Jesmyn Ward Quotes

I feel like in the reading I did when I was growing up, and also in the way that people talk and tell stories here in the South, they use a lot of figurative language. The stories that I heard when I was growing up, and the stories that I read, taught me to use the kind of language that I do. It's hard for me to work against that when I am writing.

Jesmyn Ward

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Quotes to Explore

• As one grows older one becomes more critical of oneself and less of other people.

  

  Basil Rathbone
  • People
  • More
  • Less

• Five to six thousand people die every year waiting for organs, but nobody cares.

  

  Jack Kevorkian
  • People
  • Die
  • Waiting

• That's what happens nowadays with people working on computers. They can so easily fix things with their mouse and take out all the, 'Oh, somebody coughed in the background; we need to take that out' - or somebody hit a bad note. Those are all the best moments.

  

  Jack White The White Stripes
  • People
  • Bad
  • Moments

• These are people who are capable of devotion, public devotion, to justice. They meant what they said and every day that passes, they mean it more.

  

  Wendell Berry
  • People
  • Day
  • Justice

• I gave up painting by 16. I secretly thought I would have been Rembrandt by then.

  

  Damien Hirst
  • Up
  • Thought
  • Painting

• I get so excited when a song I wrote that's very personal to me goes No. 1 and I look down and see people singing the words back to me.

  

  Taylor Swift
  • People
  • Song
  • Words

• Growing up in a small town gives you two things: a sense of place and a feeling of self-consciousness - self-consciousness about one's education and exposure, both of which tend to be limited. On the other hand, limited possibilities also mean creating your own options.

  

  E. L. Konigsburg
  • Up
  • Feeling
  • Small

• I love writing songs.

  

  Sade Adu
  • Writing
  • Love
  • Songs

• I don't consider Los Angeles home anymore; ultimately, it was pretty negative, but I did spend my formative years in the Valley and all around L.A. proper. Through my teenage years and into my young adulthood, up until the age of 30, I spent a good amount of time there.

  

  Patrick deWitt
  • Up
  • Time
  • Good

• If I like something, I will pick it up from anywhere and wear it. I don't believe that only branded stuff looks good on you. If it doesn't look good in my eyes, I'll never wear it.

  

  Kajol
  • Up
  • Good
  • Believe

• I would say that my fatal flaw, as a human being, is that I need people to like me, and if they don't like me, I will obsess over it - and try to change my personality until they like me - even if they don't like me for reasons that have nothing to do with me, and even if they're strangers.

  

  Damon Lindelof
  • People
  • Change
  • Personality

• Profitability comes from loyalty, productivity, and having a character base from which to work.

  

  Zig Ziglar
  • Work
  • Character
  • Loyalty

• We have this historic problem that we have a quarter of our population, the people of Quebec, who have never signed on to the Constitution. That can't go on forever.

  

  Jack Layton
  • People
  • Forever
  • Constitution

• I'd been kind of a hiccup in my parents' lives. They lost track of me and I didn't know what I was going to do with myself. And then fate reached in and took me in its hands. I was discovered right out of high school and started getting work.

  

  Sally Field
  • Work
  • School
  • High

• Positive social emotions like compassion and empathy are generally good for us, and we want to encourage them. But do we know how to most reliably raise children to care about the suffering of other people? I'm not sure we do.

  

  Sam Harris
  • People
  • Good
  • Children

• And then in 1956 or 1957 my family went over to Europe and I moved over with them, and immediately people in Europe thought my perspective on that issue was 100% correct.

  

  Warren Farrell
  • People
  • Family
  • Thought

• To lead people walk behind them.

  

  Lao Tzu
  • People
  • Walk
  • Lead

• Exercise is more important than diet for me because it's a twofer. It keeps me in good physical shape, and it relieves stress. And when you're a representative of the public, there's never a shortage of things to do.

  

  Aaron Schock
  • Good
  • Important
  • Exercise

• People came to my parents' parties because they were going to have fun and, if lucky, our mother would belly dance. What they didn't know was that the hostess made sure every morsel placed in front of them was pure and without anything artificial, no matter what the cost.

  

  Sandra Bullock
  • People
  • Fun
  • Mother

• People plan, God laughs.

  

  Nicholas Sparks
  • People
  • God
  • Plan

• All of the people who work in the kitchen with me go out into the forests and on to the beach. It's a part of their job. If you work with me you will often be starting your day in the forest or on the shore because I believe foraging will shape you as a chef.

  

  Rene Redzepi
  • People
  • Job
  • Kitchen

• This does have, for me, a particular emotional experience.

  

  Eliot Spitzer
  • Experience
  • Emotional

• We didn't have a whole lot of money when I was growing up either. I would always ask for magic books or magic tricks for my birthday or for Christmas and the rest of the year I either had to mow lawns or find part time jobs to help supplement the cost of doing magic.

  

  Lance Burton
  • Up
  • Time
  • Money

• I feel like in the reading I did when I was growing up, and also in the way that people talk and tell stories here in the South, they use a lot of figurative language. The stories that I heard when I was growing up, and the stories that I read, taught me to use the kind of language that I do. It's hard for me to work against that when I am writing.

  

  Jesmyn Ward
  • People
  • Up
  • Work