Claire Messud Quotes

You can't make a character do something they wouldn't do.

Claire Messud

• Character

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Quotes to Explore

• If you have not been a villain at a certain point in time, you will never be a hero. And the day you are a hero, you may become a villain the next day.

  

  Carlos Ghosn
  • Time
  • May
  • Day

• I like to see myself as a bridge builder, that is me building bridges between people, between races, between cultures, between politics, trying to find common ground.

  

  T. D. Jakes
  • People
  • Me
  • Politics

• There are too many books I haven't read, too many places I haven't seen, too many memories I haven't kept long enough.

  

  Irwin Shaw
  • Long
  • Memories
  • Enough

• Fear is the major cargo that American writers must stow away when the writing life calls them into carefully chosen ranks.

  

  Pat Conroy
  • Life
  • Writing
  • American

• Country music tells stories, and I've always loved to tell stories.

  

  R. Kelly
  • Music
  • Country
  • Loved

• Man can never be a woman's equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.

  

  Mahatma Gandhi
  • Nature
  • Man
  • Service

• I was studying political science; I was adamant that I was going to follow in my father's footsteps.

  

  Iman
  • Father
  • Political
  • Science

• Mind is everything. Muscle - pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.

  

  Paavo Nurmi
  • Mind
  • Being
  • Muscle

• It is my hope that I will be able to work with legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle and Gov. Hickenlooper to find a solution to fix our ailing pension system.

  

  Walker Stapleton
  • Work
  • Hope
  • Solution

• I have a company called Earl Campbell Foods. I got into the meat business in 1991.

  

  Earl Campbell
  • Business
  • Company
  • Meat

• The first time I worked with colors was by making these mosaics of Pantone swatches. They end up being very large pictures, and I photographed with a very large camera - an 8x10 camera. So you can see the surface of every single swatch - like in this picture of Chuck Close. And you have to walk very far to be able to see it.

  

  Vik Muniz
  • Up
  • Time
  • Single

• I don't understand people who dream in black and white. I just don't get it. My dreams have always been vivid color.

  

  Gary Ross
  • People
  • Dream
  • Black

• No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.

  

  Barbara Ehrenreich
  • True
  • Patriotism
  • Rebellion

• All the best parts of art come from pain turned to celebration.

  

  Natalia Kills
  • Art
  • Best
  • Pain

• If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.

  

  Edith Wharton
  • Time
  • Good
  • Trying

• I've had a few ditty hits.

  

  Carlene Carter
  • Had
  • Few
  • Hits

• The men and women who occupied the east coast of North America between 1607 and 1800 have been more closely scrutinized than any other collection of people in American history.

  

  Edmund Morgan
  • People
  • Men
  • Women

• I've always maintained - a captain is only as good as his team. It is not about my leadership, it is not about me.

  

  Gautam Gambhir
  • Good
  • Team
  • Leadership

• It is exciting and emancipating to believe we are one of nature's latest experiments, but what if the experiment is unsuccessful?

  

  V. S. Pritchett
  • Believe
  • Nature
  • What If

• Here forms, here colours, here the character of every part of the universe are concentrated to a point; and that point is so marvellous a thing … Oh! marvellous, O stupendous Necessity - by thy laws thou dost compel every effect to be the direct result of its cause, by the shortest path. These are miracles...

  

  Leonardo da Vinci
  • Character
  • Universe
  • Path

• My mentor Jon Simmons introduced me to the Stanislavski system, which is so heavy on back-story. So you write and write and write these back stories about a character and then you throw it away. So then on set, if it doesn't come, then you didn't do your work.

  

  Chris Zylka
  • Work
  • Character
  • Mentor

• I was always on set, I was always working, so my study was down to the bare minimum required. So I am one of the few who didn't study 'Lord of the Flies.'

  

  Eliza Taylor
  • Study

• I'm a designer, and I work very hard at that. People sometimes want to put down fashion by saying it's frivolous or superficial, but it's not that way at all. It's actually very hard work.

  

  Donatella Versace
  • People
  • Work
  • Fashion

• You can't make a character do something they wouldn't do.

  

  Claire Messud
  • Character