Maria Semple Quotes

I think a novel has to be about where you are at a given moment in time. I think it really needs to represent some specific pain you're going through. it's not just a story.

Maria Semple

• Time
• Pain

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• Your ability to use the principle of autosuggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession.

  

  Napoleon Hill
  • Desire
  • Principle
  • Obsession

• A writer is a human being. He has to live with a sense of honor.

  

  Irwin Shaw
  • Live
  • Human
  • Honor

• To be honest, proper recognition has only come from the fans. I don't want to be hard, and I don't want to be negative, but I want to be honest.

  

  Yaya Toure
  • Want
  • Negative
  • Recognition

• So yeah, I play the piano for most of the show, but I like rock and roll.

  

  Gavin DeGraw
  • Rock
  • Piano
  • Rock And Roll

• With a poetry book I can send 100 copies out to reviewers and other people, and even do it in advance and get their response. It's difficult with iPad: how do you send it out for free, and how do you even disseminate it before it goes into their store?

  

  Felix Dennis
  • People
  • Book
  • Free

• So, two cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism.

  

  E. M. Forster
  • Democracy
  • Criticism
  • Cheers

• Ohio has long been an embarrassment to charter-school supporters nationwide, with its trail of scandal and graft and abysmal student performance.

  

  Laura Moser
  • Long
  • School
  • Performance

• You feel it in there, pacing your heart sometimes, and it has what's called a defibrillator. Should I suffer that arhythmia, it's generally sudden death. And the paddles that are internal shock you back and restore your rhythm to its normal and natural state.

  

  Victoria Gotti
  • Heart
  • Death
  • Sometimes

• The lives of African-Americans in this country are characterized by violence for most of our history. Much of that violence, at least to some extent, you know, done by the very state that's supposed to protect them.

  

  Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Country
  • Done
  • History

• I am a control freak. I will admit that freely.

  

  J. Michael Straczynski
  • Control
  • Admit
  • Freak

• I would hate for my father to regret all his support that he's given me over the years and be embarrassed by anything I chose to do.

  

  Katee Sackhoff
  • Father
  • Hate
  • Support

• At the end of the spectrum when you get to that 12th step, when you have that spiritual awakening we make ourselves available to help other people.

  

  Daniel Baldwin
  • People
  • Help
  • Spiritual

• You trivialize the idea of competition totally, then there's no point in having the competition in the first place, and everybody is getting a trophy.

  

  Wayne Rogers
  • Idea
  • Competition
  • Place

• I do this thing with my daughter - I put my hand on her face and shake her head, but really affectionately. But I didn't think, and I did that to Flea.

  

  Watkin Tudor Jones
  • Think
  • Hand
  • Daughter

• I wasn't a major in political science for nothing, so I understood the politics of beauty and the politics of race when it comes to the fashion industry.

  

  Iman
  • Science
  • Political
  • Fashion

• There's some quality you get when you're not totally comfortable. When you're not doing what you're used to, you could completely fall on your face. You could completely blow it.

  

  Beck
  • Fall
  • Quality
  • Doing

• Being funny with a funny voice is more my comfort zone, a broader character that I try to humanize, a kind of silly or wacky persona that I try to fill in.

  

  Hank Azaria
  • Character
  • Funny
  • Voice

• When you're rich you don't write checks.

  

  Randy Moss
  • You
  • Write
  • Rich

• My family had a business where they worked with gravestones, and I remember growing up and playing in cemeteries like it was a normal playground.

  

  Zach Roerig
  • Up
  • Family
  • Business

• There's a fine line between character building and soul destroying.

  

  Colin Hay Men at Work
  • Character
  • Soul

• What a piece of garbage this smart car is. There's a commercial - the smart car has zero percent interest for six years. Well, good, I got zero percent in six years in buying this smart car. I'll tell you that much. I mean, it's ridiculous. My buddy has a smart car, totaled it. He hit a deer tick.

  

  Larry the Cable Guy
  • Good
  • Car
  • Smart

• On the first day of school, you got to be real careful where you sit. You walk into the classroom and just plunk your stuff down on any old desk, and the next thing you know the teacher is saying, 'I hope you all like where you're sitting, because these are your permanent seats.'

  

  Jeff Kinney
  • Real
  • School
  • Hope

• Mankind has failed miserably in its effort to devise a rational system of government. ... The art of government is the exclusive possession of quacks and frauds. It has been so since the earliest days, and it will probably remain so until the end of time.

  

  H. L. Mencken
  • Time
  • Art
  • Effort

• I think a novel has to be about where you are at a given moment in time. I think it really needs to represent some specific pain you're going through. it's not just a story.

  

  Maria Semple
  • Time
  • Pain