David Shields Quotes

I began as a fiction writer - I had written three novels in my 20s and 30s. But as my work has gravitated towards literary nonfiction, or lyric essay or poetic essay, whatever you want to call it, I'm constantly beating my head against the wall 'cause I'm teaching a genre that's no longer that exciting to me and that I'm no longer practicing.

David Shields

• Work
• Wall
• Lyric

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Quotes to Explore

• Since 9/11, there has been a huge leap in people wanting to get personally involved in public service and international affairs.

  

  Samantha Power
  • People
  • Service
  • Leap

• I don't pretend to be anything but an actor and a writer.

  

  Dan Futterman
  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Pretend

• Two hundred years ago, our precursors in Haiti struck a blow for freedom, which was heard around the world, and across centuries.

  

  Baldwin Spencer
  • World
  • Freedom
  • Years

• One of the most widely read novels by a black American is Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man.' It is his masterwork - it won the National Book Award in 1953 and catapulted my man to the highest levels of literary esteem.

  

  Victor LaValle
  • Book
  • American
  • Man

• I don't usually watch a lot of TV, but 'Mad Men' changed my perspective. I admire Matthew Weiner who came up with the idea and wrote such a great TV series, and the broadcasting company for being bold enough to air such a series.

  

  Park Chan-wook
  • Up
  • Great
  • Men

• I had rather be called a journalist than an artist.

  

  H. G. Wells
  • Artist
  • Journalist
  • Rather

• I'm such a bad shopper for myself. I love fashion and all that kind of stuff, but that's sort of the last thing I want to do when I'm done with a film is go shopping. I want to just chill.

  

  Malin Akerman
  • Bad
  • Kind
  • Fashion

• Team members have to hold each other accountable. If there's a meeting, all members have to commit to be present and to help one another; they can't just check out when they feel they're not getting any benefits.

  

  Patrick Lencioni
  • Help
  • Team
  • Present

• Listen to my voice - I sound like I'm permanently congested.

  

  T. J. Miller
  • Like
  • Voice
  • Listen

• I don't understand people who dream in black and white. I just don't get it. My dreams have always been vivid color.

  

  Gary Ross
  • People
  • Dream
  • Black

• No 27-year-old has the experience to run a company that does a quarter of a billion dollars a year in sales.

  

  Calvin Klein
  • Experience
  • Year
  • Sales

• I am a contradiction myself. I'm always looking for something that scares me because when I'm not scared, I'm not stimulated.

  

  Yasmine Al Masri
  • Contradiction
  • Scares
  • Stimulated

• Every designer needs a story. Mine is all about glamour because my family has been in the business of glamour for three generations. My grandfather Shamshuddin Khan started his embroidery and fabric-making business in the 1930s.

  

  Naeem Khan
  • Family
  • Business
  • Story

• I will not say anything about my father. Period. I don't have a dad.

  

  Vanilla Ice
  • Father
  • Dad
  • Period

• I love looking through magazines, and you know, I love getting dressed up to go to events and stuff.

  

  Mandy Moore
  • Up
  • Love
  • Know

• But what I'm very interested in, whether it's writing, whether it's hosting a show, whether it's cooking food, I'm just into the discussions of identity, culture and the politics of culture.

  

  Eddie Huang
  • Writing
  • Culture
  • Food

• Susan, an only child who never had any roots, and I, a lone wolf who got married 20 years to late, were adopted by the kids as much as they were by us.

  

  Harpo Marx
  • Kids
  • Child
  • Roots

• It kills me to lose. If I'm a troublemaker, and I don't think that my temper makes me one, then it's because I can't stand losing. That's the way I am about winning, all I ever wanted to do was finish first.

  

  Jackie Robinson
  • Winning
  • Losing
  • Temper

• It just annoyed me that people got so into the Beatles. 'Beatles, Beatles, Beatles.' It's not that I don't like talking about them. I've never stopped talking about them. It's 'Beatles this, Beatles that, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles, Beatles.' Then in the end, it's like 'Oh, sod off with the Beatles,' you know?

  

  George Harrison The Beatles
  • People
  • Annoyed

• The work I've done through my Common Culture Music series has enabled me not only to share my joy of music at scale but also promote the artists I love.

  

  Connor Franta
  • Work
  • Music
  • Done

• I am not an enemy of the Negro. We want him here among us; he is the only laboring class we have.

  

  Nathan Bedford Forrest
  • Enemy
  • Negro
  • Laboring Class

• If I had come out with an album called 'Brendon Urie Does...' everyone would have been like, 'Who?' Even five albums in, I'm still faceless wherever I go, which is great.

  

  Brendon Urie Panic! at the Disco
  • Great

• There are cliques in Bollywood, and people stick together, but I have always tried to stick to my work. As an industry, Bollywood is very competitive, and I'm very competitive as a person, but I've never been a part of any clique, and I've always worked with all actors and directors, all camps.

  

  Priyanka Chopra
  • People
  • Work
  • Together

• I began as a fiction writer - I had written three novels in my 20s and 30s. But as my work has gravitated towards literary nonfiction, or lyric essay or poetic essay, whatever you want to call it, I'm constantly beating my head against the wall 'cause I'm teaching a genre that's no longer that exciting to me and that I'm no longer practicing.

  

  David Shields
  • Work
  • Wall
  • Lyric