Elif Batuman Quotes

A lot of what I write is very personal.

Elif Batuman

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• I don't mind being interviewed on television or radio.

  

  Calvin Trillin
  • Mind
  • Television
  • Radio

• On my best days, such as when I was a junior in high school coming off a 42-point performance and near triple-double, my dad was there to tell me I haven't arrived yet and bring me back to reality.

  

  Candace Parker
  • School
  • High
  • Reality

• Humor's always been the problem of my work, hasn't it? When working, I feel satisfied when I surprise myself. And when I surprise myself, I wind up laughing.

  

  Kara Walker
  • Up
  • Work
  • Myself

• All of the songs my grandparents and parents listened to are called boleros - they're all love songs. They're about giving your heart to a person. It's a culture that is so romantic and passionate, and that's something that I'm very proud of. We grew up with nothing, so we just want to live a life full of love.

  

  Camila Cabello Fifth Harmony
  • Life
  • Up
  • Live

• As the possessor of complete knowledge, God is not mistaken about people's experiences as people are mistaken about each others' experiences.

  

  Edith Stein
  • People
  • God
  • Knowledge

• Interestingly, one thing I've found that neither women nor men give up on is the idea of men as protectors. Even in cases where the woman is earning more, they'll often tell me that if there were a fire or something, they would expect the man to be the one to protect them.

  

  Hanna Rosin
  • Up
  • Men
  • Women

• Suspicion and doubt lead to animosity and hatred.

  

  Ralph Steadman
  • Doubt
  • Lead
  • Hatred

• Experiencing sadness and anger can make you feel more creative, and by being creative, you can get beyond your pain or negativity.

  

  Yoko Ono
  • Pain
  • Sad
  • Sadness

• From Syria even to Rome I fight with wild beasts, by land and sea, by night and by day, being bound amidst ten leopards, even a company of soldiers, who only grow worse when they are kindly treated.

  

  Ignatius of Antioch
  • Night
  • Day
  • Sea

• I've been very clear. I won. I didn't commit the crime.

  

  O. J. Simpson
  • Crime
  • Very
  • Clear

• I make hits.

  

  Fat Joe
  • Make
  • Hits

• I've not sat with my agent going: 'Where is the next hopeless girl I can play?' They just come along.

  

  Laura Carmichael
  • Girl
  • I Can
  • Hopeless

• As women, we must speak out, speak up, say no to our inheritance of loss and yes to a future of women-led dialogue about women's rights and value.

  

  Zainab Salbi
  • Up
  • Women
  • Future

• Let me say what I actually believe. I believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy, by Al Qaeda, and Osama Bin Laden, and no one else trying to hurt America.

  

  Van Jones
  • Believe
  • Trying
  • America

• Most writers have no idea how to make a film. It's a totally different skill set. Nor is it just to translate exactly what's on the page directly on to the screen - because that would be terrible. It would be five hours long, and the structure would be a mess. But the writers know the characters and the story.

  

  Gayle Forman
  • Different
  • Long
  • Story

• I know enough about European politics to know you've got a lot of crazy people who make their way onto the ballot.

  

  Karl Rove
  • People
  • Crazy
  • Politics

• Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.

  

  J. R. R. Tolkien
  • Up
  • Children
  • Write

• You want your partner to objectify you.

  

  Patricia Arquette
  • Want
  • You
  • Partner

• One of the things reading does, it makes your loneliness manageable if you are an essentially lonely person.

  

  Jamaica Kincaid
  • Reading
  • Lonely

• We must eschew anything trivial. We must embrace all that is frivolous.... Trivial things take up all your time and dull your senses, whereas frivolity is meaningful, profound, worth living and dying for.... If we devote our lives to frivolity, the world will be a far, far better place. Humanity will be better able to fulfill its primary goal, that of having a good time.

  

  Cynthia Heimel
  • Up
  • Time
  • World

• Truth, after all, wears a different face to everybody, and it would be too tedious to wait till all were agreed.

  

  James Russell Lowell
  • Different
  • Truth

• Some of the French surrealists at the beginning of the war had come over to New York and they brought out this magazine. It was a big, glossy magazine full of surrealist things.

  

  Kenneth Koch
  • War
  • Beginning

• A lot of what I write is very personal.

  

  Elif Batuman