Daniel Kehlmann Quotes
I wanted to write a book that would leave open many riddles and mysteries, even to me. Of course in some cases I do know the answers, but in many others I don't know and don't want to know.
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Quotes to Explore
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I never took hallucinogenic drugs because I never wanted my consciousness expanded one unnecessary iota.
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Why do elites hate the poor? It's xenophobia. They don't know any poor people - except their off-the-books Brazilian nanny and illegal immigrant cleaning lady from Upper Revolta who don't speak English.
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I definitely love Australia. I've been to Sydney and Melbourne a couple of times, and I love those places.
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A dinner invitation, once accepted, is a sacred obligation. If you die before the dinner takes place, your executor must attend.
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The GOP is broken. They need a Bill Clinton moment with someone to figure things out. Let me just say - and I don't agree with his policies, so let me put a warning label on the side of the packet here - If George W. Bush had never gotten in the disastrous Iraq war, he was trying to modernize the party on a series of fronts.
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Are you used to entertaining everyone with your tales of drama and conflict? Do you get attention and feel important every time you complain about how awful this man is? Stop settling for attention for the negative stuff in your life.
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The gravest risks from al Qaeda combine its affinity for big targets and its announced desire for weapons of mass destruction.
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The American people need to know the truth. The American people need to see the truth. In a democracy, letting the people know the truth is the essence of what it means to be free.
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When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have.
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I was one of those girls in class who always had her hair in plaits, was always with the boys, always playing football in the street.
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It's hard to be serious in life.
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For women to achieve equal representation in leadership roles, it's important that they have the backing of men as well as women.
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My parents never told me to get a real job. They always said, 'Go for it! If this is what you want to do, work hard.' They were always very supportive.
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Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
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It will take a long time for women's effect on politics to register so that we may properly appraise it.
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I'm Glad that the Bush years are behind us
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There is an enormous pressure placed on gay novelists because they are the only spokespeople. The novelist's first obligation is to be true to his own vision, not to be some sort of common denominator or public relations man to all gay people.
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I started realizing how the condition of our hearts affects the way we see. If your heart is full of bitterness, anger, and resentment, you're going to look at this world as a very evil place.
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And in fact, I think the more we start to worship perfection the more soul leaks out of art.
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[I]t is well to have as many holds upon happiness as possible.
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The book, as it stands, seems to me to be one of the most frightful muddles I have ever read, with scarcely a sound proposition in it beginning with page 45, Hayek provided historical background up to page 45; after that came his theoretical model, and yet it remains a book of some interest, which is likely to leave its mark on the mind of the reader. It is an extraordinary example of how, starting with a mistake, a remorseless logician can end up in bedlam.
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I find it difficult to believe that God would want us to strip the courts of their powers to interpret the laws of this land, albeit with the divergent opinions. I shudder that my colleagues do not understand the dynamics of the Federal judiciary.
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I've learned not to be such a show-off and to have a bit more empathy with humanity. Or at least to fake that.
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I wanted to write a book that would leave open many riddles and mysteries, even to me. Of course in some cases I do know the answers, but in many others I don't know and don't want to know.