Jonathan Lethem Quotes
The past is still visible. The buildings haven't changed, the layout of the streets hasn't changed. So memory is very available to me as I walk around.
Quotes to Explore
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The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominant thoughts.
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Hollywood, the business, would be just fine if someone were to destroy the Hollywood sign. The city's there is the airport - its point of entry and exit, and in some ways its identity.
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Human technology has made it to Mars. We are transmitting gorgeous pictures from it. Yet we have not explored our own planet. Two-thirds of it is covered with oceans that are still mysterious places.
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If I get to a place early in the morning, I try to walk around by myself. I still try to find cool places to go to, like a record store in St. Louis or some restaurant in Chicago.
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I think George Bush is the most dangerous man in the world.
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If I watch 'Gone With the Wind,' I always find it interesting. I think, 'What's going to happen next? What's that character going to do?' But you know, you never really need to watch the films you made again. They stay inside you, always with you.
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He who would not be idle, let him fall in love.
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Every village in Africa now has a cyber cafe.
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Right now I'm so old that if I had a big gush of money, I don't know what I'd do with it. I don't travel anymore. I don't need anything, don't want anything. I'd give it to my son, I guess, and let him enjoy it.
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There are lots of actors who insist on speaking the lines themselves, and you hear the same thing from directors and the audience, but I don't think it's worth getting het up about. I think it makes more sense to use someone who speaks that country's language: that's what voice actors are for.
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Moderate doesn't mean that you're a wimp - far from it. It means that you've chosen a path because you believe that's the only way for global harmony and peace.
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In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally.
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My great inspiration has always been Studs Terkel, who is a wonderful American oral historian. He was a radio DJ at first, interviewed a lot of jazz musicians, and at some point started to interview Americans about work.
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If you don't want to deal with them, fine. But don't hamper other people from dealing with them.
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And if you don't have your ears open, you're not going to be able to figure out what you should be doing.
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Yeah, I like to have fun - I think that's a good way to live. I think you're better at your job if you like it.
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The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.
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You know, Motorcycle Diaries has no incredible stories, no sudden plot twists, it doesn't play that way. It's about recognizing that instance of change and embracing it.
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As for the historical inspirations I drew on in writing The Snow Queen, I suppose I would call them more cross-cultural inspirations, though they frequently involve past societies as well as present day ones.
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When you're onstage with Chris Rock, anything can happen. He is one of the greatest comic geniuses we've ever seen.
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I always had a repulsive sort of need to be something more than human. I felt very very puny as a human. I thought, 'Fuck that. I want to be a superman.'
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Painful experiences are not meant to linger. They are meant to teach us what they need to teach us, and then dissolve.
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Seve Ballesteros was the best trouble-shot player who ever lived. It didn't matter how far in the woods you put that guy, he'd find a way to get out. But Seve inadvertently put a lot of big numbers on the scorecards of average players, because he inspired them to take dumb chances.
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The past is still visible. The buildings haven't changed, the layout of the streets hasn't changed. So memory is very available to me as I walk around.
