Charles D'Ambrosio (Charles Anthony D'Ambrosio, Jr) Quotes
My instinct tells me "purpose" is maybe the enemy of a good personal essay. In my own experience, I'm always lost and wandering and searching - where am I? how'd I get in this mess? what's the point? - right through to the final draft, and sometimes even beyond that - baffled and defeated still, confused as to purpose long after the thing's in print. I never really have a guiding purpose or a point, not at the outset, anyway. It's like life: It's all discovered en route.
Quotes to Explore
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It ultimately becomes an asset to be part of a theatrical family if, indeed, you're good at what you do.
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In my own case, the most inflammatory statements I have ever made are ones that I have written and remain willing to defend.
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I love America the way I love my family - I was born into it. And there's no escape out of it.
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I really loved animals when I was little - my friend and I had an imaginary vet's office; we would mime doing surgery on animals. We treated more injuries than illnesses - fixing with a baby bear with a broken leg, removing a tumor. Of course, our surgeries would take about five seconds; that's how good we were.
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With Shakespeare, there's no subtext; you're speaking exactly what you're thinking constantly.
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The price of empire is America's soul, and that price is too high.
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(intro) Well, here we go. This is the first book I've written since 1975, when I was in the 7th grade and wrote Boogers Are Good Eatin'. (p. 1).
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Money appears as measure (in Homer, e.g. oxen) earlier than as medium of exchange,because in barter each commodity is still its own medium of exchange. But it cannot be its own or its own standard of comparison.
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Voluntary birth control methods only work on the people who choose to use ’em. A population check that doesn’t work on everybody doesn’t work at all, because it simply breeds out the ones who use it. The only population check that really works is one that affects everybody, like a limit of space or food.
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Let spades be trumps! she said, and trumps they were.
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Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life, The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray!
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Shun those studies in which the work that results dies with the worker.
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A vase of unbaked clay, when broken, may be remoulded, but not a baked one.
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Sometimes reality T.V. can be stressful.
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Life is full of risks anyway; why not take them?
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Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.
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Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can.
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I often work and write in coffee shops, observing the baristas and eavesdropping on interesting conversations.
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Woody Allen stayed so good because he never left New York. Howard Stern stayed so good because he never left New York - Mel Brooks when he just got out of New York was doing 'Blazing Saddles;' when he left New York he started doing stuff like 'Robin Hood Men In Tights' - he was in L.A. too long. He lost the edge.
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'Green' is likely to be a big issue in the 2008 U.S. presidential election - largely in response to George Bush's suicidal refusal to engage with environmental issues.
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Of these beginnings, gay and green, propose The suitable amours. Time will write them down.
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I think, in all fields, there's this motherhood pay penalty where, the second you become a mother - and this is true whether you give birth or adopt - you're perceived to not be as committed to your job. Whereas men are perceived as breadwinners who now need more money and promotions because they're fathers.
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People throw away what they could have by insisting on perfection, which they cannot have, and looking for it where they will never find it.
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My instinct tells me "purpose" is maybe the enemy of a good personal essay. In my own experience, I'm always lost and wandering and searching - where am I? how'd I get in this mess? what's the point? - right through to the final draft, and sometimes even beyond that - baffled and defeated still, confused as to purpose long after the thing's in print. I never really have a guiding purpose or a point, not at the outset, anyway. It's like life: It's all discovered en route.
