Ben Lerner Quotes

Experiments with the "as if" of fiction are often more lively in poetry and criticism and other modes of writing than in weak short stories or novels.

Ben Lerner

• Poetry
• Criticism
• Novels
• Experiments

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• I believe that I'm a hillbilly in my values and in my attitudes, and I don't want to lose that. I think it's possible to maintain a big chunk of that identity so long as you're self-reflective and meaningful about it.

  

  J. D. Vance
  • Believe
  • Long
  • Identity

• If you taste something, you're not at the maximum of your ability. What I think about in competition is temperature and texture. It has nothing to do with taste or emotion.

  

  Takeru Kobayashi
  • Think
  • Competition
  • Taste

• I wasn't interested at all in doing a documentary. I was not a public figure.

  

  Iris Apfel
  • Doing
  • Figure
  • Documentary

• You know, I have the best parents in the world and I got really, really lucky because they think that everything I do is Oscar-worthy.

  

  Kaitlin Olson
  • World
  • Parents
  • Best

• I didn't grow up in a wealthy family at all. Being at home all day and watching movies, that was a luxury.

  

  Fleur East
  • Up
  • Family
  • Home

• The worst mistake a woman can make is to emulate a man.

  

  Natalia Kills
  • Man
  • Woman
  • Mistake

• To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future.

  

  Daisaku Ikeda
  • History
  • Hope
  • Future

• I like that the 'Underworld' series created a whole other world that's totally different yet familiar to our own.

  

  Kat Graham
  • World
  • Different
  • Own

• When I sit down to write, I know everything I need to know... I start writing, and within 30 seconds or 60 seconds, I'm watching a movie. I'm not making this stuff up; the characters are acting it out,and I'm just writing it down.

  

  M. J. Rose
  • Up
  • Writing
  • Movie

• This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.

  

  Dan Rather
  • Race
  • Square
  • Times Square

• I'm at peace with my family, my friends, myself and God so there's really nothing else that I worry about.

  

  Lance Bass NSYNC
  • God
  • Family
  • Friends

• I love it when people say things to me in public and want to meet me, because I want to meet them! Early on, my manager told me, 'If you want to sell 500,000 records, then go out there and meet 500,000 people.'

  

  Taylor Swift
  • People
  • Love
  • Want

• One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him.

  

  Lao Tzu
  • Him
  • Agree
  • Few

• When I look at a film, I don't think, 'Oh, I wish I had done that' because I haven't done that role, so it doesn't matter.

  

  Madhuri Dixit
  • Done
  • Think
  • Wish

• I'm a huge fan of the Clintons. I love Hillary; I love Bill.

  

  Fat Joe
  • Love
  • I Love
  • Fan

• My first experience on a feature film was with Shane Meadows on 'This Is England.'

  

  Jack O'Connell
  • Experience
  • Film
  • First

• 'Ray Donovan' is very dark and very serious. As actors will tell you, the darker and more serious the material, the more jokes that go around set. It's a counterbalance.

  

  Eddie Marsan
  • You
  • Dark
  • Serious

• I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity. If you look really hard at almost anybody, and try to see why they're doing what they're doing, taking a dig at them ceases to be what you want to do even if you hate them.

  

  A. S. Byatt
  • Why
  • Hate
  • Doing

• I personally read criticism - at least by writers I enjoy - to stimulate a conversation in my own mind, and I like to think that's the function I serve for others.

  

  Ben Brantley
  • Mind
  • Criticism

• Whether as living humans or as mythological figures, ancestors have always played an important role in the African popular and literary imagination. Sometimes, as in Amos Tutuola's famous short novels, they directly influence events. More often, as in the works of Chinua Achebe, both living and dead ancestors are sages offering valuable advice.

  

  Uzodinma Iweala
  • Advice
  • Humans
  • Events

• The most satisfaction I get is from doing a good gig, which really makes you feel in control. If you've worked a room really well, it makes you feel great. TV is a bit more difficult; there are more factors that can screw it up along the way.

  

  Nina Conti
  • Control
  • Satisfaction
  • Gig

• I got in trouble for saying I would move my family to Europe, but I said it.

  

  Omari Hardwick
  • Family
  • Said
  • Saying

• The severest trial of oppression is the constant outrage which one suffers at the thought of the oppressor. What Jesus discovered was how to avoid the inner devastations. His technique was to practice the opposite emotion... a man may not get his freedom or possessions back, but he's less miserable. It's a difficult lesson.

  

  B. F. Skinner
  • Men
  • May
  • Freedom

• Experiments with the "as if" of fiction are often more lively in poetry and criticism and other modes of writing than in weak short stories or novels.

  

  Ben Lerner
  • Poetry
  • Criticism
  • Novels