Maria Semple Quotes
I think because I try to keep things as real as I can, or I try to start from a place of reality, I almost don't have the imagination to write a book that's not set where I am.
Quotes to Explore
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I guess you'd call me an independent, since I've never identified myself with one party or another in politics. I always decide my vote by taking as careful a look as I can at the actual candidates and issues themselves, no matter what the party label.
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Even complex passwords are getting easy to break if they're too short. That's because today's inexpensive computer chips have the power of supercomputers from the year 2000.
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I keep returning to the central question facing over-50 women as we move into our Second Adulthood. What are our goals for this stage in our lives?
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It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like.
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Once I got married, I started working from an office. I found that having somewhere to go that isn't my house is mentally helpful: 'This is the place where I answer email and write blog posts,' and 'over there is the place where I do the dishes.'
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A good lie detector doesn't jump to conclusions but tries to understand the person across the table, her personality, and her motivations. Your goal as a lie spotter isn't to point the finger and say, 'You're lying' - your goal is to get to the truth.
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I love being a mum, but it's much more intensive work than being an actress - going to work feels like you've got a day off. Not that I want a day off from being a mum; it's just perhaps I had this impression before that mums don't work. But they work more than anyone.
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I am not a kind of person now who broods over the failures and negatives.
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I'm an artist at heart.
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I do remember in high school I wanted to be a disc jockey.
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The beautiful thing is that ageism just doesn't exist on 'EastEnders.' The show saved me.
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When people say to me 'what do you think of rap music?' my answer is there's no such thing. There's rap and there's music.
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I am prepared to do whatever I can do and whatever is reasonable to make sure that it is Hillary who makes it to the White House and not Trump.
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I just take it one day at a time. Austin Powers has given me a lot of opportunities as far as my career.
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Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling?
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I thought I'd be doing weird, Off Broadway theater after I graduated.
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Kaepernick's protest has been very successful. I really appreciate the fact that he's been giving away money to organisations; he pledged to give away a million dollars, and he's been doing it.
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Those market researchers... are playing games with you and me and with this entire country. Their so-called samples of opinion are no more accurate or reliable than my grandmother's big toe was when it came to predicting the weather.
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When 'Real People' aired in 1979, we did OK in Los Angeles and New York. What kept that show from being canceled were the ratings from the middle of the country, and that's what kept us in the top five. I learned then from co-hosting that it was important to focus on the country between Los Angeles and New York.
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My ultimate goal is to create operating systems for myself that allow me to think as little as possible about the silly decisions you can make all day long - like what to eat or where we should meet - so I can focus on making real decisions. Because mental energy is a finite quantity.
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When I am teaching, I first give out Tolstoy's 'Childhood,' his first published book. It is so transparent. It gives you exactly what it was like to be on a Russian estate in 1830. You are there. And that is the hope when you sit down and write still, I think - that you can transmit something of what life is like now.
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My clients don't pay me to feel sorry; they pay me to bring them money. I am tough, but I have a soft side.
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I think because I try to keep things as real as I can, or I try to start from a place of reality, I almost don't have the imagination to write a book that's not set where I am.
