Ben Brantley Quotes

I write the occasional entry for the 'Times' Theatre blog, especially when I'm in London and seeing two shows a day, but I don't tweet. I don't want to have to express my opinion in 140 characters. That's like writing haiku. You need a certain amount of legroom to review a play properly.

Ben Brantley

• Writing
• Opinion
• Theatre

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• When I was around eight, I learned how to touch-type at school, and I received a computer as a present. I started writing plays, and for many years I thought I would be a playwright.

  

  Gabrielle Zevin
  • Writing
  • School
  • Present

• Actions yield result by the ordinance of God as He wills.

  

  Ramana Maharshi
  • God
  • Result
  • Actions

• Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

  

  Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Opinion
  • Public Opinion

• The problem with writing a monthly book is that you're going through your work like a man running for a bus, red-faced and out of breath. There isn't time for reflection or critical self-examination.

  

  J. Michael Straczynski
  • Time
  • Work
  • Writing

• I've had those people very interested in my writing. Since I think of myself as a composer, I feel really good. I've had lots of guys call me up. I've gotten two or three commissions to write things. I've written lots of movie scores.

  

  Ornette Coleman
  • People
  • Up
  • Good

• Writing requires the concentration of the writer, demands that nothing else be done except that.

  

  Carlos Fuentes
  • Writing
  • Done
  • Nothing

• I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about.

  

  H. P. Lovecraft
  • Opinion
  • Information
  • Talking

• We had a few non-fiction books at home, but my dad was of the opinion that fiction was a complete and utter waste of time because it wasn't real - so what was the point of reading it?

  

  Malorie Blackman
  • Time
  • Real
  • Home

• Honest criticism, I suppose, has its place. But honest writing is infinitely more valuable.

  

  Rachel Cusk
  • Writing
  • Place
  • Criticism

• I have to write what I can write, and writing the text of a picture book is like walking a tightrope, if you ramble off... As my friend Julius Lester says, 'A picture book is the essence of an experience.'

  

  Patricia MacLachlan
  • Writing
  • Experience
  • Book

• Writing my first book, I think in hindsight I went into it saying, 'It's gonna sell.' I was earning enough to scrape by sometime around a book or two before 'Tell No One.' I moved up from $50,000 to $75,000, then $150,000 for each book. I had never thought I would be doing anything else. I had enough encouragement.

  

  Harlan Coben
  • Up
  • Writing
  • Book

• I would be pleased if someone would invent a pill to remove my impatience, moodiness, and occasional bursts of anger. But if they did, I wouldn't be able to write my novels or paint.

  

  Orhan Pamuk
  • Anger
  • Paint
  • Someone

• I wasn't one of those kids who grew up wanting to write or who read a particular book and thought: 'I want to do that!' I always told stories and wrote them down, but I never thought writing was a career path, even though, clearly, someone was writing the books and newspapers and magazines.

  

  Gayle Forman
  • Up
  • Writing
  • Book

• Writing for the theater, you find yourself living a nocturnal life.

  

  Irwin Shaw
  • Life
  • Writing
  • Yourself

• 'Float On' was a fine song, but I was still writing the lyrics on the last day we were working on it and deciding if it was something we wanted to put on the record.

  

  Sir Isaac Brock KB
  • Writing
  • Song
  • Day

• If it is indeed impossible - or at least very difficult - to inhabit the consciousness of an animal, then in writing about animals there is a temptation to project upon them feelings and thoughts that may belong only to our own human mind and heart.

  

  J. M. Coetzee
  • Writing
  • Mind
  • Heart

• I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way... Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God.

  

  Ignatius of Antioch
  • God
  • Writing
  • Food

• There wasn't anyone in my family who was involved in the theatre. I saw a few amateur plays when I was growing up, but I can't think of anything that happened or anybody in particular who inspired me; it all came from within.

  

  Garry Hynes
  • Up
  • Family
  • Growing

• Before I start, I create a set list that I listen to while I'm writing. For 'Intimate Apparel,' I loaded Erik Satie, Scott Joplin, klezmer music, and the American jazz performer and composer Reginald Robinson.

  

  Lynn Nottage
  • Music
  • Writing
  • American

• Going after a part in Hollywood is like being a gladiator in ancient Rome. When it comes down to getting a role, you don't have any friends, you're incredibly competitive and any actor who tells you different is lying.

  

  Jonathan Rhys Meyers
  • Different
  • Friends

• We have had a fantastic mission. We are so glad to come back and be able to say it's a success.

  

  Eileen Collins
  • Success
  • Mission
  • Glad

• It is all about playing a challenging role, and whether a film is a commercial one or not does not really matter.

  

  Arfi Lamba

• I write the occasional entry for the 'Times' Theatre blog, especially when I'm in London and seeing two shows a day, but I don't tweet. I don't want to have to express my opinion in 140 characters. That's like writing haiku. You need a certain amount of legroom to review a play properly.

  

  Ben Brantley
  • Writing
  • Opinion
  • Theatre