Lewis H. Lapham Quotes
As many as six out of ten American adults have never read a book of any kind, and the bulletins from the nation’s educational frontiers read like the casualty reports from a lost war.
Quotes to Explore
-
The first job I ever had was at a pool-liner-manufacturing plant. Minimum wage was $4.25, and that's what I was making. It was this huge, hot, un-air-conditioned factory staffed with all women and me. This is in Georgia, during the summertime, so it was pretty ridiculous.
-
I've always - honestly - never thought of myself as an independent director.
-
There are some parts of my life that are wonderful, and it's amazing to get to go to cool events and award shows and things like that, but I think the outside perception is that your life just changes overnight and you wear Dolce and Gabanna suits and drive a Mercedes. But life's just not like that.
-
I never was for telephones. Just don't like them, that's all. Anybody wants to talk to you, they can come to see you.
-
My dad lived by example. I lived by watching him. I watched all the great things he did and said. I try to walk that talk for my children.
-
I've leased the apartment; my partner is going to come out here. But we're keeping our house in Chicago because real estate is a really good investment and also because it is just crammed with full of stuff!
-
I don't think I'd want a revival. I'm not doing a tribute to myself.
-
I don't really look forward to movie stardom or doing a $200-million movie or winning an Academy Award.
-
I thought I had to write literature and add my name to the list of great Southern storytellers. Fortunately for me, no one wanted to read any of those stories. They got rejected by everyone. Sometimes, I would get a note saying they liked the writing, but the story simply didn't work.
-
I pinch myself daily at the good fortune of my life, you know, in many ways.
-
The only lottery I've ever won was a $100 scratch-off card at age 16, and the 7-Eleven clerk who sold it to me said I was too young to claim my winnings.
-
Noble character is best appreciated in those ages in which it can most readily develop.
-
Animation is different from other parts. Its language is the language of caricature. Our most difficult job was to develop the cartoon's unnatural but seemingly natural anatomy for humans and animals.
-
Mankind's feeling of responsibility to create a decent life and make it worth living with dignity has always been stronger than the will to kill life.
-
I've always gone for the more sensitive, bookish guy, totally. The jock boys, the sporty guys, I don't know... they just didn't do it for me.
-
I think whenever you see what may be the seeds of a third party, you need to be very skeptical because there's not a very good track record for third parties.
-
I didn't understand key signatures or anything, you know. I'd say silly things at the top of a trumpet part like, 'Note, when you play B naturals, make the B naturals a half step lower because they sound funny if they're B naturals.' And some guy said: 'Idiot, just put a flat on the third line and it's a key signature, you know?'
-
I'm concerned about my daughter because she will not believe in Santa Claus. No matter what I say to her, she just doesn't buy it, and she's 2. I refuse to give it up. I say, 'There is a Santa Claus,' and she says, 'Okay, Mommy. In pretend world, right?' She really doesn't believe.
-
If I have a long period of time away from acting, I tend to write.
-
No matter how accomplished or how many awards you get, you're always still thinking there's somebody out there who's better than you.
-
You can't sustain anger. You become bitter. Nothing's going to change. Anger leads to resentment, then to spiking your orange juice, then to martyrdom.
-
It's terrifying the way molecular biology has become more and more jargon ridden. But I strongly believe that my book can be read by the intelligent layman. I want everyone who bought a copy of 'A Brief History of Time' to buy a copy of 'Genome'.
-
I know many older writers who were very successful and whose books are now out of print, so you have to go to antiquarian booksellers to buy their fifth or eighth novel or whatever it is.
-
As many as six out of ten American adults have never read a book of any kind, and the bulletins from the nation’s educational frontiers read like the casualty reports from a lost war.
