Douglas Tompkins Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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The billable hours is a classic case of restricted autonomy. I mean, you're working on - I mean, sometimes on these six-minute increments. So you're not focused on doing a good job. You're focused on hitting your numbers. It's one reason why lawyers typically are so unhappy. And I want a world of happy lawyers.
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I worked three and then six hours a day in my studio with strict discipline and emotion. I obtained awards usually granted to other foreigners during the end-of-year admission tests.
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The first book I sat down to write was an historical romance. It was really bad and thankfully no one ever saw it.
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Nearly everything you do is of no importance, but it is important that you do it.
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My grandfather arrived in Houston in 1942 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. He had lost everything - his profession, his language, his money - but the city welcomed him, as it has hundreds of thousands of immigrants over the years.
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Socialism requires that government becomes your god.
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I went swimming the other day and my wife was watching and she said, 'You know, it's funny, it's when you've got no clothes on, no one recognizes you.' I said, 'What are you saying? That I should do more love scenes?'
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I've written many extra verses to songs that I learned to sing - an extra verse about a friend, or just add some verse - and that led to writing my own songs.
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Nothing is so aggravating than calmness.
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I've always loved performing and, especially, love for the people. That's what keeps me going.
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I clearly understood the concept of wise use before I ever heard the actual words, for my father wouldn't allow us to waste anything.
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It's never been difficult for me to say no. I have never given excuses like I don't have dates. I have never over-quoted to avoid a project. I simply say that while the script might be good, I can't connect with it. My strategy is that while I wouldn't want anyone to waste my time, I shouldn't be doing that, either, with others.
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I hate being asked how I met my husband and very personal questions like that. I don't like that. People are too nosey. Intelligent questions I like, but sometimes people ask such silly, dopey ones.
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Man is a creative retrospection of nature upon itself.
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You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with.
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My identity comprises of more than just my faith. I am a proud Muslim, but I am also a liberal, a Briton, a Pakistani, a Londoner, a father, a product of the globalised world who speaks English, Arabic and Urdu.
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People don't slip. Time catches up with them.
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I have my own past and my own personality. I'm going to relate to the material in a completely different way than somebody else might.
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If a quick glance back over world history shows us anything, it shows us that war was one of our most universal joys from our earliest beginnings, savored at every possible opportunity and even some quite incomprehensible ones.
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I've tended to work at fast-growing companies that improve the way business gets done.
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I resisted the film business as long as I could, because of the big circus act and the amount of money that it costs to make films - I saw my father suffer through that.
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I've been involved in the offering-up-adoption-as-another-choice business for a long time.
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For me, it's more about being there, bearing witness to history, bearing witness to what's happening, what our country, the position our country is taking overseas. I want policy-makers to see the fruits of their decisions, basically, and to try and influence foreign policy.
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There are emotional relationships in any business.
