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
-
There is no 20-year period in American history when stocks lost money.
-
I was that weird eight-year-old who was really interested in Shakespeare and understood it and appreciated the language.
-
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.
-
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.
-
The key battleground in the war on terrorism, therefore, is in the minds of the American public.
-
I've always loved science fiction. I think the smartest writers are science fiction writers dealing with major things.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
I don't know which is more discouraging, literature or chickens.
-
I like to look for patterns in science and life. It's what I do.
-
I rode my bike to school every day from age five to age fourteen. It was a small town - you could go anywhere.
-
Genes are like the story, and DNA is the language that the story is written in.
-
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.
-
The average American worker has fifty interruptions a day, of which seventy percent have nothing to do with work.
-
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.
-
American fiction is good. It would be nice if somebody read it.
-
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.
-
Love conquers all things except poverty and toothache.
-
The world needs divine power in every human being the recognition of which is the secret to all success and happiness
-
In contrast to our own social environment which brings out different aspects of human nature and often demonstrated that behavior which occurs almost invariably in individuals within our society is nevertheless due not to original nature but to social environment; and a homogeneous and simple development of the individual may be studied.
-
Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five.
-
I encourage my students to be honest in their assessment of both the published work we read and the work of their classmates. I think there's always the occasion for discussing elements of craft, whether the student's poem is terrible or quite wonderful.
-
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.
