Claire Messud Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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I promised my mom that if, after a year of putting 150 percent into my career it didn't work out, I would go back to school. I never did go back.
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When I went to drama school, I knew I was at least as talented as other students, but because I was a black man and I wasn't pretty, I knew I would have to work my butt off to be the best that I would be, and to be noticed.
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In Yellowstone National Park, there are more 'do not feed the animals' signs than there are animals you might wish to feed.
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In Europe, we will work towards having a common stance, while in France, we will strengthen our protection for asylum seekers whose lives are in danger because of their sexual orientation.
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I wish I could fill every young man who reads these pages with an utter dread and horror of poverty. I wish I could make you so feel its shame, its constraint, its bitterness that you would make vows against it.
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When you start to think about politicians, you've got to realize these are strange creatures. Other than the fact that they can't tell directions, and they have very strange breeding habits, how do you actually work with these things?
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People have got to get together and work together. I'm tired of the kind of oppression that white people have inflicted on us and are still trying to inflict.
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In the 1970s and 1980s, I got to do some great work. The Oscars are really nice, but the best part is that I had the opportunity to do that kind of work.
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People tend to think that numbers are quite objective, but numbers in economics are not like this. Some economists say they're like sausages: you don't know what they really are until you cut into them.
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Glory is attained from hard work, step by step.
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Well, as an artist, I think that Elvis's generosity to me he always talked very highly about me, he always spoke very highly about my work and singing and my writing.
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It might be said that it is the ideal of the employer to have production without employees and the ideal of the employee is to have income without work.
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The excitement of the fans in Montreal, especially in the playoffs, I don't think you can get that anywhere else. For a hockey player, I kind of wish everyone could go through that and experience what it is to play there. It's very unique.
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Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work.
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This old notion that work is drudgery is nonsense. Most days, even back when Xerox was under siege, I could not wait to get to the office.
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It's surreal to think that I own this beautiful island. It doesn't feel like anyone can own Lanai. What it feels like to me is this really cool 21st-century engineering project, where I get to work with the people of Lanai to create a prosperous and sustainable Eden in the Pacific.
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I wanted to work with Bryan Singer because I like his films.
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The state of New Jersey is really two places - terrible cities and wonderful suburbs. I live in the suburbs, the final battleground of the American dream, where people get married and have kids and try to scratch out a happy life for themselves. It's very romantic in that way, but a bit naive. I like to play with that in my work.
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I don't sleep much. I don't sleep much - I work, I work, I work.
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I continue to wish that writing were easier, that it would flow out completely perfect with no need for revisions.
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When you lose your mother at 20 and then your father soon after, melancholia is part of your life.
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I don't plot my books rigidly, follow a preconceived structure. A novel mustn't be a closed system - it's a quest.
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Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.
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I'd wish for my work to be remembered rather than myself.
