Jonathan Franzen Quotes

I think cultures of conformity produce vast quantities of shame, both in people who simply can't conform and people who do conform, but underneath, they're not feeling conformist.

Jonathan Franzen

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Quotes to Explore

• I let characters be human and flawed and relatable.

  

  Taylor Sheridan
  • Human
  • Characters
  • Flawed

• I never smoked. I never drank and I never took drugs. The funny thing is, nothing is more boring, people like this. For me, it's OK. But most of my friends, at least they smoke and drink.

  

  Karl Lagerfeld
  • People
  • Friends
  • Funny

• I did not have a van, or wear Birkenstocks and tie-dyes.

  

  Rachel Zoe
  • Wear
  • Did
  • Van

• Leave Jesus on the cross. He's very happy there!

  

  Carlos Castaneda
  • Happy
  • Jesus
  • Leave

• There is no more respected or influential forum in the field of journalism than the New York Times. I look forward, with great anticipation, to contributing to its op-ed page.

  

  Ted Koppel
  • Great
  • New
  • New York

• Age is just a number. If someone can perform at 45, who will stop that fellow from playing top-level cricket?

  

  Harbhajan Singh
  • Age
  • Stop
  • Someone

• We are saved by grace, not by the works of the law. But don't be so quick to write the law off.

  

  Randall Terry
  • Law
  • Grace
  • Quick

• I have been afraid of guns, I have sworn I would never use a gun on another person and so did not need one, and I have wanted to deny the existence of evil.

  

  Taya Kyle
  • Evil
  • Gun
  • Afraid

• I think that we, as a civilization, need to sit down and figure out how to solve political problems over a table, not over a battlefield.

  

  Gary Sherman
  • Think
  • Political
  • Problems

• If you want to wear long hair or wear that dress, as long as you're not hurting yourself or anybody else, I say do it. If you want to go out and have a romantic, sexy affair, do it.

  

  Florence Henderson
  • Long
  • Hair
  • Yourself

• I've got no respect for any young man who won't join the colors.

  

  Nathan Bedford Forrest
  • Man
  • Respect
  • Colors

• The one thing about going from the audience to the stage in just three years is that you know how it feels to be down there.

  

  Eddie Vedder Pearl Jam
  • Know
  • Down
  • Three

• I remember, as a kid, I'd follow the rooster and the chickens and watch what type of grass they'd eat. And me and my friends would eat that grass, like that was our lunch.

  

  Adam Beach
  • Friends
  • Remember
  • Me

• The poet speaks to all men of that other life of theirs that they have smothered and forgotten.

  

  Edith Sitwell
  • Life
  • Men
  • Poet

• Some of the craziest people I've met, in my life, are some of the most brilliant people I've met.

  

  Katee Sackhoff
  • People
  • Life
  • My Life

• No two wars are identical.

  

  Kate Adie
  • Two
  • Wars
  • Identical

• Any psychologist will tell you that healing comes from honest confrontation with our injury or with our past. Whatever that thing is that has hurt us or traumatized us, until we face it head on, we will have issues moving forward in a healthy way.

  

  Nate Parker
  • Past
  • Moving
  • Hurt

• No single man can be taken as a model for a perfect figure, for no man lives on earth who is endowed with the whole of beauty.

  

  Albrecht Durer
  • Earth
  • Perfect
  • Single

• I would have to work on the song and figure out how they wanted the song done, because they're such high-intensity songs. We figure that out first, then I go back and listen to it and go over and rehearse stuff with it and try to get a feel for the words.

  

  Tom Araya Slayer
  • Songs
  • Listen
  • Figure

• I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss. I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy. I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

  

  Charles Dickens
  • People
  • Rest
  • Generations

• I have a sliding glass door on my closet, and when I slide it one way I can see all my uniforms, and the other way is all my own clothes.

  

  Elle Fanning
  • Door

• We must relearn how to cry. A strong man cries; it is the weak man who holds back his tears.

  

  Archie Fire Lame Deer
  • Man
  • Strong
  • Cry

• I think cultures of conformity produce vast quantities of shame, both in people who simply can't conform and people who do conform, but underneath, they're not feeling conformist.

  

  Jonathan Franzen
  • People
  • Feeling