Kingsley Amis Quotes
With some exceptions in science fiction and other genres I have small difficulty in avoiding anything that could be called American literature. I feel it is unnatural, not I think entirely because it uses a language that is not mine, however closely akin to my own.
Quotes to Explore
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There is no 20-year period in American history when stocks lost money.
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I was that weird eight-year-old who was really interested in Shakespeare and understood it and appreciated the language.
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After Brown, I went to Duke, to a Ph.D. program in American literature. My dad's an English professor. After a year there, I was like, 'Jesus. I don't want to do this. I don't want to be in the library.' So I pulled the ripcord, and that was it.
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Although by 1851 tales of adventure had begun to seem antiquated, they had rendered a large service to the course of literature: they had removed the stigma, for the most part, from the word novel.
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The key battleground in the war on terrorism, therefore, is in the minds of the American public.
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I've always loved science fiction. I think the smartest writers are science fiction writers dealing with major things.
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Growing up in a small town gives you two things: a sense of place and a feeling of self-consciousness - self-consciousness about one's education and exposure, both of which tend to be limited. On the other hand, limited possibilities also mean creating your own options.
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Realize that the game of life is the game of, to some extent, being taken advantage of by people who make a science of it. Whether they are in government or personal life or in business, they're everywhere.
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All I try to do is create an atmosphere that seems comfortable enough, that it removes tension and everyone feels free. If they feel free then behaviour happens, small moments happen and that's what ultimately works the best for me.
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I don't know which is more discouraging, literature or chickens.
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I like to look for patterns in science and life. It's what I do.
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I rode my bike to school every day from age five to age fourteen. It was a small town - you could go anywhere.
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Genes are like the story, and DNA is the language that the story is written in.
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I am not really brand-conscious; I pick out clothes that appeal to me regardless of the label, but I consider my style very American.
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The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.
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Writers, particularly poets, always feel exiled in some way - people who don't exactly feel at home, so they try to find a home in language.
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American fiction is good. It would be nice if somebody read it.
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It's like saying French shouldn't be taught because you don't understand it because it's new. Shakespeare is just like learning a new, exciting language.
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The reason it has taken so long for the robotics industry to move forward is because people keep trying to make something that is cool but difficult to achieve rather than trying to find solutions to actual human problems. Technology can be extremely expensive if you don't focus.
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Directing is a very long process, and I have to be in love with it if I want to give up two years of my life and live with it from beginning to end!
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Most of my films deal with people who are stuck in certain routines and habits that don't make them happy. They want to change, but they need something to push them. I think it's mostly love that causes them to break their routines and move on.
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I chaired the 1982 Democratic Party Commission on Presidential Nominations that created certain automatic delegates to the Democratic convention - the 'superdelegates.' It was a good idea then, and it is still a good idea.
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Human beings are inherently endowed with the power to bring out the best possible results from the worst possible circumstances.
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With some exceptions in science fiction and other genres I have small difficulty in avoiding anything that could be called American literature. I feel it is unnatural, not I think entirely because it uses a language that is not mine, however closely akin to my own.
