Elmore Leonard Quotes

To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.

Elmore Leonard

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Quotes to Explore

• Burroughs called his greatest novel 'Naked Lunch,' by which he meant it's what you see on the end of a fork. Telling the truth. It's very difficult to do that in fiction because the whole process of writing fiction is a process of sidestepping the truth. I think he got very close to it, in his way, and I hope I've done the same in mine.

  

  J. G. Ballard
  • Writing
  • Done
  • Truth

• When I was about four, people used to walk up to my mom and say I should be in commercials.

  

  Zachary Gordon
  • People
  • Up
  • Mom

• The difference between a violin and a viola is that a viola burns longer.

  

  Victor Borge
  • Difference
  • VIolin
  • Viola

• When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?

  

  Quentin Crisp
  • People
  • Up
  • God

• I have worked hard and learnt that I have to make a decision - whether I am going to conform and protect myself or not. I chose not to.

  

  M. Night Shyamalan
  • Work
  • Decision
  • Protect

• A mind which really lays hold of a subject is not easily detached from it.

  

  Ida Tarbell
  • Mind
  • Hold
  • Lays

• If I'm offered a good case in Florida or a good case somewhere else, South Florida will win every time.

  

  F. Lee Bailey
  • Time
  • Good
  • Win

• I am aware of the sufferings of women in India, which is also the suffering of women in many, many countries on our planet. My heart is filled with empathy and love for them.

  

  Yoko Ono
  • Women
  • Empathy
  • Planet

• I loathe bad theater and most theatre is very bad because it's repetitious, unexciting and, dangerously, it is sometimes praised for those things.

  

  Fiona Shaw
  • Bad
  • Sometimes
  • Theatre

• How can we educators claim credit for understanding, let alone teaching, the 'global mind' without a single course on the impact of religion on every day life?

  

  Warren Bennis
  • Life
  • Mind
  • Alone

• Put paying your dues and all that puts so much into being a success. You have an understanding of what it's about, being on your own for three or four years and living day to day on $3, or living in an apartment with no electricity.

  

  Taylor Kitsch
  • Success
  • Day
  • Understanding

• Albania is going through a deep crisis because it lacks the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and freedom of the media. I don't think if we stop protesting the problem is solved.

  

  Edi Rama
  • Freedom
  • Law
  • Stop

• The E.U. intends to be one of the biggest humanitarian donors on the Syrian crisis.

  

  Federica Mogherini
  • Crisis
  • Humanitarian
  • Syrian

• While he was president, it was popular to be a Nixon hater.

  

  Earl Butz
  • Popular
  • President
  • While

• The local music community here was dying for a place to record, so we started doing acoustic, folk and bluegrass and then did rock projects for other bands, as well as for my son Tal and my own work.

  

  Randy Bachman The Guess Who
  • Work
  • Music
  • Community

• Sometimes I see through things when people are talking. I'm really sensitive to other people, so I can tell if somebody's putting on a front.

  

  Banks
  • People
  • Sometimes
  • I Can

• America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for. It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large.

  

  E. M. Forster
  • Life
  • America
  • Interesting

• You have to protect yourself at all times. What goes around comes around.

  

  Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
  • You
  • Yourself
  • Protect

• The young people I teach now know they are being sold down the river before we even start studying the trends and numbers. That's the toughest part of being a high school economics teacher... being a witness when our children realize that the greatest deficit of all is a deficit of leadership.

  

  Kurt Bills
  • People
  • Children
  • School

• You've got so much confidence if you start making big putts because you know you just need to hit the greens, and you've got yourself a good opportunity for the birdies.

  

  Louis Oosthuizen
  • Good
  • Opportunity
  • Confidence

• I was the first Latino member of Congress to support Senator Obama's candidacy. For quite a while, I was the only one.

  

  Luis Gutierrez
  • Support

• When you are developing your style, you avoid weaknesses. I am not good at describing things, so I stay away from it. And if anyone is going to describe anything at all, it's going to be from the point of view of the character, because then I can use his voice, and his attitude will be revealed in the way he describes what he sees.

  

  Elmore Leonard
  • Good
  • Character
  • Style

• Force me to choose my best book, and I always come back to 'Gorilla.' It was the first time I felt I understood what picture books could do.

  

  Anthony Browne
  • Time
  • Book
  • Picture

• To me, a book is a book, an electronic device is not, and love of books was the reason I started writing.

  

  Elmore Leonard
  • Writing
  • Book