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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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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People just can't wrap their heads around two young black women in a major production.
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When I'm traveling, I won't miss an opportunity to try great pasta.
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A baby comes with such responsibility. Once you become a mother, you always have a guilt trip. You always try to do the best, but you feel you can always be better.
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We learn our virtues from our friends who love us; our faults from the enemy who hates us. We cannot easily discover our real character from a friend. He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection.
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The truth is, the 'Fortune' 500 prefer lobbying to campaigning.
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The measure of a country's greatness should be based on how well it cares for its most vulnerable populations.
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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.
