Elif Batuman Quotes
Quotes to Explore
-
Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future.
-
We do not yet have the solutions to these questions, but the awareness that we live in an endangered world is present in more and more life situations.
-
During the decade following the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA, the problem of translation - namely, how genetic information is used to synthesize proteins - was a central topic in molecular biology.
-
I don't think young men or women should feel pressured into marriage. You shouldn't marry anyone, in my opinion, who you have to try hard for.
-
As a developing musician, skiffle became a platform for me to start playing music.
-
When you assume negative intent, you're angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response.
-
I love the simplicity and freedom of running. A pair of shoes, and you are all set to explore new trails.
-
You can tell a lot about a person just by watching their facial expressions. But there are times when it's best to hide your feelings, especially at work.
-
In most cases, my favorite Jethro Tull songs will be determined by how I feel about them as live performance songs, not by the recorded identity.
-
Whether it's threats to Medicare, cuts in education spending, or Internet privacy, the ramifications got young people out to vote and should be enough to keep them involved in our political system.
-
A bicycle has transformed my experience of London.
-
The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country.
-
The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in.
-
When my daughter wanted a toy and I had to check the price of it before buying it - that was one of the worst feelings.
-
Most attractive males talk to most attractive women as if they were Rotarians comparing sales percentages in Des Moines.
-
On my desk, I always have a lemon or a lime drying. I love the fragrance. Also, a Staedtler eraser, a brush for the eraser and a pencil sharpener.
-
I didn't get anything published until I was thirty-three, and yet I'd written five novels and six or seven plays. The plays, I should point out, were dreadful.
-
Les Miserables is one of my favorite stories.
-
I feel funny about owning art. I don't really want to say: 'Wow, come and see my Monet - it's in a dark room at the bottom of my cellar.'
-
It's funny how life works. You end up sometimes back where you started.
-
I really wanted to just be a musician. I didn't want to be anything else, but I was funny and all that.
-
I didn't grow up identifying with beauty. I grew up thinking I could be smart and funny - those are the things I got feedback on.
-
I've always admired lawyers who use their power to effect social change, and Thurgood Marshall was always a childhood hero of mine.
-
To think of Tolstoy eating a sandwich is intrinsically kind of funny.
