Anthony Marra Quotes
For the years I spent working on it, 'Constellation' was the only novel I knew how to write, so maybe I still abided by the maxim? Regardless, I prefer the maxim: Write what you want to know, rather than what you already know.
Quotes to Explore
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Yanukovych has changed everything in Ukrainian jails - real criminals have been released, while representatives of the middle class and politically rebellious free-minded people have filled the prisons.
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With a woman of sophistication, class and modesty and refinement, I become a totally tongue-tied buffoon. I can't even look her straight in the face.
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You need your mom and dad to protect you. It means they love you so much.
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Weight issues, race issues will always be there and if you allow them to get to you and you allow them to affect you then yes they affect you. But my thing is I have so many other things to worry about I can't worry about other people's perception of me.
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A dinner invitation, once accepted, is a sacred obligation. If you die before the dinner takes place, your executor must attend.
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I'm the kind of person who'll have a few drinks and fall asleep at 11.
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A lot of people have a sense-of-entitlement mentality that somebody else ought to do these things for them. People are mad at the government for not getting jobs for them. I don't understand why it's the government's responsibility.
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Perhaps 10 percent of patients who are prescribed antidepressants are really benefiting from the drugs' active ingredients.
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Look at Loretta Lynn. Look at Jeannie C. Rily singing 'Harper Valley PTA' and Tammy Wynette singing about divorce. They were ahead of their times in a lot of ways.
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If I sit down to write a young-adult novel, then I'm going to write either to the punch-pulling expectation of what I can't do, or I'm going to go the other way and think about what can I sneak in to be 'down with the kids' - which would be excruciating.
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I'm here because of what I write. Obviously, I must know something.
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Psychoanalytic investigation has shown that in mental patients excessive affection often turns to violent hostility.
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Many men of genius must arise before a particular man of genius can appear.
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Temptation is an irresistible force at work on a movable body.
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The acceptance that all that is solid has melted into the air, that reality and morality are not givens but imperfect human constructs, is the point from which fiction begins.
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I think about architecture all the time. That's the problem. But I've always been like that. I dream it sometimes.
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When I was a kid, among the other embarrassing things I would do, and there's a list of stupid things, but I would make these dumb comedy tapes. I would often make prank phone calls, but I would also do it with friends.
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I knew a homeless guy who'd give all the copper coins that people gave him to charity. So I think there's something that makes us want to give. For me, it's quite a selfish luxury: you feel enlivened, deepened and self-nurtured by generosity.
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I'm so thankful for that struggling period. That time is really great where you have no idea what's going to happen.
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I love writing comedy.
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When I see my staff take a step back because I've lost my cool about something food-related, I say never apologise for your standards. If someone doesn't meet them, then you should explain that and that you want it changed. I want my staff to be like that, too.
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How tragic it is that so often we stop everything just as we reach the starting line. We must move past the narcissistic preoccupation with getting the love we think 'works' for us. The point of love is to make us grow, not to make us immediately happy. Many of us have forsworn the chance for the deepest love in reaching out for the easier one.
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For the years I spent working on it, 'Constellation' was the only novel I knew how to write, so maybe I still abided by the maxim? Regardless, I prefer the maxim: Write what you want to know, rather than what you already know.
