Andrew Motion Quotes
I write between 5.30am and 9.00. That way, I hope I carry over something from my dream time.
Quotes to Explore
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I'm a Canadian. Outside Canada I carry the flag. Canadian nationalism isn't as insidious as American nationalism, though. It's good natured. It's all about maple syrup, not war.
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I traveled so much to dance that I feel a part of many places, but New York is where I spent most of my life and where my career has been - it's the place where I exist.
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I only buy a computer when it's two years old, after the glitches have been worked out.
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During my second draft pass on my last book I made 20,000 words happen in a week, which is practically supernatural for me, and it would never have been possible without three nights in a hotel in my own city.
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I first started writing fiction in college because I was attracted to beautiful sentences. I loved to read them. I wanted to write them.
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I saw an interview that I did with someone, and I was horrified by it. And I said to my wife, 'This is unbearable how I talk.'
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I grew up in California, and when I read that Proposition 8 was on the ballot, I was disappointed because it seemed to be inconsistent with the spirit of the state, with the independence and diversity of the frontier that California has always been.
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I think chemistry and great acting go hand-in-hand.
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The security and the future of Jordan is hand-in-hand with the future of the Palestinians and the Israelis.
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I would hate for my father to regret all his support that he's given me over the years and be embarrassed by anything I chose to do.
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Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky - or the answer is wrong and you have to start over and try again and see how it comes out this time.
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I don't think I've ever met any single person who has been vulgar. But you know, you learn along the way that some people are going to be very generous, and other people... It's just not innate within them. Sometimes I think you just have to decide if you're going to stand up and get on with it or if you're going to be crushed and threatened.
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The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. And that is not happiness.
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I cannot believe that violence depicted onscreen actually causes people to act out violently. That's oversimplifying the issue. If somebody commits a violent act after seeing violence in a movie, I think the question that needs to be asked is: would that person still have committed the act if he had not seen a violent film?
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As they marched, the crowds lining the route broke into applause, a sweet and deeply felt spontaneous pattering that was a sort of communal embrace. Welcome home.
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The most exciting happiness is the happiness generated by forces beyond your control.
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I like naturally occurring film grain, and what happens to film when it's under- and over-exposed.
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Private education can give you confidence, which is marvellous; a sense of entitlement isn't.
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Over recent years, urbanisation, globalisation and the destruction of local cultures has led to a rise in the prevalence of mental illness in the developing world.
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I don't have friends, and it's hard for me to make new friends. Right now, the people that are in my life are the people that I work with.
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The minute you supply a person with the answers, by that very action you block them, once and for all, from the opportunity of inventing those same answers for themselves. If you want to go on an ego trip, to show how smart you are, give the answers. But if what you want is action to be taken, then you must refrain from giving the answers.
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I seek strength, not to be greater than other, but to fight my greatest enemy, the doubts within myself
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A perennial problem that has faced the Scottish Highlands is that, time and again, too many of the more talented young people have had to move elsewhere - even abroad - through a lack of opportunities that should have been available.
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I write between 5.30am and 9.00. That way, I hope I carry over something from my dream time.
