Patrick O'Brian Quotes
Likings arise when one has no earthly reason for liking - the most wildly improbable marriages and uncommon friendship.
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Quotes to Explore
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Life in California is beautiful.
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Of course, I want to be number one. But being happy and healthy is the most important thing.
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My secret dream has always been to be a jazz musician. I tried the saxophone for a year or two when I was younger, but unfortunately I had to face the fact that I was not really talented!
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Incommensurables cannot be compared.
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My kids always say to me, 'Can we watch TV?' I say, 'Absolutely!' because then I can get something done. But then they say, and I wait for it, 'But can you watch with us?' My moment of freedom vanishes. So not only do I not think TV's that great and I hate sitting in front of it, but I have to with them.
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Man can never be a woman's equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.
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When my job was attempting to predict future economic developments for the Shell oil company, I was frequently reminded of an Arabic saying: 'Those who claim to foresee the future are lying, even if by chance they are later proved right.'
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When I was coming up as a kid, there were programs that kept me out of trouble and on the straight and narrow in South Central Los Angeles, and I always felt that when I got to a stage where I could provide similar opportunities to kids then I would do that.
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Wait a minute, I'm a fan of yours; you can't be a fan of mine!
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I do comedy to give people an ephemeral escape from the tragedy that permeates everyday life.
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What you wear onstage is a reflection of your artistry.
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I feel very close to Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders.
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What I value in books is lucidity. I want the language to be rich; I love lexical fireworks on the page, but I have to know what it means. I want to be surprised and delighted, not merely baffled.
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I think that men's clothing should be functional. If there's a rip in his jeans, it should be because he was out working, not because he ripped them so they looked cool. It's even better if they're ripped because he got in a fight.
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I just get silly inside my head and I start to think about something and in my head I start twisting it around, contorting it and envisioning it in different ways.
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Part of the western movement is this desire that we, Americans, have to keep pressing on.
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Japan learned from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the tragedy wrought by nuclear weapons must never be repeated and that humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.
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I think people thought I was crazy for leaving Mexico when I had any project I wanted falling at my feet. But I risked everything to come to Los Angeles, where no one knew who I was, and start all over again. It was a very hard step to take. However, it was the moment I thought it was right to take a risk in my career.
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I listen to music a lot, if I need to get into a particular space. I do stretching and breathing, and take time to mostly be quiet and find the stillness. I think that's important.
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When I was working on my first novel, 'The Quilter's Apprentice,' I knew I wanted to write about friendship, especially women's friendship and how women use friendship to sustain themselves and nurture each other.
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Some minds seem almost to create themselves, springing up under every disadvantage and working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles.
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Likings arise when one has no earthly reason for liking - the most wildly improbable marriages and uncommon friendship.