Maria Semple Quotes
When I came back from my first TED, very few people knew what it was. But around the time I was sitting down to write 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette,' in 2010, TED was exploding.
Quotes to Explore
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Cuba needs a dose of perestroika.
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I think I was probably an early teenager when I discovered Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and a bunch of people that are on a long list of artists. They were important to me, especially as an early adolescent.
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Every member in Congress has a seat, and they deserve a seat at the table.
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The claim made by Team Obama that every dollar in stimulus translates into a dollar-and-a-half in growth is economic fiction. The costs of stimulus reduce future growth. No country has ever spent itself to prosperity. The price of stimulus has to be paid sometime.
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What I'm still grappling with and learning how to do is to be looking and thinking cinematically, having come from television.
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'Shameless' was such a weird time in my life because I never really experienced any kind of role that put me that much in the spotlight before.
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My mother worked in factories, worked as a domestic, worked in a restaurant, always had a second job.
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When the government takes video of people in public places, the images should only be kept as long as they may reasonably be needed to investigate a crime. After a few days, if there has not been a report of a crime, they should be destroyed.
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National armies fight nations, royal armies fight their like, the first obey a mob, always demented and the second a king, generally sane.
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In my early 20s, I was a big fan of Theodore Dreiser and might be one of the few people on the planet who have voluntarily read all his novels.
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Unlike many Californians or New Yorkers, college football is a religion down south.
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It's an honor to live in and serve the great City of Los Angeles. I'm also immensely grateful for the support I've received from Ireland.
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Don't overact the story of your name. Overact the story of your work.
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What I want to do is tell stories about normal people in the American suburbs. I don't write the book where it's a conspiracy reaching the prime minister; I don't write the book with the big serial killer who lops off heads. My setting is a very placid pool of suburbia, family life. And within that I can make pretty big splashes.
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Stealing things is a glorious occupations, particularly in the art world.
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I love to see a wood full of bluebells. Growing up in the Kent countryside, I have special memories of this brief annual spectacle.
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I was a fashion editor for years in London before I came to 'Vogue,' and I spent my life arranging the folds of a ball gown skirt for a picture and pinning fabric and using all those stylist tricks. And you don't have to do that now because they can do it in Photoshop.
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I have lifestyle requirements. Photos, meetings, lunches, dinners, facial care, tooth care. It requires an exorbitant amount of money.
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I've become a day writer: most people start as night writers, and I used to be, but something happened to my endocrine system. I do miss the 3 A.M. writing jags.
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Yonkers made me strong and made me believe in myself, because so many people would doubt you and not believe. There are people that would believe in you, but the environment was so harsh, nobody wanted you to get out, you know?
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I don't mind being 65, but nobody is gonna tell me to come in at 5:30 to have the early bird special.
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I respect women but do not necessarily believe that women need to compete with men.
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When I came back from my first TED, very few people knew what it was. But around the time I was sitting down to write 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette,' in 2010, TED was exploding.
