Deborah Tannen Quotes
When did the word 'compromise' get compromised? When did the negative connotations of 'He was caught in a compromising position' or 'She compromised her ethics' replace the positive connotations of 'They reached a compromise'?
Quotes to Explore
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I've always had better luck learning things on my own. And I really love the challenge of doing it yourself and kind of being alone against the system.
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I was born in Dallas, Texas, but I was raised in south Florida. 'Ice Ice Baby' is about that area.
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Loser lit antiheroes aren't well intentioned or earnest; they don't care whether you like them or not. They're self-mocking, ironic and inventive; they narrate their downfalls with manic wordplay, rampant metaphors, wisecracks, and escalating flights of spleen-fueled lyricism.
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You don't boo at a Kemp rally. You boo at football games.
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All the women in my family are very dramatic by themselves. They make the biggest things out of nothing. I think that's where I learned a lot about being emotional.
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The thing about a failure is that it is possible to deny it forever.
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I am very lucky I got fans, and I interact with them personally. I know that they have poured their love on me unconditionally, and all I can do is work hard and be kind to them.
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Giving people some kind of control over what they do is important. Human beings don't do their best work under conditions of control.
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I'd been touring for so long, seven years. For a year and a half I'd just been curious about what it was like not to tour. It's like if you were to lift a 100-pound barbell with your right arm for seven years, eventually you'd get really curious about what your left arm was capable of.
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My primary influences were the best jazz players from the 50's and 60's and later some of the pop people from the same time period along with the better of the well known blues musicians.
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America's fine, nice, nice hiking near L.A. But I am European. I love London and Paris. Friends and intellect, big thought, why not?
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I'm a big 'American Idol' watcher, and sometimes I like to watch 'America's Got Talent.' Those are big, corny admissions, but sometimes it's so fun to see those kids really sing their hearts out.
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Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.
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The most annoying and full-of-crap thing a writer says is, 'I write only for myself, I don't care if anyone reads it.' A writer without a reader doesn't exist.
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I'm never running for office. I love being able to speak to members of Congress or members of the Senate and floating on either side, because it takes all of us. It's going to take both of them.
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I was born in India - but never really lived there.
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My first paying job, when I was 15, I was a day camp counselor.
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I'm excellent at losing weight, but I've never been excellent at maintenance. I have some better days than others in terms of being hypervigilant, but with maintenance you don't know if you've been good at it until you're done.
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The bedrock of 'Being Human' has to be characters. I would hope that even if suddenly we had a huge budget per episode, the foundation of the show, and the thing that actually makes it what it is, is character.
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In retrospect I can see that my desire to create abstractions has become more and more radical. Art should not be delivering a report on reality, but should be looking at what's behind something.
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I want people to treat me as normally as they can. Anybody who doesn't, I feel awkward with.
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I believe that we need to set conditions to close the detention facility at Guantanamo. This includes retaining the option to transfer detainees from this facility elsewhere... It is in the U.S.'s national security interest to do so.
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Never feel remorse for what you have thought about your wife; she has thought much worse things about you.
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When did the word 'compromise' get compromised? When did the negative connotations of 'He was caught in a compromising position' or 'She compromised her ethics' replace the positive connotations of 'They reached a compromise'?
