Elif Batuman Quotes
I have always known my mother as an agnostic, less certain than my father that the universe hadn't been created by some great intelligence. But she would get even more annoyed than my father did when she thought that people were invoking God to do their jobs for them - for example, when she saw a bus with a sticker saying 'Allah Protect Us.'
Quotes to Explore
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The Constitution isn't written in Chinese, Swahili or Sanskrit. It's in plain English.
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Don't try and make a movie for someone else. You have to make it for you and trust that you're not that unique. And that'll matter to other people as well.
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I have always had a horror and detestation of poverty.
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I drink a fair amount of ramen noodles.
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I think that its easy to think of the environment as all doom and gloom and that, 'What can we do, it's too late. And the polar bears are gone, and everything is gone.' But really, just the little steps that we can make as individuals make a big difference.
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The human soul needs actual beauty more than bread.
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My dad is a Chatty Cathy, the social butterfly; friendly; knows everybody in the whole world by six degrees; tells me that every performance is the greatest he's ever seen, every new outfit is the coolest. Constant cheerleader.
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My father passed away in 1942, and three-four months after his death, I had to start working. There was a responsibility on my shoulders to run the household. It was my duty as the eldest child in the house.
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Men take only their needs into consideration - never their abilities.
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I'm a person that doesn't have that many goals or plans. I feel like I'm the wind and I blow through life; it's whatever comes to me. I very much respect nature. Whatever happens to me, I'm happy and I embrace it.
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I think everybody understands the fact that the right person will be cast for the role. So it's not theirs really to lose; they're just trying to find the right person.
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As a race, the Negroes are not lazy.
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Because I feel 'Thor' is the beginning of finding my roots, and I found that I have family in America, I want to take my time and put effort on my future work so that foreign people get to know me better, and I also want to enjoy that process itself!
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When I say I'm an authentic conservative, it's because when you look at who I am and where I come from, it'd be a lot easier to have grown up a Democrat.
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You remember Donnie Brasco? It's the most notorious undercover movie ever; it's so street and so real. If you ever imagined yourself doing cop work, you imagined yourself getting pushed to that limit - seeing the furthest you can push yourself while still upholding the law.
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I am definitely a person of color.
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Born Berlin 1931, Germany, father a British diplomat, mother an American artist. Educated at various schools all over the world. 1958 Settled down to live in London. 1966 Became interested in photography through photographing my young children. No formal training.
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I like making sci-fi movies because I like watching sci-fi movies. I like watching horror. I like being in a horror movie. I'm a fan. My perspective's a little different just because I get to participate as well as spectate.
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Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach.
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Let me guess,” Eli said, his voice that low, even timbre, as always. “Drinking from kegs also falls under outdoor activity.” I just looked at him, standing there in jeans and the same blue hoodie he’d had on the first time I met him. Maybe it was the embarrassment, which had been bad enough before I had an audience, but I was instantly annoyed. I said, “Are we outside?” He glanced round, as if needing to confirm this. “Nope.” “Then no.” I turned my attention back to the keg.
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The story line was done in a way that's organic and was doled out very slowly in little bites. We think that's authentic for this character, that her feelings are very deeply buried or she never felt them.
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I don't know why it is, exactly, but the people with the healthiest self-esteem, are also the greatest at intimacy. I'm not talking about arrogant people. I'm talking about people who know they are both good and bad yet believe at the deepest level they are really good for people.
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I have always known my mother as an agnostic, less certain than my father that the universe hadn't been created by some great intelligence. But she would get even more annoyed than my father did when she thought that people were invoking God to do their jobs for them - for example, when she saw a bus with a sticker saying 'Allah Protect Us.'
