“I rarely think of poetry as something I make happen; it is more accurate to say that it happens to me. Like a summer storm, a house afire, or the coincidence of both on the same day.”
Quote collection
Thinking Quotes — page 667 of 4756
“It is true that I do not speak as well as I can think. But that is true of most people, as nearly as I can tell.”
“Do you think its possible to live without wanting to put your name on your paintings? To belong to a group so securely you don't need to rise above it?”
“I think the most interesting parts of human experience might be the sparks that come from that sort of chipping flint of cultures rubbing against each other.”
“I used to think religion was just more of the same thing. Dump responsibility on the big guy. Now I see an importance in that. It's a relief to accept that not everything is under your control.”
“Ah, the mysterious croak. Here today, gone tomorrow. It's the best reason I can think of to throw open the blinds and risk belief. Right now, this minute, time to move out into the grief and glory. High tide.”
“I can think of no honorable answer. Why must some of us deliberate between brands of toothpaste, while others deliberate between damp dirt and bone dust to quiet the fire of an empty stomach lining? There is nothing about the United States I can really explain to this child of another world.”
“I think living to be one hundred would be great, but living to fifty twice would be so much better.”
“Come to think of it, just about every tool was shaped like either a weenie or a pistol, depending on your point of view.”
“In fact, one of the things that I really love about literary fiction is that it's one of the few kinds of writing that doesn't tell us what to think or what to buy or what to wear. We're surrounded by advertising.”
“It's very important to distinguish between innocence and naivete. The innocent do not deserve to be the victims of violence. But only the naive refuse to think about the origins of violence and to pursue the possibility that the genesis of that hatred could be addressed.”
“If you're writing, you're a writer. If you're talking about it or thinking about it, I'm not so sure. Writing is ninety-eight percent work and two percent magic.”
“I think it's innate in human nature to want to make a difference, to make your life meaningful.”
“We know in history that great individuals have totally changed everything, whether it be Jesus Christ or Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill or Albert Einstein. I actually think every person can make a difference.”
“Oh, it was a disaster, .. It went down like a lead balloon. I don't know why. I had thought the women in the audience deserved a little bit of something else after watching all those beautiful women. But I think they were shocked. Although the guys did dance nicely.”
“I mean, the problem is, I think I'm a great writer.”
“I think that maybe that's my weakness, in that I don't know how to do it, so I just do what I do and try to do it as passionately and as well as I can.”
“I have done scenes as Harvey Two-Face. It's interesting. I won't tell you exactly what we're going for, but I think that I can say that it will use all of today's technology to create this character. He's going to be interesting, and I think that's what makes this character important in the movie-you get to see him as he was before, as in the comic books. Harvey is a very good guy in the comic books. He's judicious. He cares. He's passionate about what he loves and then he turns into this character. So you will see that in this film.”
“The day you stop caring what other people think of you is the day your life begins.”
“I fell in love with the pageant world. People that don't compete in pageants, I think they have a negative feeling for them, but really, they are incredible.”