Michael Dirda Quotes

[Kurt] Vonnegut was a writer whose great gift was that he always seemed to be talking directly to you. He wasn't writing, he wasn't showing off, he was just telling you, nobody else, what it was like, what it was all about. That intimacy made him beloved. We can admire the art of John Updike or Philip Roth, but we love Vonnegut.

Michael Dirda

• Great
• Writing
• Like
• Intimacy
• Admire
• Telling
• Directly
• Vonnegut
• Philip

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• A right balance between music and lyrics is important. Music complements lyrics.

  

  Kailash Kher
  • Music
  • Important
  • Balance

• I don't want to spoil the magic, but it's a very curious thing that honestly baffles me. It's the nearest we'll ever get to playing God, to suddenly produce these fully formed creatures. It is a bit odd. Other aspects you work out more - you rework sentences, you rework imagery. But not characters.

  

  Kate Atkinson
  • Work
  • God
  • Magic

• I had no interest in sports so I didn't make friends in that traditional way where kids are in public school and they go and they join clubs, and play sports. So I kind of had to find my own way to make friends and get attention and so I just was the class clown.

  

  Zach Braff
  • School
  • Kids
  • Friends

• I am always dabbling in new skin routines, but it's always about moisture.

  

  Paloma Elsesser
  • Skin
  • Routines
  • Moisture

• The Russians are very much more up and down than the French.

  

  Carine Roitfeld
  • Up
  • More
  • Down

• In my early 20s I was so miserable doing construction, I wanted something that paid money. I liked nice stuff. I liked cars and architecture, and things that cost money. I wanted to not swing a hammer, and make money... and not do stuff that was dirty. I attempted to get into comedy. I started to do stand-up, but I wasn't very good at it.

  

  Adam Carolla
  • Up
  • Good
  • Money

• Our music has been an incredible gift to help us make a difference.

  

  Zac Brown Band
  • Music
  • Help
  • Gift

• The Flash could do everything twice as fast. Except you never saw him think twice as fast or speak twice as fast. Could he do math faster than the other superheroes? Could he compute the tip for the bill twice as fast?

  

  Ira Glass
  • Think
  • Speak
  • Math

• At the end of the day, the position is just a position, a title is just a title, and those things come and go. It's really your essence and your values that are important.

  

  Queen Rania of Jordan
  • Important
  • Day
  • End

• I always prefer other people's interpretations over my own, so I'm not very quick to make explicit what exactly a song or record is about.

  

  M. Ward
  • People
  • Song
  • Own

• If I were running against Chuck Schumer. I would take every one of his Sunday press releases - and there are 52 for as many years as he's been there - and I would ask, 'How many of the things he said he was proposing became law?' I doubt many.

  

  Ed Koch
  • Law
  • Running
  • Doubt

• I think most Americans don't really care about politicians bickering in Washington.

  

  Ted Cruz
  • Think
  • Care
  • Washington

• Make your life about you, and once you build up yourself first, then you can focus on boys.

  

  Kat Graham
  • Life
  • Up
  • Focus

• A barrier for me – which has been both a strength and a weakness – has been my taste. The kind of things I'm interested in aren't always mainstream.

  

  Randa Haines
  • Me
  • Strength
  • Interested

• But 'Cuban Linx' was a project that really needed to come, and I really wanted to get it off my chest because I know that the fans were really skeptical about it, like 'is this really gonna be what it's supposed to be?' So once everybody caught it for what it was and everybody was happy, that's mission accomplished for me.

  

  Raekwon
  • Happy
  • Me
  • Fans

• In Mumbai, you have to act in real life, too.

  

  Nawazuddin Siddiqui
  • Life
  • Real
  • Act

• I prayed every night that God would keep my family safe. But as far as religion goes, I feel like everyone should have their own one-on-one with God.

  

  Ja Rule
  • God
  • Family
  • Night

• And, honestly, if somebody wants to criticize me for not being a trainwreck, that's fine with me!

  

  Taylor Swift
  • Fine
  • Wants
  • Honestly

• Those who think the information brought out at a criminal trial is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth are fools. Prosecuting or defending a case is nothing more than getting to those people who will talk for your side, who will say what you want said.

  

  F. Lee Bailey
  • People
  • Truth

• To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed.

  

  James Madison
  • Time
  • Good
  • Great

• I was a very good tennis player in Ottawa, Canada - nationally ranked when I was, like, 13. Then I moved to Los Angeles when I was 15, and everyone in L.A. just killed me. I was pretty great in Canada. Not so much in Los Angeles.

  

  Matthew Perry
  • Good
  • Great
  • Pretty

• Me and my partner, Conway Twitty, cleaned up at the 1972 Country Music Association Awards.

  

  Loretta Lynn
  • Up
  • Music
  • Country

• [Kurt] Vonnegut was a writer whose great gift was that he always seemed to be talking directly to you. He wasn't writing, he wasn't showing off, he was just telling you, nobody else, what it was like, what it was all about. That intimacy made him beloved. We can admire the art of John Updike or Philip Roth, but we love Vonnegut.

  

  Michael Dirda
  • Great
  • Writing
  • Like