Alexander Chee Quotes
I've known the poet Eileen Myles since the 1990s, when I first moved to New York, and I remember seeing her walking her Pit Bull Rosie around the East Village. She had these beautiful arms and David Cassidy hair and the sort of swagger so many of the gay boys I knew wished we had. We all had crushes on her.
Quotes to Explore
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I've gotten this advice at different times, and it distills down to one word: purpose. Why are you here? When you start to get distracted by thoughts such as 'Do I fit in? Does this person like me?' - remember why you're there and what you want to accomplish.
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My hair and make-up secret is 'the messier the better.'
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Remember that life's big changes rarely give advance warning.
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Recent studies have shown that our creativity is increased by 60% when we're walking. I encourage my workshop participants to write at their desks but think on their feet.
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Sadly, half of marriages end in divorce. Half of my girl friends and male friends have been through one, and their kids are doing great. There's no shame around it - unless you want to project that on to yourself - but certainly there's no longer cultural shame. Everyone is walking through it.
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Surround yourself with people who provide you with support and love and remember to give back as much as you can in return.
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When I was much younger, I sometimes felt rejected by feminists because of an image that I sold because it paid the bills. Any fool could tell my hair is dyed.
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I've always been a really really big Sheryl Crow fan. I just respect what she does in a way that she just remains true to her music and sort of has just been real. She isn't trying too hard ever.
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My mother was pragmatic, focused and extremely, exceedingly practical, and she was the ultimate self-determining person.
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One day, I was at my grandmother's house, and I found diaries that she kept as a young girl. I opened one to a page that had flowers glued inside. In her childish handwriting, my grandmother wrote, 'Pap died today. I am very sad.' The fact that this was true and that I could see the withered flowers made a huge impression on me.
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So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf, to make an apple-pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. 'What! no soap?' So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber.
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I love Canada. It's a wonderful political act of faith that exists atop a breathtakingly beautiful land.
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If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.
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Pops played football for LSU. Ever since I can remember, I've been working with him running routes and stuff.
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Older women know who they are, and that makes them more beautiful than younger ones. I like to see a face with some character. I want to see lines. I want to see wrinkles.
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Certainly it is a blessing to have three beautiful kids who are all healthy. God put them here for me to nurture and bring them up and try to keep as close to right as I can. So it's a blessing. It's a big responsibility, but at the same time it's an honor.
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I've always loved the language of flowers. I discovered Kate Greenaway's 'Language of Flowers' in a used bookstore when I was 16 and couldn't believe it was such a well-kept secret. How could something so beautiful and romantic be virtually unknown?
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I love the way Tyra Banks dresses up - she looks so elegant and glamorous in whatever she wears. The confidence and attitude she exudes on and off the ramp is remarkable.
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I like to maintain a certain sense of fantasy in my life. I am kind of like that at home. Do I have the full hair and makeup? No. But I might have the nice dress on.
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You have to keep your audience in your mind; if you're writing stuff that you know nobody's going to care about then you should rethink what you're doing!
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I don't think I've gotten any faster. I think just my stride has gotten more powerful. Just going wide, being able to drive to the net and get by the D, using the strength in my legs to get there. Kind of like the type of skater that Erik Cole is. He's got great speed, but he's got such a powerful stride, it makes him tough to stop.
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Commercialism isn't challenging creatively; it's only challenging in a stamina way.
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There are lots of people shaping decisions, and so if we want to predict correctly, we have to pay attention to everybody who is trying to shape the outcome, not just the people at the pinnacle of the decision-making pyramid.
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I've known the poet Eileen Myles since the 1990s, when I first moved to New York, and I remember seeing her walking her Pit Bull Rosie around the East Village. She had these beautiful arms and David Cassidy hair and the sort of swagger so many of the gay boys I knew wished we had. We all had crushes on her.
