Elif Batuman Quotes
I had wanted to write 'The Possessed' as fiction, but everyone told me that no one would read a novel about graduate students. It seems almost uncivilized to tell someone writing a novel, 'No, you have to call this a memoir.'
Quotes to Explore
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In the case of my book, I don't think it's really the coming-out gay novel that everyone really needed, even though it was received as such. The boy is too creepy, he betrays his teacher, the only adult man with whom he's enjoyed a sexual experience, etc.
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I just like to stay a little quiet and just do my own thing. If I win a little more, I think I'll get a little bit more attention.
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When my lady and I sit down and watch TV, I find she gets annoyed at characters because they don't do what she would do in the situation. I'm always like, 'Well, she has to do that because that's what the story is.'
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I have no problem with violence, I have no problem playing horrible people.
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Stillness of person and steadiness of features are signal marks of good breeding.
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I made sacrifices willingly; it was what I did best.
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I just make up lyrics off the top of my head. A lot of times, there's a phrase I really like, and I kind of build the song around that.
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I wonder now how tough you have to be to get big things done.
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Coming up with ideas isn't hard. The real challenge is finding the time to actually build something and then finding a home for it.
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'Vanity' means worthlessness.
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It's very important not to lose your temper in a courtroom, or in anything else you're doing.
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The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. With us there is no nice enquiry as to its being formed or unformed.
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Silk Road to Ruin has all the analysis and it's structured very well. I rely on my notes more and I use direct quotes. But there's nothing like writing about it right away.
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If you take shortcuts, you get cut short.
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We create success or failure on the course primarily by our thoughts.
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Life experience is not something to be denied, but to be celebrated.
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They hate whom they fear.
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We won't stop until the first Saudi license is issued to a woman.
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We need to continue our full support of the nascent Iraqi government by helping to rebuild their economic infrastructure and maintain security while training the Iraqi security forces.
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Life is tricky - you never know what's going to happen.
Dito Montiel -
Have the boldness to tell yourself the truth - every bit of it.
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I have this theory that anything that happens to you that leaves you alive and intact can be used somewhere in your writing.
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Even when I'm writing plays I enjoy having company and mentally I think of that company as the company I'm writing for.
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I had wanted to write 'The Possessed' as fiction, but everyone told me that no one would read a novel about graduate students. It seems almost uncivilized to tell someone writing a novel, 'No, you have to call this a memoir.'
