James A. Michener Quotes

Whenever I start a book, I swear it's going to be a short one. But then it's, 'Who was his grandfather? And how did he get there in the first place? And what kind of animals is he chasing?'

James A. Michener

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Quotes to Explore

• A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.

  

  W. H. Auden
  • Real
  • Book
  • U.S.

• I decided that I wanted a farm back in 1940 when I was with the Dodgers. I tried to find one within commuting distance of New York.

  

  Larry MacPhail
  • Distance
  • New York
  • Farm

• I'm more of a 5 Live man. But I might listen to a bit of Coldplay or The Smiths.

  

  Gary Lineker
  • Live
  • Man
  • Listen

• It takes me a long time writing books. It takes me about five years to write a book, and when I'm done, the last thing I want to do is to do it again.

  

  Naomi Klein
  • Time
  • Long
  • Writing

• There's book smart, there is street smart, there's relationship smart, there's too many different kinds of smarts to know all of them. Everybody doesn't know every kind of smart. There's money smart, there's movie smart, there's computer smart. There's just too many different kinds of smarts for people to know all the smarts.

  

  J. B. Smoove
  • People
  • Different
  • Money

• One half who graduate from college never read another book.

  

  G. M. Trevelyan
  • Book
  • College
  • Graduation

• On the streets, hanging out with the fellows, there are things you learn that no book can teach you.

  

  Ramon Rodriguez
  • Book
  • Learn
  • Teach

• I'm basically a know-it-all, and I'm writing a book about it. I want it to be called 'Danson on Water' and have me on the cover in this Christlike pose, standing on the water.

  

  Ted Danson
  • Want
  • Water
  • Basically

• My house is filled with books, most of which I have read, some of which I intend to eventually get to. I'm always reading at least one work of fiction and one work of non-fiction simultaneously. Whatever mood I'm in, there's always a book nearby to suit it.

  

  Rachel Nichols
  • Work
  • Book
  • House

• I'm a stand-up comic. I'm always doing dates; it's just that, if I'm working on a project or I'm busy, I can't get out on the road or book any shows. Since the beginning of my career, I'm usually out for at least 10-15 dates throughout the year. If I have time, then I try to get at least 30-40 dates.

  

  Wanda Sykes
  • Up
  • Time
  • Book

• I like to believe, as a writer, that anybody who isn't a reader yet has just not found the right book.

  

  Gabrielle Zevin
  • Believe
  • Book
  • Right

• I can ask for a £25,000 advance, but then you spend a year writing the book, and £25,000 is a loan against sales, and you can easily spend five years earning out. So that's £25,000 for six years.

  

  Mal Peet
  • Writing
  • Book
  • Year

• You have to understand that while I pre-plot the meta story of a given book, I often have no idea of what will happen on the next page, let alone the next chapter. That's what makes it fun for me; I write the books the same way many people read them.

  

  R. A. Salvatore
  • People
  • Book
  • Fun

• I bought the rights to this book, 'The Ploughmen,' by a Montana writer named Kim Zupan, and I've written the screenplay, and I really feel pretty strong about it. It's really hauntingly beautiful. It's got some suspense and great drama, but it's a real character thing.

  

  Ed Harris
  • Great
  • Real
  • Character

• Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.

  

  Malala Yousafzai
  • World
  • Book
  • Remember

• 'Holes' was my favorite book ever. So you know when you love a book and you hear it's being made into a movie and it makes you a little annoyed at first? But I would've loved to play the Shia LaBeouf role in that movie when I was younger. I just wanted to be the rebellious kid on the old digging camp.

  

  Nat Wolff
  • Love
  • Book
  • Movie

• I want a platform that, like a book or a magazine, I can carry into the bath or leave at the beach.

  

  Walter Jon Williams
  • Book
  • Want
  • Beach

• 'Perfect' is about a set-up that looks perfect from the outside - beautiful country house, beautiful wife and mother, everything where it should be - and the deep fissures that, in fact, lie beneath that. 'Perfect' was partly a response to the shock of my first book, 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry,' being a success.

  

  Rachel Joyce
  • Up
  • Country
  • Book

• The Bushes were certainly part of Texas in their mind, but they didn't have the kind of political flavor that you normally find in Texas politicians. It's just Texas is such a unique place to itself that politically, at least so far, they haven't found anybody to play nationally.

  

  Gail Collins
  • Mind
  • Political
  • Unique

• I've done both theatre and film and the fact is if you start believing, if you start reading things and they're good reviews - you believe that and you're lost, and then you read bad reviews and you think that's true and you read that and you're lost.

  

  Jenny Agutter
  • Good
  • Believe
  • Done

• Love is never a fulfillment. Life is never a thing of continuous bliss. There is no paradise. Fight and laugh and feel bitter and feel bliss: and fight again. Fight, fight. That is life.

  

  D. H. Lawrence
  • Life
  • Bitter
  • Paradise

• Excellence isn’t about working extra hard to do what you’re told. It’s about taking the initiative to do work you decide is worth doing.

  

  Seth Godin
  • Hard
  • Excellence
  • Extras

• I doubt if there is one married person on earth who can be objective about divorce. It is always a threat, admittedly or not, and such a dire threat that it is almost a dirty word.

  

  Nora Johnson
  • Word
  • Dirty
  • Divorce

• Whenever I start a book, I swear it's going to be a short one. But then it's, 'Who was his grandfather? And how did he get there in the first place? And what kind of animals is he chasing?'

  

  James A. Michener
  • Book