quotes

465 posts

1. If you grew up somewhere else... January 18, 2018
2. Resentment might start with a wrong done to you January 3, 2017
3. Compatibility is an achievement of love; it must not be its precondition June 13, 2016
4. Discarding our stuff murders a version of ourselves January 6, 2016
5. Getting along isn’t luck, it’s a skill November 18, 2015
6. Informal language is the athletic clothing of ideas November 5, 2015
7. The restriction of trailers to a few carefully edited minutes October 23, 2015
8. Twitter distorts internet writers’ understanding of reality September 28, 2015
9. Friendship is not a pale imitation of sexual romance September 20, 2015
10. The first draft is always perfect September 14, 2015
11. The best way to educate yourself is to adjust your peer group September 1, 2015
12. I’d never had to think about exactly what I meant August 14, 2015
13. The best way to communicate your needs is to trust them July 28, 2015
14. I see life as like being attacked by a bear July 14, 2015
15. Photography would seem to preserve our past June 22, 2015
16. What I learned from Prince and Muhammad Ali June 18, 2015
17. I feel at ease with whatever will come April 2, 2015
18. I’ve had my dictaphone since the mid-to-late ’90s March 10, 2015
19. Grief is as unique as a fingerprint January 13, 2015
20. Give your past, present, and future selves influence in proportion January 7, 2015
21. Live by the schedule as a gift to yourself December 7, 2014
22. Since my son was born I realized: soon, he’ll be three-and-a-half November 18, 2014
23. Why people cling to their hates so stubbornly November 7, 2014
24. We make ourselves lists in order to know if we think what we think September 17, 2014
25. Don’t focus too much on this idea about your influences August 31, 2014
26. Not having an opinion means not having an obligation August 19, 2014
27. When people say, “I’m the kind of person who,” my heart always sinks July 27, 2014
28. When you’re younger, you need to say yes to everything July 11, 2014
29. Optimism is often dismissed as false hope July 5, 2014
30. I hate the phrase about women “wanting to have it all” July 2, 2014
31. So... June 6, 2014
32. Rivalries are born from teams that play each other a lot June 2, 2014
33. Doubt is what drives me, the nervousness that I don’t have it anymore May 12, 2014
34. Demons Hate Fresh Air May 7, 2014
35. If you mull over a movie or TV show for a week, you liked it April 5, 2014
36. It is 100% easier not to do things than to do them March 19, 2014
37. No one wants advice—only corroboration March 19, 2014
38. Concealing what is shameful to you will never lead to anything of value March 11, 2014
39. Never try to look cool and learn something at the same time January 21, 2014
40. Be gentle especially when you’re right December 1, 2013
41. When you explain something based on what broad categories of people do October 16, 2013
42. Gifts and time for family are investments in them as people September 9, 2013
43. Never attribute to something other than fear August 28, 2013
44. There has never been so much future in my life as at that time August 20, 2013
45. Deserve’s got nothing to do with it August 18, 2013
46. Heroism is often some seriously boring stuff July 22, 2013
47. I love the fact that I’m bad at [things], you know what I’m saying? June 23, 2013
48. There’s no need for you to “decide” on one feeling June 21, 2013
49. The consumer fallacy is that progress comes in upgrades June 21, 2013
50. The full story is never as tidy as the one that starts with “Obviously” June 6, 2013
51. Can authenticity be aware of itself as such and still be authentic? May 31, 2013
52. My drinking was so much about trying not to feel things May 27, 2013
53. Wherever a process of life communicates an eagerness May 22, 2013
54. Jealousy lives upon doubt May 21, 2013
55. It is not the young man who is most happy May 14, 2013
56. Motivational advice risks making things worse May 7, 2013
57. We respond to a gadget’s promise of personal transformation May 6, 2013
58. Savvy advertising is always trying to tell you something about yourself May 5, 2013
59. It’s basically recursion May 2, 2013
60. I called around and managed to get a lot of expired stock donated May 2, 2013
61. It got to me when someone asked what I did for a living April 30, 2013
62. It’s so hard with a word processor to know what a revision is April 30, 2013
63. The pilot’s increasingly nonchalant updates April 30, 2013
64. State your needs, don’t test people on them April 24, 2013
65. I think we have to be frugal with our photo-viewing April 22, 2013
66. What’s done is done April 14, 2013
67. Take the hard feelings away, and this is the right thing to do April 7, 2013
68. A mix of losing and winning may help more with choking April 5, 2013
69. If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy April 1, 2013
70. Master the best that other people have ever figured out March 21, 2013
71. Do yourself proud, in whatever shape that takes March 21, 2013
72. Fear and defensiveness, the architects of so many of our lowest moments March 13, 2013
73. Conspiracy is a nearly irresistible labor-saving device February 18, 2013
74. A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong February 1, 2013
75. This stupid script is one of your best friends January 28, 2013
76. Literature is Eucharistic January 23, 2013
77. Everybody talks about the writer’s feeling and expression January 23, 2013
78. Relationships are complicated, but happiness in one isn’t January 22, 2013
79. Every kid wants to rebel against their parents January 13, 2013
80. This is what RSS is for these days January 4, 2013
81. Maps are not only about space; they’re also about time December 29, 2012
82. The one time I got a bunch of prizes, I just assumed I’d win them all December 23, 2012
83. I live for the sound of that ’57 Porsche Speedster door December 22, 2012
84. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts December 17, 2012
85. Humor is almost always anger with its makeup on December 4, 2012
86. Every whole person understands his lifetime as an organized story November 20, 2012
87. I love the South November 17, 2012
88. Get out of the conceptual rut of what a good life looks like November 15, 2012
89. “I don’t know how I’m finna do this shit again” November 14, 2012
90. We had zero business plan or experience November 12, 2012
91. Why crime movies tend to be intrinsically interesting November 9, 2012
92. If a work has something remarkable to say November 8, 2012
93. Who will write the last tweet? November 8, 2012
94. Two noteworthy things about things that Everyone Knows October 13, 2012
95. Worldview-crash is usually comprehensive October 6, 2012
96. Philip Glass and Beck Discuss Collaborating on ‘Rework’ - NYTimes.com October 6, 2012
97. The ears that are listening make more difference than the music September 27, 2012
98. When people bypass simple solutions, there’s usually an ulterior motive September 26, 2012
99. Competitive people are most annoying to other competitive people September 25, 2012
100. I think of children sort of like Voyager probes September 20, 2012
101. Truth and falsity properly considered are properties of language, not of images September 17, 2012
102. The Light by Which You See September 11, 2012
103. I feel like inspiring political moments are spank-material for typesetters September 6, 2012
104. KNOWLEDGE + TASTE = MEANINGFUL JUDGMENT September 2, 2012
105. Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake August 20, 2012
106. Meal entering vehicle window = tacky, suburban, boring, junk food August 17, 2012
107. Striptease has become less interesting since they did away with the costumes August 16, 2012
108. Preface banal life wisdom with “My father once taught me…” August 14, 2012
109. Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart July 15, 2012
110. Forms, styles, and structures should change like skirt lengths July 11, 2012
111. The other side of the class and educational divide July 9, 2012
112. The novels we know best have an architecture July 9, 2012
113. “HERE LIES THE PERSON WITH THE UNIQUEST OPINIONS” July 3, 2012
114. Life is an extended dialogue with your future self June 25, 2012
115. Age and experience will slowly whittle away at your dreams June 20, 2012
116. One cannot be too careful with words, they change their minds just as people do June 11, 2012
117. Pornography is not directly obscene June 6, 2012
118. Things without all remedy Should be without regard: what’s done is done June 6, 2012
119. Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour? June 6, 2012
120. Nought’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content June 6, 2012
121. A willingness to hear unwelcome truths is the unhappy person’s best friend June 4, 2012
122. Listen to your friends, but not to their conclusions June 4, 2012
123. If you use something for an hour a day, get the best June 1, 2012
124. A happy childhood is poor preparation for human contacts May 25, 2012
125. The question arose as to what we would do differently if we were immortal May 22, 2012
126. What we call a home May 20, 2012
127. Everybody’s Al Capone in a barber’s chair May 15, 2012
128. I quit my advertising job so I could go to the movies every afternoon May 14, 2012
129. Making a choice and trying it is an important career skill May 9, 2012
130. Moving on doesn’t mean you’ll never feel bad about something again May 7, 2012
131. A good rule of thumb: diversity of opinion is essential May 7, 2012
132. People who are smart and energetic are often angry May 6, 2012
133. The iron rule of life is that only 20% of the people can be in the top fifth May 1, 2012
134. Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over April 25, 2012
135. Mark All As Read April 24, 2012
136. Millions long for immortality April 23, 2012
137. Behavior is easier to change than expectations are April 22, 2012
138. Hang out with people who are already the way you want to be April 11, 2012
139. Eternal Vigilance « Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello April 9, 2012
140. The bogus religiosity surrounding original works of art April 9, 2012
141. An odd feature of the way human beings work April 9, 2012
142. All you had to do was look at each of your players April 4, 2012
143. The worst argument Siskel and I ever had March 24, 2012
144. I dream about a kind of criticism that would try not to judge March 23, 2012
145. Real life is messy March 18, 2012
146. If you look inward and concentrate only on your own desires March 17, 2012
147. The first two or three minutes of any film are amazing March 12, 2012
148. Let the facts write your dreams March 12, 2012
149. Post-industrial creatures of an information economy March 7, 2012
150. You can get hooked on anything used to change how you feel March 7, 2012
151. A book exists at the intersection of the author’s subconscious and the reader March 6, 2012
152. Conspiracy theories and the occult comfort us March 5, 2012
153. Had the concept of software been available to me March 4, 2012
154. When we’re shown an image we tend to let our guard down March 3, 2012
155. Writers, it seems to me, should write, not make speeches March 2, 2012
156. A peculiar exercise from early in my fiction-writing career March 1, 2012
157. Writers are shaped by their general experience of fiction February 27, 2012
158. Dead or remote masters can’t refuse you as an apprentice February 27, 2012
159. As an artist you can sit and tinker with stuff forever February 24, 2012
160. Rarely do I have any shittiness that stays shitty February 19, 2012
161. A photograph is a secret about a secret February 16, 2012
162. The camera’s role in beautifying the world February 13, 2012
163. Basing your friendships on what people have to offer February 13, 2012
164. The most adult decisions put severe limits on other options February 12, 2012
165. I’m not very interested in political satire February 6, 2012
166. The point isn’t to achieve everything February 6, 2012
167. That was the idiot hopefulness of humans, always to love what was unformed February 3, 2012
168. We expect too much from January and not enough from February February 3, 2012
169. Don’t be dour about it February 2, 2012
170. We know the cruelest of fanatics by their exceptionally clear consciences February 1, 2012
171. I owe my livelihood to technology January 30, 2012
172. I’m almost annoyed when something I’ve been interested in becomes valuable January 29, 2012
173. I was always somebody January 27, 2012
174. I have saved the world so many times in video games January 26, 2012
175. Do your work for six years; in the seventh, go into solitude January 23, 2012
176. Introspection means talking to yourself January 17, 2012
177. Children shred parental black-and-whites into gray confetti January 10, 2012
178. Denial about how invested you are in a single outcome January 7, 2012
179. Uncouple your own grief from the hopes you pin on others January 6, 2012
180. Every time I come to work I feel like I’m starting a second life January 6, 2012
181. People tend to think that creative work is an expression of a preexisting… December 22, 2011
182. Compulsive avoidance of embarrassment is a form of suicide December 21, 2011
183. Embrace all change, not just change that benefits you December 16, 2011
184. It’s so easy not to realize you’re under someone else’s influence December 15, 2011
185. Being cheerful is really no recipe to get down to work: nothing happens until… December 15, 2011
186. Your Mind Takes on the Character of Your Most Frequent Thoughts December 7, 2011
187. Other People’s Words Are the Bridge You Use to Cross December 7, 2011
188. If you’re dumb, surround yourself with smart people December 6, 2011
189. They cannot admire you for intellect December 6, 2011
190. The people who move to the suburbs aren’t nearly as stupid or careless… December 5, 2011
191. It is ridiculous not to escape from one’s own vices, which is possible, while… December 5, 2011
192. All things are short-lived–this is their common lot–but you pursue likes… December 1, 2011
193. I don’t give a fuck if you’re doin’ petty shit or big shit December 1, 2011
194. A Private Library Is a Universal Legacy Pretending to Be Individual November 29, 2011
195. The body, too, should stay firmly composed, and not fling itself about either… November 28, 2011
196. No more roundabout discussion of what makes a good man November 26, 2011
197. Always make a definition or sketch of what presents itself to your mind, so… November 21, 2011
198. When we say, “What do you do?” we really mean what do you learn? November 12, 2011
199. A Crusade in Reverse November 9, 2011
200. The apparent practical success of capitalism is matched only by the failure… November 4, 2011
201. When an artist brings me their work, I treat it like food — like a frozen… November 2, 2011
202. There’s no such thing as not playing November 1, 2011
203. Oh you have a dream? October 31, 2011
204. It is hardly surprising to find that the two areas of human enterprise most… October 31, 2011
205. By seven everyone is gone October 27, 2011
206. More and more, a psychiatrist is approached today by patients who confront him… October 20, 2011
207. For a single person, thinking something through marks the end of the reasoning… October 20, 2011
208. I’m a big believer in boredom October 17, 2011
209. Confidence in Beliefs Is Not a Measure of Evidence Quality October 14, 2011
210. A man’s suffering is similar to the behavior of gas October 12, 2011
211. Well, we’ve had a good time tonight, considering we’re all going to die someday October 4, 2011
212. In the past, nothing is irretrievably lost but everything is irrevocably stored September 29, 2011
213. If you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do September 24, 2011
214. I’m not terribly interested in whether real, brain-chemically-defined… September 23, 2011
215. Every Work of Art Is a Game Played Out at the Worktable September 22, 2011
216. For what shall I wield a dagger, o lord? September 15, 2011
217. We must be indulgent to the mind, and from time to time must grant it… September 14, 2011
218. On Tranquillity of Mind - Seneca September 14, 2011
219. Passion Buys What It Craves with Its Life September 12, 2011
220. We cannot bear toil or pleasure or ourselves or anything very long September 12, 2011
221. It is weariness upon the same things to labor and by them to be controlled September 12, 2011
222. Thus ever from himself doth each man flee September 9, 2011
223. Dogs, also, bark at what they do not know September 8, 2011
224. A movie that’s good for you is, by definition, not good for you September 7, 2011
225. An able reader often discovers in other men’s writings perfections beyond… August 29, 2011
226. Only part of us is sane: only part of us loves pleasure and the longer day… August 29, 2011
227. If my mind could gain a firm footing, I would not make essays, I would make… August 29, 2011
228. A rural person expects to know every person in his world, and therefore thinks… August 29, 2011
229. There are cases were poetry creates itself August 25, 2011
230. My secret flaw is just not being very good, like everyone else August 25, 2011
231. Jack Excelled in Studies but Started Fights on the Playground August 25, 2011
232. At twilight nature becomes a wonderfully suggestive effect, and is not without… August 22, 2011
233. Whatever moral rules you have deliberately proposed to yourself, abide by them… August 22, 2011
234. Fermented spirits please our common people, because they banish care, and all… August 22, 2011
235. The difference between playing with Otis Redding and James Brown? August 13, 2011
236. You’d Make a Mistake and He’d Say, “Ten Dollars” August 11, 2011
237. Gamification is marketing bullshit, invented by consultants as a means… August 10, 2011
238. We choose our favourite author as we do our friend, from a conformity… August 10, 2011
239. I actually believe the South is a hungrier place, and always describe the East… August 6, 2011
240. ‘What am I doing here anyway?’ — the fundamental mantra if not prayer of every… August 4, 2011
241. Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant… August 3, 2011
242. The difference is between sitting around listening to music and partying… August 2, 2011
243. What punk was to rock, crunk is to rap August 2, 2011
244. There are, for example, only two reasons for children to go to school – apart… August 1, 2011
245. I come from a classical background August 1, 2011
246. Put This On: On Gay Talese & Limited Budgets August 1, 2011
247. You know how they make us look on TV? July 28, 2011
248. I don’t want to say it was cool, [but] the girls was cool in school July 27, 2011
249. Let’s not bring flame where light is enough July 26, 2011
250. Most of my days involve four- and five-hour stretches of what I would… July 22, 2011
251. The value of physical pain is that it is finite July 20, 2011
252. The buyers of useless things are wiser than is commonly supposed – they buy… July 13, 2011
253. There are few if any awkward silences on Facebook July 12, 2011
254. You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate July 9, 2011
255. This continuous modification of man by his own technology stimulates him… July 5, 2011
256. When we get better at expressiveness, we get better at understanding, better… July 4, 2011
257. God forbid we should wake up one day and know exactly what we’re doing July 4, 2011
258. The better part of my work on media is actually somewhat like… July 4, 2011
259. It’s hard to beat the entertainment value of people who deliberately… June 29, 2011
260. Most things are hideous at birth June 28, 2011
261. Most things are hideous at birth June 28, 2011
262. Most things are hideous at birth June 28, 2011
263. Art elevates and refines and transforms experience June 27, 2011
264. You can tell if it’s your own plan by how lost you feel June 27, 2011
265. I Was on the Streets for More Than Half of My Life June 26, 2011
266. We erected one of the great cultural constructions of our times, the weekend… June 25, 2011
267. Envy works upon what is close at hand, and things that are far off we are more… June 24, 2011
268. Life will follow the path it started upon, and will neither reverse nor check… June 21, 2011
269. He who bestows all of his time on his own needs, who plans out every day as if… June 7, 2011
270. Without the making of theories I am convinced there would be no observations June 7, 2011
271. Heaven knows! June 7, 2011
272. Look back in memory and consider when you ever had a fixed plan, how few days… June 1, 2011
273. There’s all this talk about “bias” in public radio … the real bias in public… May 31, 2011
274. Philosophy and jokes proceed from the same impulse: to confound our sense… May 31, 2011
275. Social occasions can work a certain magic May 31, 2011
276. It’s my theory that rock and roll happens between fans and stars, rather than… May 30, 2011
277. A Real Critic Is Always a Cultural Critic May 30, 2011
278. The more seriously I took everything, and how serious life was in general… May 30, 2011
279. I take [my work] less seriously than anybody May 23, 2011
280. Without the perks, plain ol’ fame and fortune just ain’t worth the trouble May 22, 2011
281. A Happy Ending Depends on Where You Stop Your Story May 19, 2011
282. I am angry and curious May 17, 2011
283. In a hundred different ways, we have slowly marginalized an entire category… May 16, 2011
284. You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you… May 12, 2011
285. My daughter just turned 16 years old, and you can see it on MTV’s [‘My Super… May 12, 2011
286. When it’s midnight and it’s raining and you’re on the steepest hill you’ve… May 11, 2011
287. Most people have excellent necks May 10, 2011
288. Time's Inverted Index (Ftrain.com) May 10, 2011
289. Once death is invoked, the choice of who must die may seem oddly arbitrary May 9, 2011
290. The way to success is strategically along the line of least expectation… May 5, 2011
291. School buses lined his block every morning, like vast tipped orange-juice… May 2, 2011
292. Puberty was a bag of cement lashed to my ankle May 2, 2011
293. Like adolescents, distance runners have rivalries only with themselves May 2, 2011
294. All runners are at heart mediocrities, bad even when they are good May 2, 2011
295. We live in what is, but we find a thousand ways not to face it April 29, 2011
296. I never understand why a company would put pointless music and animation… April 27, 2011
297. If you want to understand foreign policy, read history, not the newspaper April 27, 2011
298. If everyone had good manners we wouldn’t need laws April 21, 2011
299. I have always wanted to give a voice to my subjects April 21, 2011
300. I used to beat up all the kids on the block April 15, 2011
301. ‘Organizing’ is really just an ugly way of saying 'drawing connections’ April 11, 2011
302. A man who lives among immortal blessings is not like to a mortal being April 8, 2011
303. It takes no work to fall in love April 8, 2011
304. The fact that a place is out of fashion, forgotten or not yet on the map… April 4, 2011
305. What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where… April 4, 2011
306. People just wait for you to grow up and do the right thing April 1, 2011
307. The greatest audience comment ever recorded is, I think, a remark overheard… March 28, 2011
308. I haven’t had trouble with writer’s block March 25, 2011
309. This just in: Neuroimaging researchers discover the area of the brain… March 22, 2011
310. It might reasonably be said that all art at some time and in some manner… March 17, 2011
311. You Cannot Meet Someone for a Moment Without Changing March 17, 2011
312. IT’S AMAZING WHAT SOME SLEEP WILL DO FO A MUTHA FUKA!! March 9, 2011
313. Before we learned to tell stories, we learned to read them March 3, 2011
314. When I was younger I developed what I called the Baseball Theory of life March 2, 2011
315. If you inspire people to make things, it just makes them love you all the more March 1, 2011
316. I have one of those food-chopper brains that nothing comes out of the way it… February 23, 2011
317. The Baroque is that style which deliberately exhausts (or tries to exhaust)… February 23, 2011
318. My strategy can be reduced to two rules: 1) Find a way to make it fun and 2)… February 14, 2011
319. Self-control is really just the art of making the future bigger February 11, 2011
320. I think painters and sculptors react to music, more naively, in a sense… February 10, 2011
321. Getting a job decreases the amount of work it takes to live February 9, 2011
322. Strange as it may sound to many people, who tend to think of critics as being… February 3, 2011
323. Music is not ruined by other people liking it February 2, 2011
324. You should just sit down, there should be a bottomless thing of chips… January 28, 2011
325. As there is no appetite, sexual or otherwise, without excitement, the sane… January 28, 2011
326. We recognize our sexual desire by the fact that once again–once again, after… January 27, 2011
327. Since money always promises something other than itself–it is only, as we say… January 27, 2011
328. My Spandex Is a Pretty Evil Phrase January 19, 2011
329. When I open my mouth, most of the time something somewhat eloquent comes out… January 19, 2011
330. An Interview Is Halfway Between Psychoanalysis and an Examination January 19, 2011
331. My Spandex Is a Pretty Evil Phrase January 19, 2011
332. When I open my mouth, most of the time something somewhat eloquent comes out… January 19, 2011
333. Besides, I am destined to perish, definitively, and only some instant… January 15, 2011
334. Besides, I am destined to perish, definitively, and only some instant… January 15, 2011
335. When I begin working on a film, it’s like standing on shaky ground January 14, 2011
336. I frequently hear music in the very heart of the noise… January 7, 2011
337. There are two ways of walking through a wood January 6, 2011
338. Life gets a lot easier when you give up being outwardly sad about anything January 6, 2011
339. Life gets a lot easier when you give up being outwardly sad about anything January 6, 2011
340. To find out who “you” are, focus not on your intentions but on how… January 6, 2011
341. No pain here, no dull empty hours, no fear of the past, no fear of the future January 4, 2011
342. The line between the reality that is photographed because it seems beautiful… January 4, 2011
343. No pain here, no dull empty hours, no fear of the past, no fear of the future January 4, 2011
344. The line between the reality that is photographed because it seems beautiful… January 4, 2011
345. We are all dying of miscellany December 31, 2010
346. Criticism can be instructive in the sense that it gives readers, including… December 20, 2010
347. Criticism can be instructive in the sense that it gives readers, including… December 18, 2010
348. Your ancestors set up those trophies, not that you may gaze at them in wonder… December 8, 2010
349. They get one letter from me every couple of years December 1, 2010
350. He chose a way of death guaranteed to bring down a hailstorm of prying… November 30, 2010
351. It’s not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself… November 30, 2010
352. The difference between potential and output comes from human qualities November 29, 2010
353. I have to look them in the eye and decide whether they love the business… November 23, 2010
354. Nowadays, while literary men seem to have neglected their epic duties… November 22, 2010
355. I bet we all in this room live about the same November 21, 2010
356. There’s always been a market for people who pretend to know the future November 20, 2010
357. The market knows nothing about my feelings November 20, 2010
358. Avoid evil, particularly if they’re attractive members of the opposite sex November 19, 2010
359. It suffices that a book be possible for it to exist November 19, 2010
360. Hang around people who are better than you all the time November 17, 2010
361. When Charlie and I Disagree, He Says I’ll See It His Way November 16, 2010
362. We do not bring in compensation consultants and we don’t have a human… November 14, 2010
363. Ideas and views that differ from one’s own should not be targets… November 14, 2010
364. Of all the duties required of the professional critic, the least… November 12, 2010
365. If you are dependent on borrowed money, you have to wake up every day worried… November 10, 2010
366. You don’t have to have perfect wisdom to get very rich – just a bit better… November 3, 2010
367. When people call you with bad idea, don’t be polite and waste 10 minutes November 3, 2010
368. I never took a business class, except accounting October 28, 2010
369. We also look for three things: intelligence, energy and integrity October 28, 2010
370. It’s a poor fellow who can’t take his pleasure without asking other people’s… October 19, 2010
371. It was at a concert of lovely old music October 12, 2010
372. When I was young, I read The Richest Man in Babylon, which said to under-spend… October 8, 2010
373. There is perhaps no psychic phenomenon which has been so unconditionally… October 8, 2010
374. Her bottom is so beautiful that once as she crossed the room to the cooler I… October 7, 2010
375. After us they’ll fly in hot air balloons, coat styles will change, perhaps… October 4, 2010
376. I ain’t that particular September 27, 2010
377. At last R gets down again to his score, though he still has no pen which he… September 20, 2010
378. There’s always something more interesting going on than whether I like… September 20, 2010
379. I always assume that a good book is more intelligent than its author September 16, 2010
380. We need some delusions to keep us going September 16, 2010
381. Try to make things that can become better in other people’s minds than they… September 9, 2010
382. Happy endings in life, and in fiction too perhaps, are really about where you… September 6, 2010
383. Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium… September 2, 2010
384. The real risk is in not changing September 2, 2010
385. So much more than the world could offer September 1, 2010
386. Beware the barrenness of a busy life August 26, 2010
387. When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left I buy food… August 24, 2010
388. The toy is the child’s earliest initiation into art, or rather for him it… August 18, 2010
389. Art really saved my life because art is how I proved that I wasn’t a malingerer August 12, 2010
390. Everything’s the perfect back drop for a suit August 12, 2010
391. Psychoanalysis is about what two people can say to each other if they agree… August 10, 2010
392. If you aren’t having no fun, die, because you’re running a worthless program… August 5, 2010
393. You have to reinvent reasons for playing, and one year’s answer might not do… July 29, 2010
394. Maybe one of the single best things a person can do for themselves is to shift… July 28, 2010
395. Family, Friends, Health, Work: Pick Any Three July 22, 2010
396. Bad poets just bore us, but bad critics mislead us July 16, 2010
397. Glances are the big guns of the virtuous coquette; everything can be conveyed… July 10, 2010
398. The Present Age Is Free in Laying Taxes on the Next July 6, 2010
399. Because growth curves are asymptotic, I am convinced it is better to get… July 1, 2010
400. The first strong external revelation of the Dry Rot in men, is a tendency… June 22, 2010
401. Stay focused, and stay away from unknown females June 21, 2010
402. Whenever an artist has been able to say, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” it has… June 15, 2010
403. The need to diet, which we know so well in relation to food, and which runs so… June 3, 2010
404. Movie directors, or should I say people who create things, are very greedy… June 1, 2010
405. I actually dance pretty awkwardly so I would love to be in a sexy dance band… May 27, 2010
406. I’m a typical American May 12, 2010
407. Money is like gasoline during a road trip May 8, 2010
408. It seems to me that making escapist films might be a better service to people… May 8, 2010
409. AllHipHop.com: With “Shooters,” did you hear the original version by Robin… May 6, 2010
410. Though it’s unlikely you’ll write something nobody has ever heard of, the way… May 6, 2010
411. Cassidy had no idea what made Andrea so different, but he could sense that she… April 27, 2010
412. I cannot walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without… April 26, 2010
413. The problem with clichés is not that they contain false ideas, but rather that… April 26, 2010
414. The life I have chosen gives me my full hours of enjoyment for the balance… April 14, 2010
415. If you’re dancing and not within two people of a girl, you’re doing it wrong April 9, 2010
416. Each time he took a walk, he felt as though he were leaving himself behind… April 5, 2010
417. You can afford to expose yourself to uncertainties in art that you wouldn’t… April 5, 2010
418. What writers have is a license and also the freedom to sit—to sit, clench… April 1, 2010
419. Don’t say you don’t have enough time March 26, 2010
420. Waving His Dingdong at an Embassy March 24, 2010
421. The public does not like bad literature March 22, 2010
422. What you have to find is your own niche that will allow you to keep feeding… March 9, 2010
423. People say you teach during the day and you’re free at so-and-so, but there’s… February 25, 2010
424. Joanna Newsom February 23, 2010
425. Not every end is a goal January 28, 2010
426. Satisfaction is a product not of where you are, but of where you’re going January 22, 2010
427. One result of the internet, I think, is that it makes almost everyone smart… January 4, 2010
428. And sud­denly every­thing he had been doing stood up… December 28, 2009
429. The crisis in performance is, I believe, based on one simple fact December 17, 2009
430. Someone from R.E.M December 14, 2009
431. Although I have felt compelled to write things down since I was five years… December 14, 2009
432. Shifting Sentence Structure Alters Meaning December 9, 2009
433. Childhood is a branch of cartography November 11, 2009
434. The Search for New Materials November 9, 2009
435. Nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really… November 9, 2009
436. The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived… November 3, 2009
437. Bear Misfortune Nobly as Good Fortune September 22, 2009
438. My heart goes is going ba bump ba bump ba bump September 21, 2009
439. The general glut of information and opinion makes it disconcertingly easy… September 7, 2009
440. Reading through the histories of both jazz and rock, I am struck again… August 20, 2009
441. Respect the dance floor because the dance floor never lies August 12, 2009
442. If it’s a good idea and it gets you excited, try it, and if it bursts into… August 6, 2009
443. All these different kinds of fantastic music you hear today - course it’s all… July 28, 2009
444. Please don’t repeat that tired old meme about how I shouldn’t believe… July 27, 2009
445. Poets put lovers under trees, and nobody asks where that tree came from July 13, 2009
446. Men Want to Be Good and Want to Be Loved July 4, 2009
447. You know how you scratch away at a lottery ticket to see if you’ve won? June 27, 2009
448. The Film Critic of Tomorrow June 17, 2009
449. I find that more and more nonfiction authors are confusing Book Idea with Long… June 1, 2009
450. This past weekend I did the 40-mile hike I'd been pondering for a while April 23, 2009
451. The present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space March 24, 2009
452. Warhol on good art vs bad art March 22, 2009
453. It's worth knowing about ten times as much as you ever use, so you can move… February 24, 2009
454. You practice and you get better January 26, 2009
455. Great Opportunities Don’t Fall into Your Lap January 19, 2009
456. My favorite part from Randy Pausch's book, The Last Lecture January 15, 2009
457. collection of McLuhanisms December 14, 2008
458. Emmet Connolly collected a bunch of worthy quotes December 2, 2008
459. I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes December 2, 2008
460. Joy of Dullness November 14, 2008
461. Daniel Mendolsohn October 19, 2008
462. I don't avoid repeating myself September 25, 2008
463. the cruel and the kind August 11, 2008
464. Masterpieces are not single and solitary births May 26, 2008
465. H.G. Wells on Bicycles and Hope December 29, 2007