Norman O. Brown (Norman Oliver Brown) Quotes
Psychoanalysis can provide a theory of 'progress,' but only by viewing history as a neurosis.
Quotes to Explore
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Writers should provoke disagreement.
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I was born in England, but then I lived in Calgary, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, India, Vancouver, London, Toronto, and now L.A.
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I know I'm profane. And outspoken.
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With 'Free Agent Nation,' I was figuring out how to write a book along with writing the book. Now I think I've kind of, sort of figured out how to write a book a little bit better. But the process remains not that different - slow; laborious; tiny, incremental progress each day, punctuated by feelings of despair and self-loathing.
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People like music when they're in love, but they don't need it as much. You need music when you're missing someone or you're pining for someone or you're forgetting someone or you're trying to process what just happened.
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I have great admiration for the way the Americans do business. They drive a hard bargain, but once they do it, they stick to their contracts.
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It takes people a while to trust you.
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Museums are western inventions where the rich and the powerful or the government and the state tend to exhibit the signs and symbol and images of their culture.
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You could have a hit in California that no one had heard of in Oklahoma.
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My M.O. is just do what you do and don't feel like you have to make apologies for it. I'm sure there will come a point when I have to apologize for something, but not yet.
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My forte is awkwardness.
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I think good radio often uses the techniques of fiction: characters, scenes, a big urgent emotional question. And as in the best fiction, tone counts for a lot. But a lot of effective and interesting radio is based on one character who reacts to the world.
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We know what's in our Cheerios and in our retirement accounts because the law requires disclosure.
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I write about my feelings, things that happen in my life and experiences.
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I wish every woman would love herself and embrace what she was given naturally.
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I was excited by the idea of playing a Nazi.
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Let me say that I think the economic history of the last 150 years clearly shows that if you want to industrialize a country in a short period, let us say 20 years, and you don't have a well-developed private sector, entrepreneurial class, then central planning is important.
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I was 16 and did a play at school. I was a rather good student... And then I did a play when I was 16 and completely lost all my concentration for academics.
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People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous.
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Writing is like playing golf - you have to keep working at your swing.
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And I've always said, 'If two people think the same thing about everything, one of them isn't necessary.' We need to be able to understand that if we're going to make real progress.
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The man who became a big influence in my life was Dean Martin. He started my career in Las Vegas. When I came to Las Vegas, he put his name on the marquee: 'Dean Martin presents Engelbert Humperdinck.' And I'm the only one he ever did that for.
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The cold hand of history, which is for ever robbing us of some of our oldest and best cherished stories, points rigidly to the fact that no such person as King Arthur ever presided over a Round Table. Be this as it may, romance still hugs her heroes to her heart as possessions to be not willingly let die.
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Psychoanalysis can provide a theory of 'progress,' but only by viewing history as a neurosis.
