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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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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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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I feel like there should be a statute of limitations on scoring political points on the tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina.
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I spent most of the '60s, when I was starting to try to write novels, living and working in Greece and Turkey. These are countries where the ancient past is interfused with the daily present, and I remember being struck with wonder at the constant sense of continuity and connection, the reminders that lie in wait for you at every turn.
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No matter who you are, the grass is never greener on the other side.
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I'm only competing with myself.
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Kevin McCarthy is a good man.
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Sport crosses party lines and ethnic lines. It occupies a greater realm, and it's all the more disappointing when sports figures turn out to be like everyone else.
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History, in a democratic age, tends to become a series of popular apologies, and is inclined to assume that the people can do no wrong.
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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.
