Leon Uris Quotes
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I have drawn inspiration from the Marine Corps, the Jewish struggle in Palestine and Israel, and the Irish.
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If you're lucky enough to fall in love, that's one thing. Otherwise all that was ever truly beautiful to me was boyhood. It's the meal we sup on for the rest of our lives. Love puts the icing on life. But if you don't find it...you must call on your childhood memories over and over till you do.
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A novelist must know what his last chapter is going to say and one way or another work toward that last chapter. ... To me it is utterly basic, yet it seems like it's a great secret.
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Anything to declare? the customs inspector said."Two pound of uncut heroin and a manual of pornographic art," Mark answered, looking about for Kity. All Americans are comedians, the inspector thought, as he passed Parker through. A government tourist hostess approached him."Are you Mr. Mark Parker?""Guilty.
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Who here wants to be a writer?' I asked. Everyone in the room raised his hand. 'Why the hell aren't you home writing?' I said, and left the stage.
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My greatest accomplishment is Exodus. It changed a lot of peoples lives, it changed the conception of the Jewish people in the international scene.
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The complete novelist would come into the world with a catalog of qualities like this. He would own the concentration of a Trappist monk, the organizational ability of a Prussian field marshal, the insight into human relations of a Viennese psychologist, the discipline of a man who prints the Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin, the exquisite sense of timing of an Olympic gymnast, and by the way, a natural instinct and flair for exceptional use of language.
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In order to be a good writer, you've got to be a bad boss. Self-discipline and stamina are the two major arms in a writer's arsenal.
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Anyone who goes into writing has to find out somewhere along the line, he's either naive or insane.
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Research to me is as important, or more important, than the writing. It is the foundation upon which the book is built.
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So writing is a very, very difficult position to obtain... and retain.
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Often we have no time for our friends but all the time in the world for our enemies.
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Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribe against the world and all of us against the infidel.
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I am very proud of this work because it is more about the meaning of the Easter Rising and its relationship to what this whole century has been about, people liberating themselves, freeing themselves.
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Pride is a fool's fortress.
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To be homeward bound, no matter what tragic memories you have harbored, is unlike any voyage a man can ever make.
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English of course is your major tool, but it is not nearly so important as other aspects of writing for example you have to have some natural ability you can't buy it no one puts it there you're born with it.
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I enjoy writing, sometimes; I think that most writers will tell you about the agony of writing more than the joy of writing, but writing is what I was meant to do.
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I was too heavy to be a jockey and too honest to be a producer, so I became a writer.
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After all, the only thing that is going to save mankind is if enough people live their lives for something or someone other than themselves.
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There is in us all that line that prevents us from fully understanding those who are different.
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My first book was rejected nine times. It turned out to be a best seller, Battle Cry? in 1953.
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The first thing you have to do is get immersed in the project, organizing yourself, knowing what you are going after and not going after.
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A novel takes the courage of a marathon runner, and as long as you have to run, you might as well be a winning marathon runner. Serendipity and blind faith faith in yourself won't hurt a thing. All the bastards in the world will snicker and sneer because they haven't the talent to zip up their flies by themselves. To hell with them, particularly the critics. Stand in there, son, no matter how badly you are battered and hurt.