Ha Jin Quotes
Without writing, what would I have become? Nothing. In China the individual used to be treated as a screw or a small cog in the revolutionary machine. I wanted to be a human being with a voice.
Quotes to Explore
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This life and this job and this position that I'm put in, it forces you to grow up quick. I definitely got dropped in the deep end.
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When a crime is committed, only the victim and the victim's close circle experience the event as pain, terror, death. To people hearing or reading about it, crime is a metaphor, a symbol of the ancient battles fought every day: evil versus good, chaos versus order.
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I've had the experience of having a book praised but then it doesn't sell. Or not praised but then it sells.
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The scene that has raised the most objections in 'The Interview' is at the very end, when Kim's head dissolves into flames. To me, it feels gratuitous.
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I was obsessed with the idea of going to college. And I took many years off after that, so I sort of missed the weird, crazy transition that was what making movies was in the nineties to what's happening now.
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I don't know what the instinct is, to save every report card, every half-sentence scribbled note, but my mother did it pretty effectively, and I've done it to a fare-thee-well.
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At some point, you're going to have to be willing to take a punch for your team. If your employees or your teammates will see that you're willing to do that, they are more likely to be loyal to you, and your team is more likely to function better.
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Not obsessed with particularly Nike, but sneakers in general. I love them.
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The art world is a very prissy little thing over in the corner, while the major cultural forces are being determined by techno science.
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It's very important not to lose your temper in a courtroom, or in anything else you're doing.
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I don't think Michael had to retire for us to get the spotlight, because when you win, it commands attention.
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My first paying job, when I was 15, I was a day camp counselor.
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Also, I walk and hike in several different nearby parks near our home several early mornings a week.
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For some reason, Superman seems to be held to higher standards on the subject of secret/super identities than other superheroes. No one ever says, 'Peter Parker was a nerdy kid. He can't possibly be Spider-Man, attract a good-looking gal, work in a newspaper, etc.' And no one gets hung up on whether his nerdiness is a disguise.
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A lost but happy dream may shed its light upon our waking hours, and the whole day may be infected with the gloom of a dreary or sorrowful one; yet of neither may we be able to recover a trace.
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I think that casting is probably the most important thing in television production.
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I am an arm hitter. When you snap the bat with your wrists just as you meet the ball, you give the bat tremendous speed for a few inches of its course. The speed with which the bat meets the ball is the thing that counts.
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I see myself as sexy. If you are comfortable with it, it can be very classy and appealing.
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I start with a beat sheet, which is more of an abbreviated outline. It hits all the major plot points. From there, I move to note cards. But the most important part of my process is my inspiration board.
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You're under the gun at all times because it's live TV. A lot of time, between dress and air, you're having to come with an entire ending to your sketch that gets an even better, bigger laugh - which is terrifying... People are filing into the audience, and you're writing a new joke for the end of it.
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I got a book deal without even turning in one shred of a writing sample.
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Writing is not a great profession as a lot of writers proclaim. I write because this is something I can do. Another thing—very often I think a lot of writers write because they have failed to do other things. How many writers can’t drive? A lot. They’re not practical. They are not capable in everyday life.
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I don't feel that I decided deliberately I'm going to write something and have it stand alone. Somewhere by the end I think it would probably revert to imagery.
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Without writing, what would I have become? Nothing. In China the individual used to be treated as a screw or a small cog in the revolutionary machine. I wanted to be a human being with a voice.
