Eleanor Catton Quotes
The books that really made an impact on me were not set in New Zealand. Some were New Zealand novels, but the New Zealandness of them was not what carried me or excited me.

Quotes to Explore
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I don't have the looks to compete at a bar, and I'm not that funny. So the last thing I want is to be in a situation where that's what I'm competing on. I'd rather be on OkCupid or Match, where I can write a 300-word essay about myself that's really good.
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When romance is done well in a movie, it's awesome.
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I love music; I come from a region of Kurdistan that is a base for music.
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For me, the whole process involves envisioning this book in my head as I'm working.
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Escapism, we are led to believe, is evidence of a deficiency in character, a certain failure of temperament, and like so many -isms, it is to be strenuously avoided. 'How do you expect to get ahead?,' people ask. But the question altogether misses the point. The escapist doesn't want to get ahead. He simply wants to get away.
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Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.
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I'm not the kind of male who has to put my imprint on everything.
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I take the walk to be the externalization of an interior seeking so that the analogy is first of all between the external and the internal.
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As I grow older, I become more and more of a Marxist - Groucho, that is. When you have lived two-thirds of your life, you know the value of a good joke.
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Chinese people themselves, they really want change.
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My painting does not come from the easel.
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My mother keeps things in perspective for me. She makes me realize that the acting I do and love is no more important than what one of my brothers does-he works in a shoe repair shop. If my career ever tapers off, I'll go to college.
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I said three things when I woke up in Walter Reed. 'I love you.' 'Put me to work,' and 'You stink! Go shower!'
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We have one authority and one law and everyone has the responsibility to follow that law and that authority.
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I trade musical favours like cattle. I can't remember the last time I did a remix for actual money. For me, I try and get a good swap.
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Boss: You forgot to assign the result of your map!Hacker: Dang, I'm always forgetting my assignations...Boss: And what's that 'goto' doing there?!?Hacker: Er, I guess my finger slipped when I was typing 'getservbyport'...Boss: Ah well, accidents will happen. Maybe we should have picked APL.
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It is astonishing what force, purity, and wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods.
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I revere the memory of Mr. F. as an estimable man and most indulgent husband, only necessary to mention Asparagus and it appeared or to hint at any little delicate thing to drink and it came like magic in a pint bottle; it was not ecstasy but it was comfort.
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If you have only two or three things that you can enjoy and they are things which time and decay may remove from you, what are you going to do in old age?
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Race and class are rendered distinct analytically only to produce the realization that the analysis of the one cannot proceed without the other. A different dynamic it seems to me is at work in the critique of new sexuality studies.
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I realize that I live in the same environment that I did when I was a kid, but with less junk and better art.
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As a child, every North Korean is very happy. We were very happy because we learned horrible things about the outside world, like in America and Japan. We thought they were suffering; that's why we were very happy... but in reality, we were living under fear.
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Something of defeat, something of tragedy, can be a sacrament because it stops us and causes us to look deeper.
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The books that really made an impact on me were not set in New Zealand. Some were New Zealand novels, but the New Zealandness of them was not what carried me or excited me.