Derek Walcott Quotes
I don't feel like a celebrity. Poetry justifies celebrity. It's good to have respect for a poet.
Quotes to Explore
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I am not content to entrust our free-speech rights to the good graces and whims of Congress and hope that politicians don't abuse their power.
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We do high heels, and people know us for that, but the idea of wearing a flat from day to night feels special.
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I worked with the Neville Brothers for 40-some years on the highway, and up and down since I can remember - funk from New Orleans.
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Buddhism has had a major effect on who I am and how I think about the world. What I have learned is that I like all religions, but only parts of them.
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Like baseball, food will never go out of style; we will always need to eat and we will always find it entertaining. I think of food TV this way - all the fun and none of the calories.
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It's something you dream about, working in Scotland, working in Glasgow, walking down the same streets I used to walk down when I was a drama student, daydreaming about being in an American TV show or doing something that was well known. I guess I sort of pinch myself.
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I'm not a cheater, but if I win Olympic gold and people are looking at me and saying I am a cheat because I've won, it's hugely disrespectful given the hard work I've put in.
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Elvis and I were very good friends. We were such good friends that, on the day that he passed, I was the first one his father called, to let me know what had happened.
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I am proud to have played a small part in ensuring that no veteran's heroic service will be cast aside due to prejudice.
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College dropouts with significant debt struggle with repayment over the course of their lives and do not receive the benefits afforded to their peers who have debt but obtain higher-paying jobs as a result of college completion.
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During my theatre days, I was more comfortable doing comedy. It's such an irony. I have always played a buffoon on stage, and yet I don't have any comic role to my credit.
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If we want to talk about freedom, we must mean freedom for others as well as ourselves, and we must mean freedom for everyone inside our frontiers as well as outside.
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Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend... they can all go drifting by unseen if you're not careful.
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Any psychologist will tell you that healing comes from honest confrontation with our injury or with our past. Whatever that thing is that has hurt us or traumatized us, until we face it head on, we will have issues moving forward in a healthy way.
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The public has been told repeatedly that terrorism is 'evil,' which it undoubtedly is, and that 'evildoers' are responsible for it, which doubtless they are. But beyond these justifiable condemnations, there is a historical void.
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When I did '1,2,3,4' on 'Sesame Street' they'd rewritten the song and made it about counting. At first, I balked. I was like, 'Counting to four? That's where we're going with this?' Then they sent me appearances by other people like James Blunt doing 'You're Beautiful' as 'My Triangle.'
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Find your own style. Don't spend your savings trying to be someone else. You're not more important, smarter, or prettier because you wear a designer dress.
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So I just got on the phone and the engineer just patched me in and I did reports. I'd get a community leader and bring him to the phone, call up the station and do an interview over the phone with the guy.
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We're like a really nice drink. We help people get through the day-we make life a little sunnier. I don't think we have any profound effect. If anybody has had a profound effect, it's The Beatles, and their effect is still minimal. There are things in the world way more important than music. Family is 50 times more important than music.
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I don't find it hard to direct myself. I can easily think of me as a horrible performer or a good performer. I work with actors who cannot stand watching or looking at themselves, which is not my case. I can have an eye and perspective on whether I'm terrible or good enough for me.
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I've had days here and there where I would get discouraged because I wasn't a big star, but I've made a living ever since I was 27. Not a great living, but enough for me. I think actually being able to pay my rent and eat and perform is enough, and I did that for many years. Then I had some good years in there, too, where I made pretty good money.
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I'm happy to be busy. I'm happy to have a wonderful family.
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I don't feel like a celebrity. Poetry justifies celebrity. It's good to have respect for a poet.
