J. R. R. Tolkien Quotes

American English is essentially English after having been wiped off with a dirty sponge.

Quotes to Explore
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I would not be gotten into a schoolhouse until I was eight years old. Nor did I accomplish much after I started. I doubt if I had gone to school six months in all when my father died. I was fourteen at the time.
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He had a lot of talent, but didn't have much dedication, wasn't organized, didn't know how to learn, didn't know how to comprehend what he was doing, didn't try to learn how to get better.
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I worked from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. every night for a year to write the first 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' book.
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Always write as if you are talking to someone. It works. Don't put on any fancy phrases or accents or things you wouldn't say in real life.
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There's nobody else that can double me - except for a doll.
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I always wanted to be an actress. And it wasn't ego. I felt so little about myself, considered myself such a sparrow. Not just my size. I thought I was so plain... I did plays not to show off but because if I did that - I didn't realize it at the time - I would be somebody other than this person I didn't really approve of.
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The most important thing is to just be good at what you do. You do a good job playing the character, and people will be taken up with your character, not your clothes.
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Frequently you have a clash between the more sterile letter of the law and the justice that underlies it, and I think one of the things I've been trying more or less, where it was possible, is to go with the justice rather than the letter of the law.
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Anything that happens in your life was meant to happen. It is your destiny. I was destined to have the life I have now, and I can't have any regrets.
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I think art comes from some sense of discomfort with the world, some sense of not quite fitting with it.
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I think I'll be single my whole life. It's entirely possible I'm going to end up alone. Because I don't want to make any sacrifices for my own development and achieving what I want to achieve, and I don't want a family to get in the way of that.
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Since I have been singing for so many years, I don't always need to approach a song quite so laboriously and meticulously.
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No man fails who does his best.
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When you're as plain as I am, you've gotta have a gimmick.
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When I was a kid, it was a huge insult to be a geek. Now it's a point of pride in a weird way.
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Usually, when you are an ethnic person or a trans person, in your average, everyday, unsophisticated television show, you are there for that reason. And they clearly justify and overexplain why. You very rarely see a transgender actor playing the part of a grocery-store clerk without having to say, 'Oh, look at that trans person.'
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In 1973, America imported 30 percent of its crude oil needs. Today, that number has doubled to more than 60 percent. Gas prices are as high as they are now in part because we've had no comprehensive national energy policy for the past few decades.
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I know as I'm taking my dying breath, the ambulance guy will ask me why they cancelled Action.
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Although spoken English doesn't obey the rules of written language, a person who doesn't know the rules thoroughly is at a great disadvantage.
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Truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.
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Why do most of us make such boring choices for the stories of our lives? How hard can it be to change gears and say, 'You know what? Instead of inventing and telling stories, I’m going to make my life a more interesting story.' (p. 177)
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Exile (being where we don't want to be with people we don't want to be with) forces a decision: Will I focus my attention on what is wrong with the world and feel sorry for myself? Or will I focus my energies on how I can live at my best in this place I find myself?...'I will do my best with what is here.'
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We tried two moderate Republican candidates, McCain and Romney, and we lost both times.
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American English is essentially English after having been wiped off with a dirty sponge.