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.
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.
-
I wasn't interested at all in doing a documentary. I was not a public figure.
-
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.
-
I didn't grow up in a wealthy family at all. Being at home all day and watching movies, that was a luxury.
-
The worst mistake a woman can make is to emulate a man.
-
To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future.
-
I like that the 'Underworld' series created a whole other world that's totally different yet familiar to our 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.
-
This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex.
-
I'm at peace with my family, my friends, myself and God so there's really nothing else that I worry about.
-
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.'
-
One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him.
-
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.
-
I'm a huge fan of the Clintons. I love Hillary; I love Bill.
-
'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.
-
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.
-
The idea of being a painter, I've always thought, is better than being an artist or a sculptor.
-
Some people think they are worth a lot of money just because they have it.
-
Strange as it may seem to those who have read much of the screwball side of Hollywood life, I have never had to fight against an impulse to jump into a swimming-pool while dressed for the opera.
-
Anyone who doesn't think the government killed my father either hasn't given the issue much thought, or is insane.
-
The Japanese bureaucracy is unique. It is also very powerful, although it is now the object of so much criticism. Many of Japan's brightest made it a pillar of strength and continuity.
-
Between lips and lips there are cities of great ash and moist summit, drops of when and how, vague comings and goings: between lips and lips as along a shore of sand and glass the wind passes.
-
The value of a canvas depends almost entirely on your mental attitude, not on your moral attitude; depends on what kind of a man you are, the way you observe.
-
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.
