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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.'
-
I have no problem with violence, I have no problem playing horrible people.
-
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.
-
I wonder now how tough you have to be to get big things done.
-
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.
-
'Vanity' means worthlessness.
-
It's very important not to lose your temper in a courtroom, or in anything else you're doing.
-
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.
-
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.
-
We create success or failure on the course primarily by our thoughts.
-
Life experience is not something to be denied, but to be celebrated.
-
They hate whom they fear.
-
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.
-
The cat is such a perfect symbol of beauty and superiority that it seems scarcely possible for any true aesthete and civilised cynic to do other than worship it.
-
I am indebted to the Indian Army, from my birth till now; I have grown and imbibed the indomitable spirit of this fighting force.
-
I think more people in the mainstream, folks like Nancy Wilson and Luther Vandross, they have openly expressed their love for God, and when mainstream artists start expressing their love for God openly in their concerts and including gospel songs in their concert, and, you know, people started embracing it.
-
Censorship may have to do with literature; but literature has nothing whatever to do with censorship.
-
Everything you say and do is having an impact on others.
-
I always put on M.A.C. Prep and Primer before anything.
-
I'm a fan of anything that's good, especially when it's conscientiously good.
-
I am motivated to write because it is what I am meant to do. It is not a choice - it is what I am. I did not choose writing - it chose me. And I believe it is necessarily that way. Anyone doing this for some other reason should not be.
-
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.'
