Ernest Gellner Quotes
I am deeply sensitive to the spell of nationalism. I can play about thirty Bohemian folk songs ... on my mouth-organ. My oldest friend, who is Czech and a patriot, cannot bear to hear me play them because he says I do it in such a schmalzy way, 'crying into the mouth organ'. I do not think I could have written the book on nationalism which I did write, were I not capable of crying, with the help of a little alcohol, over folk songs, which happen to be my favourite form of music.
Quotes to Explore
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When you're in a songwriting class, and you write a song, and you hand it in to a teacher to grade, I'm still going to say that it's a really awesome song whether I got an A or a D. I learned to stick to my guns and take the tools as tools and not as rules.
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I'm quite adept at writing two or sometimes even three stories at once. So if I get stuck on one story, I switch the next and let my subconscious work on unraveling any plot problems from another story.
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Arendt did have a certain snobbishness, though in some of her writing she expressed more democratic attitudes.
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I had reached a point in my career in which I was ready to try something new in my writing, and the idea of a novel has always been in the back of my mind.
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Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the letters in which it is composed.
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Google owns YouTube, and recently, I drew a comic about an idea for a YouTube feature - which they actually took seriously and implemented. So I'm thinking that maybe we'll have a future where Google is 'xkcd.'
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I'm still very much a believer in the spontaneity of certain kinds of writing. But then you have to eventually, when you're writing a long play, make adjustments along the way - all kinds of adjustments.
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I got a job as an assistant film editor, which lasted for a few years, but I found writing incredibly difficult, and I thought, 'How am I going to make a film if I can't write?' I didn't really comprehend that someone else would do that bit.
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If you can make the song a soundtrack to what you're living at the time, I think that's the most important part of a song.
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Every song is like a kid. How can you have that many kids and have a favorite? Which one do I like to hang most with? Probably the one that I haven't hung most with recently.
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I have only ever read one book in my life, and that is White Fang. It's so frightfully good I've never bothered to read another.
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I enjoy writing. Publishing... not so much. I've been lucky to work with some very talented people in the publishing world, and the print industry has allowed me to write full time.
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There is nothing quite like having your book read and truly understood. It's all the better when it's someone who knows how to go out there and sell it.
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I just like the comic book sensibility. If I can turn them into films and TV series, that's just icing on the cake.
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I do a lot of writing about my family.
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I can see a version of my life where it all becomes meaningless. On a good day, writing seems noble. Other times, it's narcissistic and pointless.
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I wrote a techno song after I was deported. I was in America for a little bit, but then I was deported back to Germany. I was very sad.
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With words woven into almost every detail of his life, it seems amazing that Mr. Mets' thinking on the subject of language should be so limited.
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I've always had a love of country music.
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Faith is not belief. Belief is passive. Faith is active.
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America has a tendency to chip away at you if you've been a success for a long time, whereas in Europe, they put you on a pedestal.
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But with Interleaf I don't even have a spell program.
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The kids are a big part of my schedule.
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I am deeply sensitive to the spell of nationalism. I can play about thirty Bohemian folk songs ... on my mouth-organ. My oldest friend, who is Czech and a patriot, cannot bear to hear me play them because he says I do it in such a schmalzy way, 'crying into the mouth organ'. I do not think I could have written the book on nationalism which I did write, were I not capable of crying, with the help of a little alcohol, over folk songs, which happen to be my favourite form of music.
