Bill Bryson Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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Science fiction is what we point to when we say it.
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The ideas keep going, you have the material, you cut because there's a limit to the space allowed to you. And the space is limited because of some other constraints that have to do with money or printing or whatever.
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When you're writing a novel - at least the way I write is I work from what I would call 'emotional atmosphere,' ambiance to ambiance.
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No decent career was ever founded on a public.
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The utilization of flat roofs as 'grounds' offers us a means of re-acclimatizing nature amidst the stony deserts of our great towns; for the plots from which she has been evicted to make room for buildings can be given back to her up aloft.
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The starting point of all achievement is desire.
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China's one-child policy was born in 1980, after years of less severe measures to discourage births. The Communist Party promised that the policy would be temporary.
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Irresponsibility is the mark of every European politician who holds out the promise of a better life to immigrants and encourages them to leave everything behind and risk their lives in setting out for Europe.
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I've never been in a relationship before. I've only been in unrequited relationships where people haven't loved me back. I guess I'm a little bit attracted to that in a bad way.
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Imperialist enterprise draws political consequences.
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After 9/11, I changed a lot of the ways I viewed the world. I realized my comedy and my politics and my view of the world did not match. I had to start writing from my heart.
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America thrives on identity politics, left and right. But France is opposed to the idea. Since the Revolution, the French have enthroned the idea of universalism. All of us must be equal before the law as abstract individuals, and that extends to the arts.
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I don't only write about English literature; I also write about chaos theory and... ants. I can understand ants.
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I don't intentionally go: 'Ooh, what is provocative,' and try to do that. I just do stuff, and people go: 'Ooh, that's provocative.'
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In school, I had a tough time fitting in, and dancing was my way of being in my own element. As a teenager, I became a bit disillusioned with it. Even with competitions, I'd win, but still there would be tears.
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If you don't have a healthy relationship with yourself, how can you with anyone else? Even if it's not healthy, I imagine it's a lot of fun. And healthy or not, I still think there can be a lot of love.
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I'm a big Hall and Oates fan.
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I don't think that people should wear dresses two sizes too small. I just think that sexiness is better left to the imagination. It's just more tasteful.
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I just believe in collaboration. I mean, I've written songs on my own, you know, but I think if the artist has something to bring to the table - someone like Pink, for instance - where they have something to say, it makes your job easier and more special.
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I'm a writer, not an activist. My job is to analyse things, to think them through and examine them.
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I think that paying your bills every month, that's not so glamorous or fun, having a job, or when your child gets sick. That's why when there are those special things, they are even more important and you want them to have a purpose.
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I don't think I anticipated supporting myself as a writer... I expected I would have to be a teacher or a journalist, that I wouldn't just write full time. It's such a part of my life, and in some ways, it's a very unromantic part of my life. It's almost, to me, like breathing. I don't think about whether I like it or not.
Curtis Sittenfeld -
'Tell me, did they specify ’asshole’ on the job description, or did you take a course?'
