Ilan Stavans Quotes
The mandate we have as Jews is for the story of the Exodus from Egypt to be retold every generation.
Quotes to Explore
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I see no reason to hide who I am or what I look like.
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Providence was well aware what lay ahead for me, and my Capuchin training was to prepare me for it.
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There's a critic that I love, Manohla Dargis of the 'L.A. Weekly.' I like the underground point of view; it's my old radical sympathies. Maybe I like her because she likes my movies.
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A free and truly independent press - fiercely independent when necessary - is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.
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I do all of my good thinking at over 65 miles per hour. The speed limit is, luckily, the same speed as my brainstorming speed.
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Anytime you interfere with a natural process, you're playing God. God determines what happens naturally. That means when a person's ill, he shouldn't go to a doctor because he's asking for interference with God's will. But of course, patients can't think that way.
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True penitence condemns to silence. What a man is ready to recall he would be willing to repeat.
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People are struggling. They're trying to make ends meet, and they're looking for Washington to deliver for them. And they don't feel that that's been happening as quickly as it should. We share that frustration. There's no one more frustrated than President Obama.
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You're creating new things in movies and people are going to steal them.
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Music isn't like news, where it's what happened five minutes ago or even 10 seconds ago that matters. With music, a song from the 1960s could be as relevant to someone today as the latest Ke$ha song.
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There's no first impressions anymore. You go to a job interview, and they'll probably Google you. It's a shame - people should play it a little closer to the chest as far as what information they release to the world. If I'm angry about something, I'm not going to take to my Twitter.
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Whatever people thought the first time they held a portable phone the size of a shoe in their hands, it was nothing like where we are now, accustomed to having all knowledge at our fingertips.
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Everyone freaks out because my character is the only one who has shorts on the Galactica. Well, that is because I went and grabbed a pair of pants and scissors and cut them off and gave her shorts.
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Humor can be an incredible, lacerating and effective weapon.
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I think initially, the record industry struggled a lot with digital media because there are a lot of aspects to it that can potentially destroy our industry.
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According to the perverse aesthetics of artistic guilty pleasure, certain books and movies are so bad - so crudely conceived, despicably motivated and atrociously executed - that they're actually rather good.
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Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend... they can all go drifting by unseen if you're not careful.
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There are several authors who are also lawyers - and not only the ones who write legal thrillers. There are other attorneys who write romantic fiction, and I know of at least one who writes young adult books.
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The Prosecution holds me responsible for the concentration camps, for the destruction of Jewish life, for Einsatzgruppen and other things. All of this is neither in accord with the evidence nor with the truth. The accusers as well as the accused are exposed to the dangers of a summary proceeding. It is correct that I had to take over the Reich Security Main Office. There was no guilt in that in itself. Such offices exist in governments of other nations too. However, the task and activity assigned to me in 1943 consisted almost exclusively in the reorganization of the German political and military intelligence service, though not as Heydrich's successor. Almost a year after his death I had to accept this post under orders and as an officer at a time when suspicion fell on Admiral Canaris of having collaborated with the enemy for years. In a short time I ascertained the treason of Canaris and his accomplices to the most frightful extent.
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I really feel sorry for new generation. It's hard to find backbone. I never had crisis of identity. But I think many Americans have it.
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I enjoy passing time in my house. I'll get up, head out on the terrace, think about what to do, fool around oiling the floorboards or hanging pictures askew.
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When I was in high school, we used to do 15-20 hours of dance per week, and then when you graduate, you don't have that much time on your hands anymore.
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The mandate we have as Jews is for the story of the Exodus from Egypt to be retold every generation.
