Elif Batuman Quotes
The first modern novel was already a product, even an expression, of negative criticism: 'Don Quixote' contains a quite explicit critique of the chivalric romance and its insufficiency to account for the way real life feels when you get up in the morning in 17th-century Spain.
Quotes to Explore
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Music is my way out. I keep things locked up and never say anything. I guess in order to say something to one person, I have to sing it to a couple of thousand. It doesn't make for healthy relationships.
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The short hair fits my personality more. I think maybe, with long hair, it was a role - I was playing dress-up a bit.
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That's what all art's about - a sense of moving away from boundaries that you can't in real life. Like a dancer is always trying to fly, really - to do something that's just not possible. But you try to do as much as you can within those physical boundaries.
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Helping people boost themselves out of poverty is the best way to make a lasting positive difference in a person's life.
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I take so much pleasure at seeing customers who are happy: happy with what they eat, but happy with their friends and sharing a great moment together, and I think that is more important in life than the endless pursuit of perfection.
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I have to give importance to my personal life, my family, parents, and sisters. I hope I can strike the right balance.
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You must go after your wish. As soon as you start to pursue a dream, your life wakes up and everything has meaning.
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Of all liars the most arrogant are biographers: those who would have us believe, having surveyed a few boxes full of letters, diaries, bank statements and photographs, that they can play at the recording angel and tell the whole truth about another human life.
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My therapy has come from paying attention to my life.
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I'll never forget the modelling shoot I did in the Bahamas on a pink sand beach at Harbour Island. It felt like I'd just landed in paradise; it was so beautiful.
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The biggest things in life are not materials.
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My father has been the real anchor of the family. He's the one who has always encouraged my mother, my brother and me.
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I want to do just, like, regular art. Whatever is made today on canvas goes up against all of art history. It's the most radical thing.
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I really built myself up, darn it, to be very strong.
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My grandmother, grandfather, my mom - we've always been driven by laughter. It's what held us together. Thanksgivings, any kind of family get-together, we usually end up in tears.
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I dress up for awards, but only if somebody else is going to pay for the clothes. And shop for them, too!
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I have a social life. But I don't discuss it.
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Mangroves, salt marshes and sea grass lock away carbon at up to five times the rate of tropical forests.
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The No Child Left Behind Act will be one of President Bush's enduring legacies. And it was engineered and inaugurated with a truly bipartisan coalition in Congress. Accountability, standards, and truly measuring student performance just makes sense. The only real debate about the law was and is whether or not it was adequately funded.
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I'm a very fortunate man. I have in life everything I could dream of.
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Hot water is my native element. I was in it as a baby, and I have never seemed to get out of it ever since.
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There is no better way to create a confident and meaningful connection with someone than to be self-assured and true to yourself. Remember, you want someone to truly appreciate you for you, not for your best side. There is only one you. Be proud of that and own it.
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I don't like the way my teeth protrude. I'm going to have them done, but I just haven't had the time. Apart from that... I'm perfect.
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The first modern novel was already a product, even an expression, of negative criticism: 'Don Quixote' contains a quite explicit critique of the chivalric romance and its insufficiency to account for the way real life feels when you get up in the morning in 17th-century Spain.
