Brendan Behan Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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People have these incredible expectations. So instead of being inspired by, say, Joni Mitchell's music, I look at it and say to myself, 'I'm going to quit - why would I think of writing or performing after listening to that?'
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Researchers looked at news programs on major broadcast and cable networks between 2008 and 2012 and found that of those labeled as domestic terrorists, 81% were identifiable as Muslims - this despite the fact that FBI reports from the period studied revealed that only 6% of domestic terrorist suspects were Muslim.
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I like to create the music I hear in my interior. As a conductor, you have the ability to squeeze the sounds and interpretation you asked for from 50 to 80 people.
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The first step... shall be to lose the way.
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As an actor, I've always said, half the audience is going to love you, half is going to hate you so just live with it. It's easier that way.
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You can't live your life through your children.
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You can't be perfect. You can't be the perfect father. You can't be the perfect singer.
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If I went out in killer heels and full makeup, blow dry, the whole thing - anyone dressed up like that could be intimidating to men and women, really. It's so, look at me. Do you know what I mean? But I love women.
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I never had one beer. If I bought a six-pack of beer, I kept drinking till all six beers were gone. You have to have that kind of understanding about yourself. I haven't had a drink now in 12 years.
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I'm not dark; I'm not. The main thing I consider in accepting a role is less the tone of the movie and more whether I think it's a good film, whether I like the character and whether I think I could do it. I don't think, 'Oh, I've done X amount of dark films.'
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I have never read 'To Kill A Mockingbird.'
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I find that people in the food world are amazingly willing to talk about what they are doing, even when those things are quasi-legal or taboo.
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Because Jews were kicked out of every country in Europe at one time or another, and plenty of other places as well, there isn't an ability to identify with a national heritage - you'll never hear a Jew say 'I'm German' or 'I'm Polish,' without saying something about being Jewish as well, and for good reason.
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I fell into playwriting accidentally, took some classes in it, and also took creative writing classes, but I really didn't expect it to be a career because I didn't believe there was a way to make money as a playwright without being lucky and I didn't feel particularly lucky.
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Daniel Ellsberg showed tremendous courage back in the '70s.
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Cricket was my reason for living.
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I always felt more emotionally attached to Cambodia than I did to Vietnam.
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I like books that expose me to people unlike me and books that do battle against caricature or simplification. That, to me, is the heroic in fiction.
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I never think any song really feels like a 'hit' - a song either feels good or bad, in my opinion.
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I think my intention was there, and my love for the music was apparent. And there are very few singers who get up and desire to take the kinds of risks that jazz musicians routinely need to be taking.
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A banker is a man who will lend you money if you can prove to him that you don't need it.
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The writing of a novel or short story or poem or whatever should elevate the audience, not drag the writer down to some level beneath herself. And she - the author - should fight always to prevent that dragging down, especially when the only possible benefit of allowing it to happen is monetary.
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What an author likes to write most is his signature on the back of a cheque.