Deborah Tannen Quotes

The long history of conversations that family members share contributes not only to how listeners interpret words but also to how speakers choose them.

Deborah Tannen

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Quotes to Explore

• I always point out to my Passover guests that the Hebrews were not living in isolation. They were at the crossroads of several great, elaborate cultures with their own mythology and religion and art and architecture and cultural belief. In fact, so many of the mythologies of the world describe the same events, just from different points of view.

  

  Harold Ramis
  • World
  • Great
  • Different

• I did a film called 'Fire with Fire.'

  

  Vincent D'Onofrio
  • Film
  • Fire
  • Did

• I was never offended that people underestimated me because of my appearance or that they thought I was pretty and discouraged me from fighting because they didn't want me to risk hurting my looks.

  

  Laila Ali
  • People
  • Pretty
  • Fighting

• If I have a 100 percent batting average, you should fire me, because it means we haven't tried anything really noble.

  

  Larry Brilliant
  • You
  • Me
  • Fire

• On a personal level, I love the idea of hosting an awards show. I think that sounds like kind of a fun thing to do.

  

  Zachary Levi
  • Fun
  • Like
  • Idea

• Acting is the work of two people - it's only possible when you have the complicity, the help, even the manipulation of a director.

  

  Victoria Abril
  • People
  • Work
  • Help

• The mere fact that so many continue to rise, year after year, out of just such conditions as you may think are fatal to your advancement, ought to convince you that you also can conquer your environment.

  

  Orison Swett Marden
  • May
  • Environment
  • Year

• Some people can be choosy because they're ultratalented or lucky or whatever, but yeah, there are certain things that might not be the greatest thing on my resume. But I don't sit back and go, 'Gosh, I wish I didn't do that.' It's all part of the growth of a career, whether you're an entertainer or a librarian.

  

  Zach Galifianakis
  • People
  • Career
  • Wish

• I'm not a Facebook/Twitter gal, but my husband is.

  

  Katey Sagal
  • Husband
  • Gal

• You know, we've got to this place, where you go to a movie for one particular surgical fix. So, it's like, I want the pulse-pounding action, or the insane falling-off-my-seat comedy, or the devastating, heart-breaking drama.

  

  J. J. Abrams
  • Heart
  • Movie
  • Want

• My whole back's tattooed. I just wanted a twist. I was always in punk bands when I was little... I think that's where the tie comes from.

  

  Gary Allan
  • Think
  • Always
  • Punk

• I'd rather go to a flea market than just about anything. It's the process I like - the same with getting dressed. If I've got someplace to be, I'll spend more time getting dressed than I spent at the actual event. Sometimes. Even in my own closet, I love to dig and search and find.

  

  Iris Apfel
  • Time
  • Like
  • Find

• Science does not limit itself merely to what is currently verifiable. But it is interested in questions that are potentially verifiable (or, rather, falsifiable).

  

  Sam Harris
  • Science
  • Questions
  • Limit

• Charles McCarry is the best modern writer on the subject of intrigue - by the breadth of Alan Furst, by the fathom of Eric Ambler, by any measure.

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • Best
  • Modern
  • Measure

• The thing that I've always been slightly frustrated with, was that the idea of a CD is kind of confined to a material possession that you can put on a shelf. And the idea of music, for me, is always about both the communication and the sharing of content. And so the interactive part is missing.

  

  Yo-Yo Ma
  • Music
  • Idea
  • Communication

• I date, don't get me wrong. I'm not up here filing my fingernails on a Friday night. I want to find someone to share my life with.

  

  Tamron Hall
  • Life
  • Night
  • Wrong

• I love my stories being multi-layered, and coming at it from different angles, so that you don't understand the film's true emotional motivation until the very end.

  

  M. Night Shyamalan
  • True
  • Emotional
  • Stories

• If you expect nothing, you're apt to be surprised. You'll get it.

  

  Malcolm Forbes
  • You
  • Nothing
  • Expect

• And friend received with thumps upon the back.

  

  Edward Young
  • Friend

• The more you are getting older, you lose a little something. Of course there is another advantage, because of your long experience you can use it.

  

  Haile Gebrselassie
  • Long
  • Experience
  • Getting Older

• I don't think you can erase history.

  

  Johnny Van Zant Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • History
  • Think
  • Erase

• I don't feel that I've had a life of abuse or that I am a victim in any way. My life is pretty typical of a lot of Americans of my generation who grew up in the sixties in families like mine that were sort of unconventional.

  

  Kate Christensen
  • Life
  • Generation
  • Abuse

• When I got to New York City when I was 18, I started playing in clubs in Brooklyn - I have good friends and devoted fans on the underground scene, but we were playing for each other at that point - and that was it.

  

  Lana Del Rey
  • Good
  • Friends
  • City

• The long history of conversations that family members share contributes not only to how listeners interpret words but also to how speakers choose them.

  

  Deborah Tannen
  • Long
  • Family
  • History