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

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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

• If you're going to sit on someone's tombstone, you might as well know something about them, right?

  

  Nicholas Sparks
  • Tombstone

• Nothing can be better calculated to advance our interests and character than the establishment of a liberal and disinterested policy, enlightened by patriotism and guided by wisdom.

  

  Sam Houston
  • Character
  • Wisdom
  • Better

• Someday, we’ll run into each other again, I know it. Maybe I’ll be older and smarter and just plain better. If that happens, that’s when I’ll deserve you. But now, at this moment, you can’t hook your boat to mine, because I’m liable to sink us both.

  

  Gabrielle Zevin
  • Better
  • Moment
  • Deserve

• You will get cynicism, and the only way to break through is keep showing people and take actions.

  

  Judith McKenna
  • Break
  • Actions
  • Cynicism

• We should be firing bad teachers.

  

  Malcolm Gladwell
  • Bad
  • Should
  • Teachers

• 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