Elmore Leonard Quotes

My characters have to talk, or they're out. They audition in early scenes. If they can't talk, they're given less to do, or thrown out.

Elmore Leonard

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• My first agent told me to change my name or I'd only play Jewish parts or Indians. Of course I refused to change it. Shortly thereafter she came up to me and told me I had to keep it, because her numerologist said it was very, very good.

  

  Malachi Throne
  • Up
  • Good
  • She

• I always wanted to be a singer, and so, when I was 5 years old, I started acting classes so I could be a better performer. I wanted to have a powerful voice so I could be heard.

  

  Q'orianka Kilcher
  • Powerful
  • Better
  • Acting

• You know how you can be romantic? You can be romantic by going to a beautiful setting, sitting on a park bench, and getting good ole-fashioned golden arches, a.k.a. McDonald's. That's probably the best I can do romantically.

  

  Omari Hardwick
  • Good
  • Beautiful
  • Best

• Would I be happy just practicing law? No. Would I be happy just doing TV and speeches? No. I want to do all of these things and be as active as I can... but my main goal is to have some degree of influence on the public discussion.

  

  Ed Rendell
  • Happy
  • Law
  • Influence

• Pinochet and Barack Obama both have the same primary goal, and that's to be president and stay president as long as allowed.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Long
  • Goal
  • President

• Kelly Clarkson definitely reminds me of Motown. She's pop, but she's also very, very soulful.

  

  La'Porsha Renae
  • She
  • Me
  • Pop

• I loved working with kids, and kids are the most incredibly discerning audience. And if they don't believe you, they will tell you and let you know. I mean, kids is where it's at, really.

  

  Sally Hawkins
  • Believe
  • Kids
  • Know

• The plan is to make money, and we know the fans are going to ask for mixtapes, and those mixtapes are going to hit. So when we put a tape out, we have more money coming in, that's why we work hard at it.

  

  Quavo Migos
  • Work
  • Money
  • Why

• I wrote my first play when I was eight.

  

  Pam Gems
  • Play
  • First
  • Eight

• When we quarrel, how we wish we had been blameless.

  

  Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Wish
  • Been
  • Quarrel

• I've been having this really weird anxiety dream about arriving too late or too early, and the people in charge are like, 'You have to leave! You have to go back to the hotel and get ready!' And I use the wrong exit, and I'm running down the red carpet in pyjamas, like, 'No! Don't look at me!'

  

  Florence Welch Florence and the Machine
  • People
  • Dream
  • Running

• In Ethiopia, democracy is in its infancy and it must be nurtured along by its leaders.

  

  Jack Kingston
  • Democracy
  • Leaders
  • Ethiopia

• Quite often, little germs of ideas have come from something that I've observed or someone's told me. The process of it becoming fiction is expanding and extending it: stretching the rubber band of reality.

  

  Laura Wade
  • Reality
  • Band
  • Ideas

• I've found the world's most versatile word - 'cheeky.' The amount of ways you guys can use the word 'cheeky' is quite impressive.

  

  Taylor Lautner
  • World
  • You
  • Most

• I don't see democracy getting better. I see democracy diminishing. More rules, more legislation. Eventually governments will see everything.

  

  Taki Theodoracopulos
  • Democracy
  • Better
  • Rules

• Everybody always wants to rebel against their parents' music, but nobody listened to music louder than my dad.

  

  Dan Auerbach The Black Keys
  • Music
  • Parents
  • Dad

• I'll read a script maybe twice, but I'll think about the role more than I'll rehearse lines.

  

  Patricia Clarkson
  • Think
  • More
  • Maybe

• There was a time when researchers imagined that Plan B, or the morning-after pill, might become not an emergency form of contraception but a routine one; women would take it once a month to induce a period and never even know whether they had gotten pregnant.

  

  Nancy Gibbs
  • Time
  • Women
  • Morning

• The characters are telling you the story. I'm not telling you the story, they're going to do it. If I do it right, you will get the whole story.

  

  George V. Higgins
  • Story
  • Characters
  • Telling

• An administration without a police executive is powerless and there were many proofs of this.

  

  Hans Frank
  • Police
  • Without
  • Executive

• So there really was a whole series of things that took the women of my generation a little bit of time to push forward.

  

  Madeleine Albright
  • Time
  • Women
  • Littles

• A great wind is blowing and that either gives you imagination...or a headache.

  

  Catherine the Great
  • Imagination
  • Wind
  • Headache

• My characters have to talk, or they're out. They audition in early scenes. If they can't talk, they're given less to do, or thrown out.

  

  Elmore Leonard