William Friedkin Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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There was a time I desperately needed for the world to know that I was no category guy. My whole goal in life was to reach that certain success where people will say, 'Hey, that guy can do anything. He's the Evel Knievel of music. He's jumping over 15 buses!'
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Do you know why dogs are man's best friend? It's because they're not in politics.
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I have a free voice. I have a free mind. I have freedom of expression.
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I am pretty self-indulgent.
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We think of the 1950s as an oppressive time in the culture, and indeed it was, but it was also in many ways a more secular moment, and one in which great scientific achievements flourished. I don't want to get too gauzy about this, but there was much more respect for science as a necessary part of society.
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When I'm in the studio, I'm strictly thinking about the beats, the rhymes and the song. The decision I make once the songs are created, and there's a barcode put on the package, and I'm out there in the street selling it, those decisions as a businessman are different than the creative decisions you make.
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You will encounter many distractions and many temptations to put your goal aside: The security of a job, a wife who wants kids, whatever. But if you hang in there, always following your vision, I have no doubt you will succeed.
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My company invents all kinds of new technology in lots of different areas. And we do that for a couple of reasons. We invent for fun - invention is a lot of fun to do - and we also invent for profit. The two are related because the profit actually takes long enough that if it isn't fun, you wouldn't have the time to do it.
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I can never let the guy across from me be in better shape. I have to be the best-conditioned guy.
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We have guidance counselors that have caseloads of 500 to 600 children. We don't have enough to help the children.
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It's true: a lot of sportspeople really struggle to find something to do when they finish. It tips them into all sorts of strange things. With ex-footballers, it's really scary. I think 70% of them get divorced within five years. It's hard. You go from being really famous to not that famous. Your salary drops through the floor.
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For my Ph.D. thesis, I was measuring the electrical activity that triggers light emission from a bioluminescent dinoflagellate. As I was nearing the completion of my degree, my major professor wrote a grant for an instrument for measuring the color of very dim light flashes from bioluminescent animals.
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No characters in 'Stay Close,' including the leads, are black and white. I want them to be grey. I think that makes for a much more interesting reading experience, something that will stay with you a little bit longer.
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My parents took me to a movie, and I remember wanting to sit apart from them for some reason. I wanted to be a big boy or whatever. I remember looking up on that screen. It was a movie about medieval knights. All I remember is saying, 'I want to do that. I want to make movies.'
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But God, who is immortal, has no need of difference of sex, nor of succession.
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The one thing about art is you can't question it. Everyone is looking at everyone else to find out what's cool. No one knows what's cool.
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I'm a big fan of Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars – that's my next level. You've got to dream. People have always tried to shoot me down for wanting to be a big worldwide star. But why not? You have to broaden your horizons and put yourself out there.
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I do believe that all of the world needs reform. The reform must take place everywhere.
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Iraq may have been a preview of that, but it's still redeemable if we get out fast. In a war with Iran, we'll get dragged down for 20 or 30 years. The world will condemn us. We will lose our position in the world.
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If you do not see great riches in your imagination, you will never see them in your bank balance.
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I've had songs written during the Falklands war, and during the first Gulf war I got letters from soldiers saying they were listening to these songs, like Island of no return.
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I would love to. A dream of mine is to produce films, as well as to produce content for television.
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There were nine children in my father's family and eight in my mother's. My grandparents did the best with what they had. After the Depression, they were scratching out a living and working hard. They kept the family going.
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Star Wars is one of a handful of films that changed the zeitgeist forever.
