairs, but they are not easy to get out of compared to, say, jail."
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"Money...buys privacy, silence. The less money you have, the noisier it is; the thinner your walls, the closer your neighbors.... The first thing you notice when you step into the house or apartment of a rich person is how quiet it is."
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"I hate academic mysteries. As soon as I come across the word 'don' and it's not someone's first name, I close the book."
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"When I started publishing, I got offers to write for big magazines. But I would always say, "Well, it's not that I don't want to write for these big magazines, but you can't edit it.""
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"I am a New Yorker. I like New York. And I like cities. And it's not my desire to make New York more suburban. I would personally just like to vet each person."
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"I don't like the kind of country living where you have to help. I like country living where there is help."
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"It's very important who the president of the United States is. America is a great idea, so that's why it's a great country."
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"There's too much democracy in the culture, not enough in the society."
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"What I can't be is monogamous. That tends to upset people. I just don't like domestic life."
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"I think writing for me has always been a matter of fear. Writing is fear and not writing is fear. I am afraid of writing and then I'm afraid of not writing."
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