John Ashbery Quotes
It didn’t pay very much, but it enabled me to get other jobs doing art criticism, which I didn’t want to do very much, but as so often when you exhibit reluctance to do something, people think you must be very good at it. If I had set out to be an art critic, I might never have succeeded.

Quotes to Explore
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Traditionally, open-minded secular liberal rationalists have not made a case for tolerance.
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Just because you are different does not mean that you have to be rejected.
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No sensible author wants anything but praise.
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Coming out of college with a degree in fine arts and painting isn't worth much any more.
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The primary problem in many modernizing societies is not liberty but the creation of a legitimate public order. Men may, of course, have order without liberty, but they cannot have liberty without order.
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It's totally mistaken to suppose that an armed escort is going to give a journalist any protection - on the contrary, journalists who turn up surrounded by armed personnel are just turning themselves into targets and in even worse danger.
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Even as our economy starts to pick up, and new jobs are created, there is a risk that young people in Britain won't get the chances they deserve because businesses will continue to look elsewhere.
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Thus, the poet's word is beginning to strike forcefully upon the hearts of all men, while absolute men of letters think that they alone live in the real world.
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The majority of the time, they take air out of the football. I think that, for me, is a disadvantage.
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As a developing musician, skiffle became a platform for me to start playing music.
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I'm probably proudest of being able to lift a lot of us out of the 'hood. That's the biggest thing, that I've been able to employ a lot of people and give them opportunities.
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No days off. I'm a workaholic.
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I believe that blues and jazz are the two uniquely American contributions into music.
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If you compare me to an actor, I'm probably one of the best boxers in the profession. But if you compare me as a boxer, I'm probably one of the best actors.
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Progress in civilization has been accompanied by progress in cookery.
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I have a very rich and wonderful personal life, and at its core are my sons.
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So we're living by that sword, and we're going to cut every now and then from it's backlash.
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What you wear onstage is a reflection of your artistry.
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My idea of artistry has always been 'try everything until you find out what works.'
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But in cherishing all that is best in the land of your origin, and in desiring the highest welfare of the people of the old home, the question arises as to how that result can best be secured. I know that there is no better American spirit than that which is exhibited by many of those who have recently come to our shores.
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There are people who take rumors and embellish them in a way that can be devastating. And this pollution has to be eradicated by people in our business as best we can.
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A love for humanity came over me, and watered and fertilised the fields of my inner world which had been lying fallow, and this love of humanity vented itself in a vast compassion.
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It didn’t pay very much, but it enabled me to get other jobs doing art criticism, which I didn’t want to do very much, but as so often when you exhibit reluctance to do something, people think you must be very good at it. If I had set out to be an art critic, I might never have succeeded.