Claire Messud Quotes
If you know what you're doing, it's not interesting. It has to be a challenge; it has to seem impossible and urgent to do it. And then you do it.
Quotes to Explore
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We think that we suffer from ingratitude, while in reality we suffer from self-love.
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It is easy to remove the mind from harping on the lost illusion of immortality. The disciplined intellect fears nothing and craves no sugar-plum at the day's end, but is content to accept life and serve society as best it may.
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I like to do the splits onstage.
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Doing voice-over work is something that I love to do, and it is a lot of fun at the same time.
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The main thing I want to do is make people feel more connected and more active.
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I want my son to become aware that he is in charge of the choices he makes, and it's good to make thoughtful, good choices.
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There's no safe Republican district. You can run, but you cannot hide.
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When I got '227' and broke out from the rest of the cast, I became a workaholic, and I was very lonely.
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Speed can't always get you wickets.
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When you assume negative intent, you're angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response.
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There is only one way... to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.
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If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, 'You've been drunk on money,' they're not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time they'd be willing to. People will need an explanation of where we are and where we've been, and 'The Great Gatsby' can provide that explanation.
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I loved to read and to write, but then something happened. As I made my way through school, I kept getting handed books to read that didn't excite me and didn't even remotely connect to the realities of my life.
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I wear a lot of boyish stuff, but I prefer to throw a fur coat on top just for the hell of it.
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Tax cuts are like sex: When they are good, they are very, very good. And when they are bad, they are still pretty good.
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My mother had a saying: 'Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you're not the last.'
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Most interviewers are looking for a headline. They're not skilled. They're looking for shock value.
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I always watch superhero movies, and I like the action and the fighting and all the different kinds of powers.
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At Guantanamo Bay, we could create a West Berlin, a free small city within the Communist nation that could trade freely with the U.S. and elect its own officials.
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I first came into the labor force in 1941 when the minimum wage was 40 cents an hour, and that was my first job. And each time that we've tried to boost the lower level of salary for the most underpaid workers, there have been predictions of catastrophe. But each time, in my opinion, the change has helped our Nation and its economic strength.
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I'm obsessed with those old romance films. I also would love to venture into the silent film world. I think that's extremely compelling and interesting and really relies on the acting, even more so than when you have an actor speaking.
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When a black man is stopped by a cop for no apparent reason, that is covert racism. When a black woman shops in a fancy store and is followed by security guards, that is covert racism. It is more subtle than 1960s racism, but it is still racism.
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Nobody - nobody - in my division wants to fight me, because I am the hardest fight for anybody.
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If you know what you're doing, it's not interesting. It has to be a challenge; it has to seem impossible and urgent to do it. And then you do it.
