Derek Walcott Quotes
I think I would have been a totally different kind of writer if I'd gone to England. I might have developed a cynicism about my origins, a belittling of them, or an excessive nostalgia for them.
Quotes to Explore
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I got fired for giving coffee away. It was just my regulars. I'd say, 'Don't worry about it,' and they'd put down a dollar tip. Technically, I was stealing. Ethically, I was boosting morale!
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Economically, we are, to some significant degree, interdependent with Chinese well-being. That is a great asset.
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I'm very drawn to characters who are very flawed. I'm less interested in characters who are just good or bad, because to me then they're not real people.
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My man has to be more intelligent than I am, which is difficult to find. He should definitely be more successful than me, which is not so difficult to find. I'd be a fool to expect a better looking man than me, which is impossible to find.
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In the past it seemed like I was making fun of rap a little bit. But it was more me making fun of myself, since I'm not technically a rapper, whatever that means.
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It's amazing how a competitive nature can turn a negative into something positive.
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At times it is folly to hasten at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper time.
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I love iTunes as much as anybody. It's very convenient and very easy. But there is nothing like the vibe that you get when you walk into a record store. And I think a lot of people are still thrilled to spend a half hour there and go through the bins and make some purchases.
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Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
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My show is my statement. What I have to say is on the screen. My life is my own. I don't want to talk about my private self. Why should I?
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In 1989, I was on Tiananmen Square with the students, living in their makeshift tents and joining their jubilant singing of the Internationale. In the two decades since, each time that I have gone back, visions from those days seem to return with increasing persistence.
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Being a musician, it's my job to be real and be true to whoever I am. Hopefully that will inspire other people. I hope it inspires people to be themselves and be comfortable in your own skin.
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If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
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I don't feel famous.
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The mentality with African and European people is different. In Africa, when you come from a difficult life, when it's not so easy to eat, not so easy to survive, you respect money when you start to earn it, and you respect people more. When you respect people, they will respect you, and your life is better for that.
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I've got nothing to be ashamed of.
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The white man's dollar is his god, and to stop this will be to stop outrages in many localities.
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When I'm working, even though it's sometimes challenging and difficult, there's still no place I would rather be.
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When I was younger I decided I'd hop on the train to New York.
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My favorite word is clarity...clarity...clarity. And the critical clarity is what is the transformation that is going to take place in the customer's life or work when they buy and use your product? And how profound is that? How important is that? You know the old saying, "If you could come up with a cure for cancer you'd be a billionaire by the end of the week" because of that profound result.
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Music pulled me like a gravitational force. I entered college as a physics major but left as a Bachelor of Music, a degree with the same practical application as, say, one in the History of Chinese Poetry.
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My grandmother had a great saying. It always stuck with me: 'People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.' They've got to see it and feel it. And it's for real. And that's all. Be who you are.
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I think I would have been a totally different kind of writer if I'd gone to England. I might have developed a cynicism about my origins, a belittling of them, or an excessive nostalgia for them.
