Elif Batuman Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I personally don't like to rehearse so much. I really sort of trust my instinct.
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That attitude and toughness that we want to play with, that, to me, is the most critical thing.
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I came to acting in a very circuitous way.
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I win by submissions, knockouts. There's guys ranked above me, but no one's interested in seeing them fight. They want to see me fight.
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The difference between American parties is actually simple. Democrats are in favor of higher taxes to pay for greater spending, while Republicans are in favor of greater spending, for which the taxpayers will pay.
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Dave thought he was bigger than Van Halen the band. So there was this catfight going on for 10 years.
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Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's okay to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless.
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I was a good bartender. I wouldn't say I was the best bartender in New York, but I could hold my own.
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No great art has ever been made without the artist having known danger.
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I am just a plain Jew; I mean have no training.
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These days, everything is magnified very quickly by the media - the slightest slip can turn into a catastrophe.
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When you're as plain as I am, you've gotta have a gimmick.
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That's the thing with sci-fi and action roles. You have to play the danger as real. If you don't, you end up with egg on your face. You have to commit. You can't think about how stupid it might look without the special effects.
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I have the same friends and the same bad habits.
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I think the best comedies came out during the Depression. Personally.
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I didn't go looking to marry an American, it just kinda happened like that.
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We've got some very good things to do without screwing around with sleeves.
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We clearly realize that freedom's inner kingdom cannot be touched by exterior attacks.
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Power is the agency to effect change, pure and simple. The more power you have, the clearer and less frictional the trajectory from an idea in your mind to its birth in real life.
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My career is a black comedy of sorts. I spent a lot of time explaining myself to various different groups. But more and more, I'm finding that the desire to communicate, which all these audiences share, is a powerful thing.
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In modern war there is no such thing as victor and vanquished... There is only a loser, and the loser is mankind.
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Good manners. They're forgotten in America. I think it's bad manners to stand around in public with ripped jeans and your hair in a mess, holding a Starbucks.
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Coco Chanel once said that what makes a woman look old is trying desperately to look young. Why should one be ashamed to be 84? Why do you have to say that you're 52? Nobody's going to believe you anyway, so why be such a fool? It's nice that you got to be so old. It's a blessing.
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By the time I got to college, the Cold War was basically over.
