Ben Lerner Quotes
Our contempt for any particular poem must be perfect, be total, because only a ruthless reading that allows us to measure the gap between the actual and the virtual will enable to to experience, if not a genuine poem—no such thing—a place for the genuine, whatever that might mean.
Quotes to Explore
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I was raised Catholic in Rockford, Illinois. But I'm not a practicing Catholic anymore. Oh God, no.
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I have odd thumbs that are extremely flexible. I can bend them quite far down the back side of my hand, basically the opposite side you'd even try to attempt bending your thumb. Because of that, I'm a very good thumb wrestler.
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I was a good decathlete until I got with a coach that really knew how to train specifically for the event... I'd really describe it as like being a juggler; you have ten balls and you're trying to get them all in the air at the same time.
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After I recovered from 'Lioness', I wanted to write something about animals because I really like mythical creatures, especially dragons. At 12, I was one of those semi-recluses who did better with animals than people. Out of that, came the character, Daine, who could communicate with animals.
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I'd wanted to be famous for as long as I could remember.
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Like great teams in sports and business endeavors, if there's a chemistry among the participants, and they truly enjoy fellowship together, everybody wants to be there, stay involved, and just have fun together.
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I love the creativity of New York, but I don't enjoy the city - I don't like living here.
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In order for me to be successful... In order to be a great artist - musician, actor, painter, whatever - you must be able to be private in public at all times. That is what we do.
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For more than 20 years, on every one of the great issues of freedom and security, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure.
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What is this world? A mere curl of smoke for the wind to scatter.
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I like working in theatre now and I think that once you've done a certain amount of films most actors love working in the theatre because of the camaraderie.
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Saving enough to retire has become impossible for most Americans.
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Thirteen years I took on this last book.
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I'm my own artist, and I see artists as movies. No one should try to change them for anything. If you don't like it, you just don't follow it. And if you don't like a movie you don't watch it. Watch another movie.
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Well, I've been acting for 50 years now, professionally. I've been acting a lot longer. My mother reckons I was acting when I got out of the womb. But because I've been working in the theater, I've probably only done about 25 movies but I've done more than 100 plays.
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My mother's the youngest of 10 children too, so we have sort of a special bond in that we know what that feels like. It's a strange spot to be in.
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When I was growing up, there were so many musicals you could watch. I like the fantasy of musicals and I love music.
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I go for long walks in Newlands Forest in Cape Town, and I go to the Turkish baths on Sunday mornings.
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The rise to prominence of the Saudi novel in Arabic is the great man-bites-dog of recent world literature. Saudi Arabia is a country without a free press, where European styles and forms are distrusted and where the female half of the population became literate only in this generation.
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I do a lot of serious stuff, but I'm not a very serious guy.
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You can't make a living as a playwright. You can barely scrape by.
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The whole American pop culture started in Philadelphia with 'American Bandstand' and the music that came out of that city.
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Our contempt for any particular poem must be perfect, be total, because only a ruthless reading that allows us to measure the gap between the actual and the virtual will enable to to experience, if not a genuine poem—no such thing—a place for the genuine, whatever that might mean.
