Charles M. Blow Quotes
I had an insanely long commute - New York to D.C. - when I worked at 'National Geographic.' I hate to waste time, so I spent my time by writing about my life on the premise that I might be able to pitch those as short essays to magazines. It wasn't until later that I realized that I was writing a book.
Quotes to Explore
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My house looks like it was decorated by a 14-year old with a platinum American Express card.
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I was initially very interested in public policy, but then after my masters at Harvard, I felt that it was important to get a better handle on the economics of it as well. I did my Ph.D. in macroeconomics, and my thesis - 'Why Is It That Some Countries Save And Others Not?' - was on savings.
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Insight enables you make sure you don't allow negative beliefs to get permanently set in your thinking - just the same way you wouldn't want fractured bones to be permanently set into place.
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If we meet an honest and intelligent politician, a dozen, a hundred, we say they aren't like politicians at all, and our category of politicians stays unchanged; we know what politicians are like.
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I'm a huge historical fiction and non-fiction fan.
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People expect me to be that guy. But I'm more east London boy than east Baltimore.
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I doubt there's any government in the world that guides itself primarily by strategy or conceptual documents or worldview. Anybody who has the reins of power has to look at practical limitations and tradeoffs - the fact that you can focus at most on one or two things at a time, that resources are limited.
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I'm pretty much a thrift shop gal. Flea markets on Sundays.
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Politics is a herd mentality. Politicians don't really lead. Politicians reflect what they think is consensus opinion.
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I've always been taught that hard work doesn't fail.
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I think it's possible to be multi-rooted, rather like a banyan tree, without being deracinated.
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In the hands of a passive-aggressive person who wants to abdicate responsibility for things, texting is a great tool. You can really go nuts.
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There are moments as a teacher when I'm conscious that I'm trotting out the same exact phrase my professor used with me years ago. It's an eerie feeling, as if my old mentor is not just in the room, but in my shoes, using me as his mouthpiece.
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Leaving sex to the feminists is like letting your dog vacation at the taxidermist.
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I make my own face exfoliant at home, using finely ground rice powder mixed with milk or yogurt. I also treat my skin to a honey, rose water, glycerine and lemon face pack. The honey moisturises, and the lemon removes impurities.
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Everything we did was criticized. For about thirty years we lived with the world against us, accusing us of things we didn't do!
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I was popular. I wasn't the most popular. But I definitely held my own.
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They hate whom they fear.
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Virtue has its own reward, but no sale at the box office.
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To assume all the powers is not good for anybody. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All those experiments have a bad ending.
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There is a voice, and there is a DNA to how I design.
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I wake up fairly early every day, by 8, for sure. Sunday is a lighter writing day than the weekdays, but I still wake up and write for about an hour, beginning right around 8. I definitely have coffee first, and then I start writing. I do think it's kind of hard to get the right level of concentration without coffee.
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Training has been such a huge part of my life and career I hope to keep going with it.
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I had an insanely long commute - New York to D.C. - when I worked at 'National Geographic.' I hate to waste time, so I spent my time by writing about my life on the premise that I might be able to pitch those as short essays to magazines. It wasn't until later that I realized that I was writing a book.
