David Maraniss Quotes
I discovered in writing the biography of Bill Clinton that it is actually easier to write a biography of someone who is dead. Although you can't interview them, you have a fuller perspective on their whole life after they're gone and people are more willing to talk about them.
Quotes to Explore
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Politicians are so... detested; they don't actually walk amongst people now.
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We have to surmount the difficulties that face us and work steadfastly for the happiness and prosperity of our country.
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We as children went up the mountain to find feed for livestock, like goats, cows and horses, and because in the winter time we would light the fire in the house, we would climb the mountain to collect firewood as well. Because of that, I suppose I became used to climbing mountains.
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I don't think Bosnia is ready for reconciliation, but I do think it is ready for truth.
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I like the discipline of well-cut, impeccable clothes. I think it's a very healthy discipline.
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Failure is nature's plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.
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No, I didn't work it out upside down, I never turned it around.
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As a kid at school, I had a lot of really good teachers and I had a lot of really bad teachers, and I just know how much of an impact those can have on a young child. To be one of the good teachers - I want to have that kind of impact.
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I learned that when you stand up for what you believe in, you'll get a lot of support. But there are always going to be negative things said about you.
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Our goal is to build this up as a knowledge base that anyone can look at. We're not just interested in people answering their friends' one-off questions.
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Disease generally begins that equality which death completes.
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How do you create chemistry? If only I knew that! Some people say it's a natural thing that you have with someone, and maybe it is to do with that, but I think you can work on it.
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We see book-burning as a crime against humanity: it's intolerable because books represent a kind of freedom to us.
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Even successful musicians have had periods where people say they suck and no one likes them, even after they've had periods of great success. So I think it's like you just gotta do you and try to stay motivated. Until, you know, you decide to stay home and make spaghetti all day.
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Nobody knows 100% what affects the human body, mind or spirit.
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I think that art is still a site for resistance and for the telling of various stories, for validating certain subjectivities we normally overlook. I'm trying to be affective, to suggest changes, and to resist what I feel are the tyrannies of social life on a certain level.
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When a guy tells me I'm cute, it's not something desirable. Cute is more like what you want your pet to be.
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In Europe, a writer is supposed to improve up until he's about 75.
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I'm very inquisitive. I love hanging around people who can teach me. I ask a lot of questions. And I'm very introspective and self-critical.
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Weddings are really good for making you feel terrible about yourself if you're not where you want to be in life.
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People and organizations other than doctors increasingly are assuming power to decide which medications to prescribe or procedures to undertake. More and more, decisions about personal healthcare are no longer made by the treating physicians in consultation with their patients, and based on the doctors' expertise.
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Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.
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I don't seek, I find.
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I discovered in writing the biography of Bill Clinton that it is actually easier to write a biography of someone who is dead. Although you can't interview them, you have a fuller perspective on their whole life after they're gone and people are more willing to talk about them.
