Lydia Davis Quotes

I think the close work I do as a translator pays off in my writing - I'm always searching for multiple ways to say things.

Lydia Davis

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Quotes to Explore

• I promised my mom that if, after a year of putting 150 percent into my career it didn't work out, I would go back to school. I never did go back.

  

  Queen Latifah
  • Work
  • School
  • Career

• 'Yellow Moon' was a poem. My wife at the time, Joel - she's dead now - it was our 25th anniversary. She had the chance to go on a cruise with her sister. And I'm home with the kids and looking up, and I saw the big moon, and I just started writing.

  

  Aaron Neville
  • Time
  • Writing
  • Home

• My own writing has perhaps more of an American flavor than a British one, but that's because the stories I've so far written have needed it. 'Empire State,' 'Seven Wonders' and 'The Age Atomic' are all very place-centric, where the setting itself is almost a character. But there is a universality to story that isn't just limited to science fiction.

  

  Adam Christopher
  • Writing
  • Character
  • American

• This woman's work is exceptional. Too bad she's not a man.

  

  Edouard Manet
  • Work
  • She
  • Bad

• I think that the idea that I'm writing for many more people than I ever imagined has created a certain general responsibility that is literary and political. There's even pride involved, in not wanting to fall short of what I did before.

  

  Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • People
  • Writing
  • Political

• If I wasn't dyslexic, I probably wouldn't have won the Games. If I had been a better reader, then that would have come easily, sports would have come easily... and I never would have realized that the way you get ahead in life is hard work.

  

  Caitlyn Jenner
  • Life
  • Work
  • Sports

• Most Muslim women know it is fear and curiosity that cause people to stare. They know it is ignorance and stereotypes that cause people to suppose that a piece of material covering the hair strips a woman of the ability to speak English, pursue a career, work a remote control.

  

  Randa Abdel-Fattah
  • People
  • Work
  • Women

• Getting married and then having children just centered me and grounded my values. It was like a whole new world. It started happening in New York with a little play called Cruise Control, where I relaxed, and then I kept getting work in Hollywood till this series happened.

  

  Patricia Richardson
  • World
  • Work
  • Children

• There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

  

  W. Somerset Maugham
  • Writing
  • Rules
  • Three

• I thought writing about somebody current would be a little closer to what I'm used to doing.

  

  Adam Clymer
  • Writing
  • Thought
  • Doing

• If you work hard in real life, people tend to get in your way - either from inertia or prejudice - and they stop you achieving things. It's the worst thing about real life compared with sports, where you generally get what you deserve: if you're the fastest guy, you win; there are no other games being played.

  

  Daley Thompson
  • People
  • Life
  • Work

• I will try to work for greater reconciliation, cooperation and peace in North East Asia based on correct perception of history.

  

  Park Geun-hye
  • Work
  • History
  • Peace

• Nobody's going to write a book about me, because nobody's going to find anything worth writing a book about.

  

  Jack Kent Cooke
  • Writing
  • Book
  • Me

• Writing blurbs for books means you have to read the book, and it cuts into the business of bookselling. So every time I get a blurb from a bookseller, I try to write a thank you note.

  

  Gabrielle Zevin
  • Time
  • Writing
  • Business

• I did a whole lot of work before taking up my first movie. From TV commercials to Telugu films, I learnt a lot from them all.

  

  Yami Gautam
  • Up
  • Work
  • Movie

• I start writing with only the vaguest idea about who my characters are and what is going to happen, and the characters and plot come into existence as I go. I've tried doing it the other way, but for me, outlining is a waste of time because I never follow the outline.

  

  Karen Robards
  • Time
  • Writing
  • Start

• Cover the canvas at the first go, then work at it until you see nothing more to add.

  

  Camille Pissarro
  • Work
  • Canvas
  • Add

• There aren't a lot of 'Aha!' moments in writing.

  

  Damon Galgut
  • Writing
  • Moments
  • Lot

• I always have been a busy person, doing my own housework, helping the Man of the Place when help could not be obtained; but I love to work. And it is a pleasure to write. And, oh, I do just love to play!

  

  Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • Work
  • Love
  • Help

• Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort, right time, right people, right materials.

  

  Idries Shah
  • People
  • Time
  • Work

• There were always kids better than me. Because of that, I had to learn to be a role player and do my part.

  

  Ben Zobrist
  • Kids
  • Player

• Let's face it. Adventure and exploration are in my blood.

  

  Philippe Cousteau, Jr.
  • Adventure

• -There’s a thing the children say. -What do the children say? -They say: Will you always love me? -Always. -Will you always remember me? -Always. -Will you remember me a year from now? -Yes, I will. -Will you remember me two years from now? -Yes, I will. -Will you remember me five years from now? -Yes, I will. -Knock, knock. -Who’s there? -You see?

  

  Donald Barthelme
  • Children
  • Remember

• I think the close work I do as a translator pays off in my writing - I'm always searching for multiple ways to say things.

  

  Lydia Davis
  • Work
  • Writing