Walter Kirn Quotes

I think of myself as writing realist American fiction. 'Cynical but hopeful' wouldn't be the worst thing I've ever been called.

Walter Kirn

• Writing
• American
• Myself
• Realist

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Quotes to Explore

• To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.

  

  Irving Wallace
  • Easy
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• God surrounded me with people of faith, people of strong faith, people of power, spiritual power, and I saw little miracles happen in their lives. By it happening in their lives, I started believing it could happen to me.

  

  Natalie Cole
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• Writers should provoke disagreement.

  

  V. S. Naipaul
  • Should
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• I look a certain way. I have a very specific kind of look.

  

  Famke Janssen
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• I have no problem with violence, I have no problem playing horrible people.

  

  Mandy Patinkin
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• It's been a long slog back, and we've still got a long way to go.

  

  Ted Strickland
  • Long
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• Everything has two sides - the outside that is ridiculous, and the inside that is solemn.

  

  Olive Schreiner
  • Inside
  • Sides
  • Ridiculous

• 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.

  

  Washed Out
  • Up
  • Song
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• I'd never stop traveling, and I love bringing my family along with me. My children have points of reference everywhere, friends from Milan to Los Angeles. I think it's really fun for them.

  

  Valeria Mazza
  • Children
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• You need to make a trip to Des Moines in August, because the Iowa State Fair really is a sight to see. The Iowa Fairgrounds are usually packed for those 11 days, and you get a real sense of what a classic Midwest fair is all about.

  

  Zach Johnson The Fray
  • Real
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• Lets be clear, Dolly Parton is a rapper. Somewhere before all the country, I don't know what happens up there in the mountains when you're growing up, but she has been spitting rhymes for a very long time - 50 years I'd say.

  

  Queen Latifah
  • Up
  • Time
  • Long

• Meditation helps me to calm down.

  

  Lady Gaga
  • Me
  • Calm
  • Meditation

• Not obsessed with particularly Nike, but sneakers in general. I love them.

  

  Idris Elba
  • Obsessed
  • General
  • Sneakers

• That's really my goal now. I'm trying to be a positive role model to my kids and to just enjoy this ride, because it's hard. It's hard to enjoy it when you're in it.

  

  Taylor Dayne
  • Trying
  • Kids
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• Eazy-E is going to remain Eazy-E. But I will not portray Compton as a bad city.

  

  Eric Lynn Wright
  • Bad
  • City
  • Will

• I've used a cellphone exactly twice. Things move on. The world changes. And I don't know it.

  

  Laura Hillenbrand
  • World
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• I'd love to have William Faulkner, Beethoven and Bach over. I want to find out what makes those guys tick!

  

  Candy Crowley
  • Love
  • Want
  • Find

• Fortunately analysis is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts. Life itself still remains a very effective therapist.

  

  Karen Horney
  • Life
  • Way
  • Analysis

• Sometimes we make decisions because it seems to be the only path visible at the moment. It's only later that we see there was more than one path, but the others were blocked from our vision at the time. That's the thing with hindsight, you see. Even if you can see it clearly, there's no going back. It's at that point we need to turn around and stare ahead and make a new life.

  

  Karen White
  • Moments
  • Decision
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• A Christianity that is in conflict with the Scriptures isn't Christianity at all.

  

  Randall Terry
  • Conflict
  • Christianity

• For me, standup will always be some part of my life, and other things will move around and find their place.

  

  J. B. Smoove
  • Life
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• If no one ever took risks, Michaelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.

  

  Neil Simon

• Beyond any question, the way the American founders consistently linked faith and freedom, republicanism and religion, was not only deliberate and thoughtful, it was also surprising and anything but routine.

  

  Os Guinness
  • American
  • Freedom
  • Faith

• I think of myself as writing realist American fiction. 'Cynical but hopeful' wouldn't be the worst thing I've ever been called.

  

  Walter Kirn
  • Writing
  • American
  • Myself