Sarah Vowell Quotes

Assassins and presidents invite the same basic question: Just who do you think you are?

Sarah Vowell

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• Assassins

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Quotes to Explore

• I find it very difficult to say no when I'm in Ireland. You do end up going around doing lots of events and things and not getting work done, and it's not just a question of having hours at the desk.

  

  Kate Thompson
  • Up
  • Work
  • Done

• If you're playing in a room that holds 15,000 people, it's just a question of how bad the room acoustics are and in what way they're bad.

  

  Walter Becker Steely Dan
  • People
  • Bad
  • Question

• There is something fascinating about every human being. The question is how much they're willing to divulge.

  

  Nathaniel Rich
  • Question
  • Human
  • Human being

• And it's a question of how far we're willing to go in order to let the ego shine, in order to let that beacon penetrate not only the local scene but the world.

  

  Taylor Hackford
  • World
  • Question
  • Ego

• When there's an authentic mystery, as opposed to just a question being asked, that's what makes you lean forward.

  

  J. J. Abrams
  • You
  • Question
  • Mystery

• Augustine says that you don't understand a nation by the throw weight of its military or the strength of its research universities or the size of its population, but by looking at what it loves in common. To assess a nation, you look at the health and strength of its ideals. And there's no question that the common love in America is freedom.

  

  Os Guinness
  • Love
  • America
  • Freedom

• I perhaps ought to say that individually I never was much interested in the Texas question. I never could see much good to come of annexation, inasmuch as they were already a free republican people on our own model.

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • People
  • Good
  • Free

• As a press secretary and on 'The Five,' I've learned that I have a choice in how I answer a question. There's combative or productive - I get to take my pick.

  

  Dana Perino
  • Question
  • Choice
  • Learned

• There's no question that consumers are looking for value today.

  

  Irene Rosenfeld
  • Today
  • Question
  • Value

• The question of what it is to live an 'authentic life', that's a complicated one.

  

  Eddie Redmayne
  • Life
  • Live
  • Question

• States are like people. They do not question the awful status quo until some dramatic event overturns the conventional and lax way of thinking.

  

  Victor Davis Hanson
  • People
  • Thinking
  • Question

• I'm interested in how we react when we're heavily pressed. When we're vulnerable and our survival is in question, how do we behave?

  

  Paolo Bacigalupi
  • Question
  • Survival
  • How

• Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us.

  

  Carl Jung
  • Life
  • Heart
  • Question

• Youth is not a question of years: one is young or old from birth.

  

  Natalie Clifford Barney
  • Question
  • Old
  • Youth

• For me, an aerial picture is no different than a close-up portrait. It's a question of framing and angle. Helicopters are great for that. But I've also used planes. Of course, I always have a harness.

  

  Yann Arthus-Bertrand
  • Up
  • Great
  • Different

• Intellectuals know how to answer the question, 'What God do I believe in?' not only through the question of 'What God do I abhor?' Intellectuals can also answer the question of 'What flag do I wave?' without having to answer the question of 'What flag do I burn.'

  

  Yair Lapid
  • God
  • Believe
  • Know

• Despite the never-ending debate on the question of the role of government in America, there's been a strong tradition of protecting our undisputed, important natural treasures or taking on great common engineering challenges.

  

  Walt Mossberg
  • Great
  • Important
  • America

• The question tonight, as I understand it, is 'The Negro Revolt, and Where Do We Go From Here?' or What Next?' In my little humble way of understanding it, it points toward either the ballot or the bullet.

  

  Malcolm X
  • Question
  • Understanding
  • Humble

• Fossil fuels are - they're inherently centralized. And you need a lot of infrastructure to get them out, and you need a lot of infrastructure to transport it, as Obama was explaining in front of all that pipe, right? Whereas renewable energy is everywhere.

  

  Naomi Klein
  • Energy
  • Renewable Energy

• We must be careful that the people who make $5,000 a year are not pitted against those that make $25,000 a year by those who make $900,000.

  

  Barbara Mikulski
  • People
  • Difference
  • Income

• I feel like, sometimes, when things are just handed to people, in a way, right away, you don't get a sense of what the rejection and the struggle is like that comes along with life.

  

  Fiona Dourif
  • People
  • Life
  • Struggle

• I'm all about leaving a legacy behind and trying to cement myself as one of the greats. I don't just want to be remembered as the guy who beat Michael Phelps at the 2012 London Olympics - a one-hit wonder - I want to be an inspiration to the kids.

  

  Chad le Clos
  • Kids
  • Inspiration
  • Legacy

• First love is alright, as far as it goes. Last love – that’s the one I’m interested in.

  

  David Howell Evans U2
  • Interested
  • First Love
  • Last Love

• Assassins and presidents invite the same basic question: Just who do you think you are?

  

  Sarah Vowell
  • Question
  • Presidents
  • Assassins