Donald E. Westlake Quotes

For me, the characters are part of the story, and come out of its development. I don't base them on people, or parts of people – the Frankenstein method. I base them on what I've noticed about the human race. … I cannot tell you how stories develop. I have an initial idea, and start telling myself the story, day by day.

Donald E. Westlake

• People

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• I started auditioning but at times would feel depressed, as I would get shortlisted but never received the final call. Only when the commercials were released would I come to know that I was not selected.

  

  Fatima Sana Shaikh
  • Know
  • Never
  • Feel

• Don't get between me and a really good picture in the darkroom, because then I want to go straight to the darkroom and develop it. But once that's done, I'm fine.

  

  Sally Mann
  • Good
  • Done
  • Me

• Anytime you have a tight race and you lose, it's not pleasant.

  

  Vern Buchanan
  • You
  • Race
  • Lose

• Teach us to give and not to count the cost.

  

  Saint Ignatius
  • Religion
  • Teach
  • Cost

• To make the child in your own image is a capital crime, for your image is not worth repeating. The child knows this and you know it. Consequently you hate each other.

  

  Karl Shapiro
  • Hate
  • Know
  • Child

• I am young, and I think all young guys would love to play a superhero - any superhero - it doesn't matter. I could be a superhero that would just turn into a big blob or something like that, but I could tell all the ladies, 'Hey, I am superhero!'

  

  Daniel Curtis Lee
  • Think
  • Like
  • Young

• With all of their benefits, and there are many, one of the things I regret about e-books is that they have taken away the necessity of trawling foreign bookshops or the shelves of holiday houses to find something to read. I've come across gems and stinkers that way, and both can be fun.

  

  Joanne Rowling
  • Fun
  • Taken
  • Regret

• Dread lord and cousin, may the almighty preserve your reverence and lordship in long life and good fortune.

  

  Owen Glendower
  • Life
  • Good
  • Long

• I wanted to weave a green thread through the Conservative party; that's my job, and I signed up imagining that I would be in a very small minority within my party, possibly even on my own, battling away on these issues.

  

  Zac Goldsmith
  • Up
  • Job
  • Small

• But, look, Washington is a town that creates myths for its own existence and its own amusement, and I was a subject of myth, sort of like Grendel in Beowulf - you know, not seen very often but often talked about.

  

  Karl Rove
  • Know
  • Look
  • Existence

• If I had a spreadsheet on my computer, it looked like I was busy.

  

  Nate Silver
  • Like
  • Computer
  • Busy

• Nothing is inevitable until it happens.

  

  A. J. P. Taylor
  • Nothing
  • Happens
  • Inevitable

• My calling, as one imperfect human, is to celebrate and uphold life every time I get the chance.

  

  Victoria Moran
  • Life
  • Time
  • Chance

• Many mathematicians derive part of their self-esteem by feeling themselves the proud heirs of a long tradition of rational thinking; I am afraid they idealize their cultural ancestors.

  

  Edsger Dijkstra
  • Proud
  • Tradition
  • Self-Esteem

• We need another revolution in the Arab world. We need an education revolution. If there's one thing we need to focus on, it's redesigning our educational systems.

  

  Queen Rania of Jordan
  • World
  • Education
  • Focus

• I get maximum satisfaction out of buying children's clothes online.

  

  Samantha Bee
  • Children
  • Clothes
  • Buying

• 'As Long As I Know I'm Getting Paid' is a satire. Lyrically, I want to be direct. With my history in Fall Out Boy, there's some expectation that I'm going to be lyrically obtuse. But that song is a straight-faced satire of consumerism.

  

  Patrick Stump Fall Out Boy
  • Long
  • History
  • Song

• Church attendance rates among white Americans without a college education have dropped pretty significantly. People with college degrees are more likely to go to church than people without college degrees among the white working class.

  

  J. D. Vance
  • People
  • Pretty
  • Education

• It isn't a band. It's bigger than a band. It's a lifestyle.

  

  Zakk Wylde Black Label Society
  • Band
  • Lifestyle
  • Bigger

• I had a spectacular four years as OpenTable CEO and remain an active executive chairman. I think, for me, some of the interesting observations there are, you know, global is important, mobile is extremely important. And then, network businesses are very attractive.

  

  Jeff Jordan
  • Important
  • Interesting

• Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness. We form friendships so that we can feel certain emotions, like love, and avoid others, like loneliness. We eat specific foods to enjoy their fleeting presence on our tongues. We read for the pleasure of thinking another person's thoughts.

  

  Sam Harris
  • Purpose
  • Enjoy
  • Pleasure

• We are going as fast as we can as soon as we can. We're in a race against time, until we run out of money.

  

  Jack Nicholson
  • Time
  • Money
  • Race

• For me, the characters are part of the story, and come out of its development. I don't base them on people, or parts of people – the Frankenstein method. I base them on what I've noticed about the human race. … I cannot tell you how stories develop. I have an initial idea, and start telling myself the story, day by day.

  

  Donald E. Westlake
  • People