Walter Becker Quotes

Cynicism, I contend, is the wailing of someone who believes that things are, or should be, or could be, much, much better than they are.

Walter Becker Steely Dan

• Better
• Someone
• Cynicism

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• I've never been conscious of having any real career plan, and I do not have a wish-list of actors, directors, screenwriters, or cameramen I'm hoping to work with. Life, I feel, has a way of leading us to the right situations and people, or at least to interesting ones.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Life
  • Work

• I think for some reason we're conditioned in movies that the protagonist must be heroic or redeemable in some way, whereas in theater, that's not a necessary.

  

  Oscar Isaac
  • Think
  • Reason
  • Movies

• All works of art are commissioned in the sense that no artist can create one by a simple act of will but must wait until what he believes to be a good idea for a work comes to him.

  

  W. H. Auden
  • Good
  • Work
  • Art

• Younger hackers are hard to classify. They're probably just as diverse as the old hackers are. We're all over the map.

  

  Larry Wall
  • Hard
  • Old
  • Map

• The high-grossing films are not all that interesting to me, I have to say. It's not stuff I would want to be in. Yes, you would want the big paycheck, but that's never really been my concern.

  

  Edie Falco
  • High
  • Want
  • Interesting

• Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, 'Thank God, I'm still alive.' But, of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same again.

  

  Barbara Boxer
  • God
  • Said
  • Thank God

• I am often in contact with the hareidi public and politicians.

  

  Naftali Bennett
  • Public
  • Politicians

• I don't play an instrument - I just write in my head, and I usually hear fully formed songs. 'We Are Young' turned out so much like it was in my head. But it also exceeded all my expectations.

  

  Nate Ruess Fun.
  • Play
  • Young
  • Expectations

• If you want to fight a war on drugs, sit down at your own kitchen table and talk to your own children.

  

  Barry McCaffrey
  • Children
  • War
  • Fight

• People have an idea that one is in control of a career, a lot more than you really are. You can engineer things to an extent. But you are at the mercy of what comes in across the desk.

  

  Gary Oldman
  • People
  • Career
  • Control

• If people hate me they hate me.

  

  Uwe Boll
  • People
  • Hate
  • Me

• Tradition does not mean that the living are dead, it means that the dead are living.

  

  Harold MacMillan
  • Mean
  • Living
  • Tradition

• Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal.

  

  E. Joseph Cossman
  • Eyes
  • Leadership
  • Obstacles

• Mr. Obama has an ingenious approach to job losses: He describes them as job gains.

  

  Karl Rove
  • Job
  • Approach
  • Losses

• The thing that has always struck me is that there has always been a bit of a hole at YouTube when it comes to authenticity, human emotion, fun and play.

  

  Ze Frank
  • Fun
  • Human
  • Emotion

• Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place - that is, the unique you. Have an aim in life, continuously acquire knowledge, work hard, and have perseverance to realise the great life.

  

  A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
  • Life
  • Work
  • Great

• I go to the gym in the morning to warm up, and then I go to the mountain and train. Then I come home and go to the gym again to recover. But on travel days, you get pretty much no physical exertion.

  

  Hannah Kearney
  • Up
  • Home
  • Pretty

• My uncles and other relatives are against encouraging girls in every aspect, and that includes sports. I hardly interact with them. My parents are more open. They back me all the way.

  

  Saina Nehwal
  • Parents
  • Me
  • Sports

• You know the problem, we don't want to believe what we know.

  

  Yann Arthus-Bertrand
  • Believe
  • Want
  • Problem

• I became a better listener than I ever had been as a result of playing Jean Luc Picard because it was one of the things that he does terrifically well.

  

  Patrick Stewart
  • Better
  • Result
  • Been

• I like snakes. I like hummingbirds. There's nothing on earth I don't like. Frogs. Salamanders. The bunnies, the giraffes, the hippopotamuses.

  

  Ted Turner
  • Earth
  • Like
  • Nothing

• Do I envy Madonna's body? Yes. Do I thank God that she has it? Yes! If you're fifty-something and you look like Madonna, and you put a lifetime's work in the way you look, then flash it to the world!

  

  Salma Hayek
  • World
  • Work
  • God

• I actually grew up playing the piano in the church and was deeply involved in music ministry.

  

  T. D. Jakes
  • Up
  • Music
  • Church

• Cynicism, I contend, is the wailing of someone who believes that things are, or should be, or could be, much, much better than they are.

  

  Walter Becker Steely Dan
  • Better
  • Someone
  • Cynicism