Claire Messud Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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There are really two kinds of optimism. There's the complacent, Pollyanna optimism that says, 'Don't worry - everything will be just fine,' and that allows one to just lay back and do nothing about the problems around you. Then there's what we call dynamic optimism. That's an optimism based on action.
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If I wait for the genius to come, it just doesn't arrive.
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I'm someone who wears their heart on their sleeve.
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Most of Google's home technologies have failed to catch on in a major way.
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What makes me happy is the appreciation of people around me.
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I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.
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I never went to fashion school. I didn't know what a designer was. I knew I had something, but I didn't know what it was. And it could just have easily been nothing.
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I believe that I'm a hillbilly in my values and in my attitudes, and I don't want to lose that. I think it's possible to maintain a big chunk of that identity so long as you're self-reflective and meaningful about it.
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I've always had great faith in the Man Upstairs.
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A true heiress is never mean to anyone - except a girl who steals your boyfriend.
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So it's joyful to me, in my 71st year, to be able to be in a play that is absolutely right for my age and my experience, and that is a popular success. What more could you ask as an actor?
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Your subconscious's goal is to recreate unresolved childhood issues and then hopefully mend them.
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I used to get a shiver if I thought about holding balloons, because I was scared of floating away.
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I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to anything, but I will never marry again.
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How do you give smart, accomplished, ambitious women the same opportunities as men to reach their goals? What about universal preschool and after-school programs? What about changing the corporate mind-set about the time commitment it takes to move up the ladder? What about having more husbands step up and take the major load?
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I get even more nervous singing when everyone's fallen silent, but I really try to communicate the meaning of the lyrics, and there's people there listening to that, and if they're moved by it, then I'm moved as well.
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I think I played in Lambeau maybe 14, 15 times. I've played there a lot of times. It's in the teens, double digit. I've had success on that field, won and lost.
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I want to be an arena act. There's so many steps to take to get there, and it's so easy to get lost and cocky. I just take small steps each day.
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A good picture book should have events that are visually arresting - the pictures should call attention to what is happening in the story.
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I routinely interview college students, mostly from top schools, and I notice that their brains are like old maps, with lots of blank spaces for the uncharted terrain. It's not that they lack for motivation or IQ. It's that they can't connect the dots when they don't know where the dots are in the first place.
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I watch an awful lot of old Hollywood movies - I'll devour anything with Bette Davis or Joan Crawford. My absolute favourite is 'Sunset Boulevard' starring Gloria Swanson.
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The best ways of marketing were email and banner advertising, but I needed images... and they were very expensive.
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Machiavelli had some cold tricks for people who wanted to be demagogues and wanted to take over the world.
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If you took my reading and writing out of my head, I don't know who I would be.
