John Lithgow Quotes
The essence of comedy, drama, and horror is surprise. I have an uncanny ability to surprise people because they look at my face, and they don't know where I'm going.

Quotes to Explore
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Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.
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The differences between revolution in art and revolution in politics are enormous. Revolution in art lies not in the will to destroy but in the revelation of what has already been destroyed. Art kills only the dead.
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I have my own people that make my clothes because it's hard for me to find stuff that fits.
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The difficulty, the ordeal, is to start.
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I take a certain pride in having maintained a reputation for fast copy throughout my newspaper career. Fast-breaking stories left my typewriter in a hurry. Not great literature, perhaps, but fast, and usually accurate.
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The truth is that for a Democrat to triumph in a presidential election, it needs to come on the heels of 'the dark times' of an unpopular Republican administration. Carter followed the Nixon era, Clinton succeeded after 12 years of Reagan/Bush, and Obama was a direct result of eight years of Bush/Cheney.
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The highest percentage of African Americans own their own homes today than ever in our nation's history.
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There is no absolute point of view from which real and ideal can be finally separated and labelled.
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Take the time today to understand your contribution to any bad event you've just been through.
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If it feels right and I'm not going against any energy in myself or the situation, there would be no limit.
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I wasn't allowed to grow as an artist. My albums were nicer to look at than to listen to.
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Complex tasks are often better handled in the back of our mind, and that's often true of creative tasks - when you have something complex to deal with in writing or research or responding to an email. I'll start working, put it aside, and sometimes I'll wake up the next morning with a solution, or I'll find one when I exercise.
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Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach.
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You want to be smart. You don't want to put yourself in a position where you can't be there for the team when it comes down to the end.
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Daniel Ellsberg showed tremendous courage back in the '70s.
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My dad was in a hospital for months. The doctors told my dad he would never be able to walk again. My dad beat all the odds. He came back and was able to walk and start boxing again. He went to No. 1 in the world at welterweight to fight for the world title. But he never had his chance to fight for a world title.
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You don't quit after you get beat. You pick yourself up, and you start rebuilding to accomplish your goals.
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The original 'Hobbit' was never intended to have a sequel - Bilbo 'remained very happy to the end of his days and those were extraordinarily long': a sentence I find an almost insuperable obstacle to a satisfactory link.
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I think that what 'Oz' did is it spawned a great generation of television production. But people know its place in television and just in great dramas. It's the foundation of my career. Most producers, show runners, directors, and casting directors put me in movies based on my performance in that show.
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I never say I have a preference for one medium as opposed to another.
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The old adage that polite conversation should not include talk of politics or religion is understandable because both subjects are so heavily laden with emotion that discussion can quickly turn to shouting. Blood is shed over politics, religion and the two in combination.
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Playing the priest on 'Oz' was a fantastic experience. I was very lucky.
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The essence of comedy, drama, and horror is surprise. I have an uncanny ability to surprise people because they look at my face, and they don't know where I'm going.