Lisa Graff Quotes

The Longstockings are eight children's and young adult writers. We all came out of the New School MFA program, and we meet regularly to critique each other's work.

Lisa Graff

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Quotes to Explore

• I got a note from my father, who said that Success is wonderful, if you don't inhale. That was his own aphorism, and I think it's the very best thing he could have said to me or anyone else on the subject.

  

  Sam Waterston
  • Father
  • Success
  • Best

• America tends to worship the modest talent because it doesn't put us in an uncomfortable position vis-a-vis the artist.

  

  Carlisle Floyd
  • America
  • Artist
  • Talent

• I could never say Rza's trash. But he didn't come with the right formula on '8 Diagrams.' I think 'Cuban Linx 2' will have the Clan back where they need to be, but then it's up for the Clan to be back where they need to be, too. 'Cos it ain't just the album, you know what I mean? It's everything.

  

  Raekwon
  • Up
  • Think
  • Know

• You know, I endeavor to be more like my older brother. He's very magnetic. He's actually very much like 'Castle' in that people are attracted to him, and just want to be near him. You want to know where my brother is in a crowded room? He's the guy with the crowd around him.

  

  Nathan Fillion
  • People
  • Guy
  • Want

• Service to others seems the only intelligent choice for the use of wealth.

  

  Manoj Bhargava
  • Service
  • Intelligent
  • Choice

• I ran for Congress in 2012 because I had had enough. Enough of career politicians, enough of political gamesmanship, and enough of the lack of leadership in Washington.

  

  Ted Yoho
  • Career
  • Political
  • Leadership

• The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have done and what we might have been on the one hand, and the thing we have made and the things we have made of ourselves on the other.

  

  H. G. Wells
  • Done
  • True
  • Success

• A novelist can never be his own reader, except when he is ridding his manuscript of syntax errors, repetitions, or the occasional superfluous paragraph.

  

  Patrick Modiano
  • Never
  • Own
  • Errors

• The key to good grilling is to recognize that you are setting yourself up to cook in a whole new environment. This is actually one of the main purposes of grilling - to get yourself outside.

  

  Barton Seaver
  • Up
  • Good
  • Environment

• I normally don't endorse in Democratic primaries.

  

  Ed Rendell
  • Democratic
  • Normally

• A dinner invitation, once accepted, is a sacred obligation. If you die before the dinner takes place, your executor must attend.

  

  Ward McAllister
  • Die
  • Dinner
  • Obligation

• There are clearly many good politicians who are guided by religious belief, so the mix can work. But there's a line to be drawn. It would be hugely dangerous for a country's laws to be set by the scriptures, and particularly those of the expansionist religions.

  

  Zac Goldsmith
  • Good
  • Work
  • Country

• Listen to my voice - I sound like I'm permanently congested.

  

  T. J. Miller
  • Like
  • Voice
  • Listen

• If you live in rock and roll, as I do, you see the reality of sex, of male lust and women being aroused by male lust. It attracts women. It doesn't repel them.

  

  Camille Paglia
  • Live
  • Women
  • Reality

• I obtained eight years of elementary education in a two-room school, where I encountered a stern but engaging teacher who awakened my intellect with instruction that would seem rigorous today in many colleges. History figured large in the curriculum, exciting for me what was to become an enduring interest.

  

  J. Michael Bishop
  • School
  • History
  • Today

• My mum never told me that I was beautiful when I was a kid – and I didn't read magazines or watch MTV, so I had no real consciousness about it all.

  

  Cameron Russell
  • Beautiful
  • Kid
  • Consciousness

• I always prefer other people's interpretations over my own, so I'm not very quick to make explicit what exactly a song or record is about.

  

  M. Ward
  • People
  • Song
  • Own

• The experience and behavior that gets labeled schizophrenic is a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unlivable situation.

  

  R. D. Laing
  • Live
  • Experience
  • Strategy

• Fools are in great demand, especially on social occasions. They embarrass everyone but provide material for conversation. In their positive form, they become diplomats.

  

  Umberto Eco
  • Great
  • Positive
  • Fool

• Another year is fast approaching. Go be that starving artist you’re afraid to be. Open up that journal and get poetic finally. Volunteer. Suck it up and travel. You were not born here to work and pay taxes. You were put here to be part of a vast organism to explore and create. Stop putting it off. The world has much more to offer than what’s on 15 televisions at TGI Fridays. Take pictures. Scare people. Shake up the scene. Be the change you want to see in the world.

  

  Jason Mraz
  • People
  • Life
  • Up

• It takes a lot of help - nature, friends, family, craftsmen - for me to make what I make.

  

  Dan Colen
  • Family
  • Friends
  • Help

• I was at a party, and some squiggly looking dude with a bow tie came up and said, 'How'd you like to be on TV?' Turns out he was the programming guy at the Food Network. They had me come into the office, and I did a 'Ready, Set, Cook' with Emeril Lagasse, I believe.

  

  Mario Batali
  • Up
  • Believe
  • Guy

• There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.

  

  Plato
  • Help
  • Angry

• The Longstockings are eight children's and young adult writers. We all came out of the New School MFA program, and we meet regularly to critique each other's work.

  

  Lisa Graff
  • Work
  • Children
  • School