Elif Batuman Quotes
Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time,' especially 'Time Regained,' made me think differently about what the novel is and can do. Then I forgot about it, then reread it and remembered again.
Quotes to Explore
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I wear the Jewish star, but I'm not - I haven't converted to Judaism, and I'm not - I'm not - I'm not Jewish in the conventional sense because the Kaballah is a belief system that predates religion and predates Judaism as an organized religion.
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When we have a good balance between thinking and feeling... our actions and lives are always the richer for it.
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I'm not convinced about marriage. Divorce is so easy, and that fact that gay people are not allowed to marry takes much of the meaning out of it. Committing yourself to one person is sacred.
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I feel like we all have our skeletons.
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Among my generation, there was a purist position that any contact with electoral politics was an unforgiveable compromise.
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I'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone.
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I'm twitchy. I think I've got ADD. I find it hard to sit down. I need to be constantly challenged; otherwise, I get very... well, I guess 'bored' is the word.
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As a viewer, the minute I start getting confused, I check out of the movie. Emotionally, I'm severed.
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You walk past people in streets, or they serve you in shops, and you know nothing about the horrors they may be living with.
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I think there was a time when I considered myself a work addict, but that's no longer accurate. My life has changed so dramatically over the last number of years, especially having a family now. My priorities have shifted.
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On the face of it, China has won the Olympics. But it is not China that has won, but the Communist party. The Chinese people have lost.
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I can get really nervous before a race. People will think this is mad, but sometimes I have got to the start line and thought, 'What if I can't do this?' But the minute I sit on the bike, I am like a different person.
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Yeah, I'm very impressed with Lifetime, this is the first time I've worked with them. I really like the kind of programming that they're into, so I'm hoping that I will.
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I'm a big sports fan. College football is my favorite.
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And a friend of mine in the Christys, we used to sit up at night and talk and read and wonder if reincarnation, and if it wasn't reality, what would happen to the human spirit when the body dies? Is there an afterlife? Just questions like that.
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The way to compose for me is to have lots of time.
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People think I am funny all the time. But I am not. I am serious, too. Also, I enjoy serious, dramatic films.
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'Holy Smoke' is very brave because I don't think it's easy to watch.
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Voting rights are constitutional rights.
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Acting is a specific discipline. Just because you can sing doesn't mean you have the sensitivities of being an actor.
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I don't believe love is real love if it remains cloistered within the confines of an intimate relationship; it should transcend the private sphere. As an artist that means training an eye on the suffering in the world, then acting on behalf of others.
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I think, really, what I'm interested in is whole women, real people.
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Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time,' especially 'Time Regained,' made me think differently about what the novel is and can do. Then I forgot about it, then reread it and remembered again.
