David Means Quotes

I'm not sure if a writer should talk about themes. Themes arrive out of the deeper structure and concerns, but to me, the main thing is getting it down right, writing about specific characters in specific predicaments, and finding a way to be true to the story itself, not only in the first burst of draft but in the revision, too.

David Means

• Writing
• True

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• Twenty years ago my parents wouldn't know who the X-Men were, and now everybody knows that stuff. It means that deconstruction of the superhero is something you can do. All those movies have led to a point where we can finally have 'Watchmen' with a Superman character who doesn't want to save the world and a Batman who has trouble in bed.

  

  Zack Snyder
  • World
  • Men
  • Character

• I'm great at a deathbed. I've never given tranquillisers or psychiatric medicine. I've given love and fun and creativity and passion and hope, and these things ease suffering.

  

  Patch Adams
  • Love
  • Fun
  • Hope

• I feel like my story would've been different had I had a chance to play with Bron when I was 18. I've thought about it countless times.

  

  J. R. Smith
  • Different
  • Thought
  • Chance

• Consciousness is indeed always with us. Everyone knows 'I am!' No one can deny his own being.

  

  Ramana Maharshi
  • Consciousness
  • Deny

• I've had the experience of having a book praised but then it doesn't sell. Or not praised but then it sells.

  

  Gail Sheehy
  • Experience
  • Book
  • Sell

• The average Indian doesn't care about Hollywood movies because they have far too many movies of their own to watch, to miss, and I hope a story like 'Million Dollar Arm,' that is actually about India and deals with these two Indian kids, resonates over there and makes people want to go and see the movie.

  

  Aasif Mandvi
  • People
  • Kids
  • Movie

• I've been watching 'The Cosby Show' and 'Roseanne' a lot right now, and those work so well because they're not, like, jokey comedies; they are coming from real characters. We want our show to be like that. A family show.

  

  Abbi Jacobson
  • Work
  • Real
  • Family

• My job isn't to preach to people, it's to entertain them. I like letting the characters speak for themselves.

  

  Karin Slaughter
  • People
  • Job
  • Speak

• That's really my goal now. I'm trying to be a positive role model to my kids and to just enjoy this ride, because it's hard. It's hard to enjoy it when you're in it.

  

  Taylor Dayne
  • Trying
  • Kids
  • Positive

• Hillary Clinton almost got to be president. The reasons why she didn't become president had to do with bad judgments about how to handle the early caucus states, which is not a gender-specific trait.

  

  Gail Collins
  • Why
  • She
  • Bad

• I've used a cellphone exactly twice. Things move on. The world changes. And I don't know it.

  

  Laura Hillenbrand
  • World
  • Know
  • Changes

• The vegetable life does not content itself with casting from the flower or the tree a single seed, but it fills the air and earth with a prodigality of seeds, that, if thousands perish, thousands may plant themselves, that hundreds may come up, that tens may live to maturity; that, at least one may replace the parent.

  

  Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Life
  • Up
  • Live

• China - if you think about what is the character of China, it's enormous scale. It's bigness.

  

  Zhang Xin
  • Character
  • Think
  • You

• I enrolled in an acting workshop and my first acting role was on the TV soap opera 'Melrose Place.'

  

  Famke Janssen
  • Acting
  • Place
  • Opera

• I am not interested in producing fiction for Indian television at all, the reason being that I don't understand the medium. I can be a judge or a host; I can do that as an individual. But to produce TV content, you have to know the game.

  

  Karan Johar
  • Judge
  • Television
  • Indian

• Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

  

  Calvin Coolidge
  • World
  • Men
  • Education

• Capitalist systems function less well without state protection of investors, lenders, and companies against monopoly, deception, and fraud.

  

  Edmund Phelps
  • Protection
  • Deception
  • Fraud

• I have deep emotions about the American people. If I were to cry for anything, I would cry for them and the policies that they're about to face.

  

  Nancy Pelosi
  • People
  • American
  • Deep

• Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up.

  

  Allen Klein
  • Up
  • World
  • Picture

• I do have a very strong sense that most of the terrible things in life happen suddenly and unpredictably, and certainly can sweep you off in different directions, and that is always of interest to a novelist.

  

  Ian Mcewan
  • Life
  • Different
  • Strong

• Remember those black-and-white films with Frank Sinatra? Those guys looked like men and they were only 27! Listen to Otis Redding singing 'Try A Little Tenderness'. That was a man who understood what a man has to know in the world. Show me a real man now! Where are they?

  

  Chrissie Hynde Pretenders
  • World
  • Men
  • Real

• I started doing '30 Rock' and started writing 'Mystery Team' at the beginning of that. While I was doing 'Mystery Team,' I started practicing stand-up. While I was doing stand up, I got 'Community.' It's like I planted trees six years ago, and now they have fruit.

  

  Donald Glover
  • Up
  • Writing
  • Team

• I'm not sure if a writer should talk about themes. Themes arrive out of the deeper structure and concerns, but to me, the main thing is getting it down right, writing about specific characters in specific predicaments, and finding a way to be true to the story itself, not only in the first burst of draft but in the revision, too.

  

  David Means
  • Writing
  • True