Jonathan Franzen Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I was always interested in the kind of history they didn't teach you in school.
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The bottom line is, when you're in the Senate, you have more of a voice in the beginning than a new House member.
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The true character of ministry is a servants heart.
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I changed that system in Florida when I was the Speaker of the House - I was the Minority Leader; I saw for 16 years the way a power system works.
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Are you used to entertaining everyone with your tales of drama and conflict? Do you get attention and feel important every time you complain about how awful this man is? Stop settling for attention for the negative stuff in your life.
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Dance has always been my number one. I started when I was seven years old and I've had the opportunity to work with some really amazing artists.
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Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.
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To give pain is the tyranny; to make happy, the true empire of beauty.
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Movies have been my way to get out of my backyard. I'm trying to let people know that movies change people's lives.
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To destroy is always the first step in any creation.
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I would love to work with Matt Damon.
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I could have taken the easy life and just done classical, but I felt very strongly about the album, my first pop album, the first time that I'd fused so many influences. I was very proud when it was in the charts in 25 countries at once.
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Part of what's so tricky in a film that's two hours long is how many themes can you effectively explore.
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A well-designed 401(k) plan is an enormous competitive edge when recruiting and retaining employees.
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I have learned that to have a good friend is the purest of all God's gifts, for it is a love that has no exchange of payment.
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You perhaps know me as a novelist. Literature is one of the arts – in fact, the noblest of the arts. That is not my opinion; it was first expressed by the ancients. As art, literature has many similarities with the other art forms.
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I'm not quite as cool as I would like to be, really.
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Growing up, I wasn't the most vocal kid in the world. I feel like I learned through observation, and usually, when you're watching things, you're not speaking. That sort of metastasized in a way that I began to participate less and less in the world.
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I think I could drink my own blood. Is that weird?
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In the kids' home I was in, there was very little change of staff. People stuck around, and they stuck around because they were being paid enough to stay there and raise their families. If you're not supporting the people looking after the kids, you're not supporting the kids, and you might as well chuck them all in the bin.
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I read real books. On paper. You know, those printed books? I feel like this is the last thing I do to support my industry. I think they smell great, too.
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You can't do something that is morally vacuous or dysfunctional and then write it off saying, 'It wasn't my film, I was just doing a job in it.'
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I think everything happens organically. You mine for clues. It's all immersive, and stuff you can use comes out of that immersion. I don't really like to wear wigs in movies because I like to look like the character all the time.
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The real pleasure in writing this, for me, was discovering how little you need.
