Elif Batuman Quotes

I grew up hearing that if it hadn't been for Ataturk, my grandmother would have been 'a covered person' who would have been reliant on a man for her livelihood. Instead, she went to boarding school, wrote a thesis on Balzac, and became a teacher.

Elif Batuman

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Quotes to Explore

• I was completely naive about the business of being an actor. My family didn't go to the theater or to the movies. We watched television like every 1960s small-town American family, and I certainly never thought about being on TV. I thought I was going to be a classical actor in the grand tradition.

  

  Frances McDormand
  • Family
  • Business
  • American

• Save yourself some grief. Check with the publicist you hire to see what other books he/she has coming out at the same time as yours.

  

  M. J. Rose
  • Time
  • She
  • Same

• Unless you are Stephen King, a book signing is attended by maybe 40 or 50 people.

  

  Dana Stabenow
  • People
  • Book
  • King

• It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to.

  

  Fannie Hurst
  • Man
  • Wise
  • Clever

• I was always going to be a dancer - I drifted into acting.

  

  Francesca Annis
  • Always
  • Acting
  • Going

• It might be, it could be... it is! A home run!

  

  Harry Caray
  • Home
  • Run
  • Home Run

• I have a ship's bed, which totally plays to my obsession of, if I were not an actress, I would be a pirate.

  

  Zosia Mamet
  • Bed
  • Obsession
  • Ship

• Everywhere your eye travels in your home, it should land on something that resonates with you.

  

  Nate Berkus
  • Home
  • Eye
  • Land

• The easiest way around the bases is with one swing of the bat.

  

  Earl Weaver
  • Way
  • Swing
  • Bat

• I mean, if a camera's on you all the time, you don't get real moments.

  

  Candy Crowley
  • Time
  • Real
  • Moments

• The local music community here was dying for a place to record, so we started doing acoustic, folk and bluegrass and then did rock projects for other bands, as well as for my son Tal and my own work.

  

  Randy Bachman The Guess Who
  • Work
  • Music
  • Community

• I didn't have any friends, and I never went to the class parties.

  

  Natassia Malthe
  • Friends
  • Never
  • Class

• I actually got started in acting when I was in pre-school. I was really into dance and performing, so my mom had me in dance classes, and then I got involved in a local theater company.

  

  Fiona Gubelmann
  • School
  • Mom
  • Dance

• No doubt I enjoy being close to people in the way I dress, the way I speak, and the way I communicate with people.

  

  Vicente Fox
  • People
  • Doubt
  • Enjoy

• The painting develops before my eyes, unfolding its surprises as it progresses. It is this which gives me the sense of complete liberty, and for this reason I am incapable of forming a plan or making a sketch beforehand.

  

  Yves Tanguy
  • Reason
  • Painting
  • Liberty

• I don't want to talk too much about the nitty-gritty of writing. It's rather like a pressure cooker with a certain amount of pressure in it - the more you let out, the less you cook.

  

  Vikram Seth
  • Writing
  • Want
  • Pressure

• Ants have the most complicated social organization on earth next to humans.

  

  E. O. Wilson
  • Earth
  • Organization
  • Ants

• Some might think that George W. Bush had his shortcomings, but let me tell you something – history's going to be kind to George W. Bush.

  

  J. C. Watts
  • History
  • Me
  • Might

• I had to put my kid before my career and all the money I was making. I decided to do the right thing. I was dying inside. If I didn't have my daughter, I would be dead right now, for sure.

  

  Brian Welch
  • Money
  • Career
  • Daughter

• I always wanted to be a doctor and go to art school, but I thought I'd regret it if I didn't act.

  

  Kate Ashfield
  • School
  • Art
  • Thought

• I hate all those flirty-birty games that women make up. Life's too short. If you ever find a man you love, don't waste time hanging your head and simpering. Go right up to him and say, 'I love you. How about getting married?

  

  Betty Smith
  • Life
  • Up
  • Time

• But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, "Courage, dear heart," and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan's, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.

  

  C. S. Lewis
  • Heart
  • She
  • Courage

• I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. I'd be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.

  

  Denzel Washington
  • Procrastination

• I grew up hearing that if it hadn't been for Ataturk, my grandmother would have been 'a covered person' who would have been reliant on a man for her livelihood. Instead, she went to boarding school, wrote a thesis on Balzac, and became a teacher.

  

  Elif Batuman
  • Up
  • School
  • She