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

• As a unique person, I was bullied badly as a teen.

  

  Lady Starlight
  • Person
  • Unique
  • Teen

• 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

• The castle of Cair Paravel on its little hill towered up above them; before them were the sands, with rocks and little pools of salt water, and seaweed, and the smell of the sea and long miles of bluish-green waves breaking for ever and ever on the beach. And oh, the cry of the seagulls! Have you ever heard it? Can you remember?

  

  C. S. Lewis
  • Up
  • Long
  • Remember

• We are skinny; this is our work. There are lots of overweight people working in offices, but I'm not going to say, 'This girl is fat; she can't work in an office.'

  

  Valentina Zelyaeva
  • People
  • Work
  • She

• I find writing extremely difficult. I usually have to drag myself to my desk, mainly because I doubt myself. And it's getting harder because I want to improve with every book.

  

  Markus Zusak
  • Writing
  • Book
  • Doubt

• I grew up in such a featureless, personality-less suburb. There was nothing to push against.

  

  Patton Oswalt
  • Up
  • Personality

• Personality for me is the strongest statement.

  

  Chiara Ferragni
  • Personality

• 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