Jane Smiley Quotes

Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel.

Jane Smiley

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Quotes to Explore

• I always wanted to do creative things, but I was really interested in entrepreneurship. My family comes from a very entrepreneurial culture, so business was always something I was interested in.

  

  Imran Amed
  • Family
  • Business
  • Culture

• We artists have the dignity to tell the truth to the people, unlike politicians.

  

  Yoko Ono
  • People
  • Truth
  • Dignity

• There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

  

  Samuel Johnson
  • Pain
  • Gratitude
  • Revenge

• What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one's meditations on the text and the disclosures of these meditations are no less a part of the structure of reality.

  

  Wallace Stevens
  • Life
  • May
  • Reality

• I think film writing, you're thinking in pictures, and stage writing, you're thinking in dialogue. In film writing, it's also, you only get so many words, so everything has to earn its place in a really economical way. I think for stage writing, you have more leeway.

  

  Zoe Kazan
  • Thinking
  • Writing
  • Words

• I didn't discover curves; I only uncovered them.

  

  Mae West
  • Discover
  • Only
  • Curves

• We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.

  

  Hannah Arendt
  • Life
  • Human
  • Abundance

• I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.

  

  Pablo Picasso
  • Think
  • Imagination
  • Paint

• I have never thought of a full-fledged career in Bollywood because boxing has never left my mind. But you never know.

  

  Vijender Singh
  • Mind
  • Career
  • Thought

• I understand that the tendency of foreign countries in recent years has been to establish particularly close relations with one or two others among all the countries which have general relations. In time of peace, they make secret treaties in advance, and in wartime, they aid one another with military provisions and armaments.

  

  Zhang Zhidong
  • Time
  • Peace
  • Military

• I wouldn't say I was bullied, but I was definitely a bit of an outcast. It was more the kids thinking I thought I was cool. I started homeschooling in fifth grade, and I was much happier.

  

  Kaley Cuoco
  • Thinking
  • Kids
  • Cool

• I do try very hard to develop themes that are easily understood and that, hopefully, will paint vivid images of the legal principles and implications of the ruling that will stick in the Justices' heads and will help influence how they think about the case.

  

  Patricia Millett
  • Help
  • Influence
  • Legal

• When I chose Mississippi State, of course I dreamed about being a big-time college football player. But I'm so grateful that actually became a reality - and it became a reality in a small town.

  

  Dak Prescott
  • Time
  • Reality
  • Small

• Why should I say I will retire in three or four years? You retire the very moment you utter those words.

  

  Haile Gebrselassie
  • Why
  • Words
  • Moment

• Me as president would not be like anybody else as president. Everyone does the job differently.

  

  Dan Shechtman
  • Job
  • Me
  • President

• I don't normally vote. I'm lazy and I never bought into the 'Every vote counts.'

  

  Adam Carolla
  • Never
  • Lazy
  • Vote

• All great rebellions are born of private acts of civil disobedience that inspire rebel bands to plot together.

  

  Nancy Gibbs
  • Great
  • Together
  • Inspire

• I like someone who's not afraid to be a kid!

  

  Vanessa Hudgens
  • Like
  • Afraid
  • Someone

• O'er hill and field October's glories fade; O'er hill and field the blackbirds southward fly; The brown leaves rustle down the forest glade, Where naked branches make a fitful shade, And the lost blooms of Autumn withered lie.

  

  George Arnold
  • Lying
  • Glory
  • Autumn

• A traveler is really not someone who crosses ground so much as someone who is always hungry for the next challenge and adventure.

  

  Pico Iyer
  • Challenge
  • Adventure

• If you are a pop band, don't say you're a metal band. Poison and Warrant were about as metal as the Backstreet Boys.

  

  Geezer Butler Black Sabbath
  • Band

• Festivals are where I see other peoples' films, where we talk, where I get to learn what was working about the film, I get to have a discussion with viewers... and people who enjoy reading films - I enjoy reading other peoples' films, and what discussions can come of that.

  

  Debra Granik
  • People
  • Reading

• I've just finished reading some of my early papers, and you know, when I'd finished I said to myself, 'Rutherford, my boy, you used to be a damned clever fellow.' (1911)

  

  Ernest Rutherford
  • Science
  • Reading
  • Boys

• Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel.

  

  Jane Smiley
  • Reading