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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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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Evolution doesn't just look for things that are fun; if it did, we'd know how to fly.
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When I talk about losing myself, which I did, it's losing my idea of who I was and my idea of what I was supposed to be doing and the idea of what my value was to God. I lost all of that at least.
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Nobody could stand an eternity of Heaven.
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Once you encounter people who are really testing the limits of kindness, that's when you start to build up a shield and close yourself down.
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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.
