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I read every book about Buster Keaton and Chaplin to see how they worked - it's all about dedication, tunnel vision, pursuit of perfection, getting the gag right.


Paul Merton

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When I was a kid, I loved all the silent comedians - Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin. And I...
DICK VAN DYKE I just want people to remember me like I remember Buster Keaton. When they talk about Buster Keaton ...
JACKIE CHAN Everyone seems to have this awareness of Charlie Chaplin because he was a really good businessman wh...
FRENCH STEWART I liked the America of Bing Crosby, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton - it was all a dream, of cours...
I. M. PEI I think physical comedy is an amazing asset because it tells a story that's more universal than ...
JOSH GAD I just want people to remember me like I remember Buster Keaton. When they talk about Buster Keaton ...
JACKIE CHAN Buster Keaton's 'The General,' from 1927, I think is still one of the great films of all...
PETER JACKSON There's something magical about film, it's the ultimate for me, because it's kind of per...
PAUL MERTON I think one of the funniest things about '30 Rock' is that Liz Lemon is sort of like Buster ...
CRISTIN MILIOTI I grew up and I was weaned on the Marx Brothers. They were sort of my all-time favorite. My parents ...
JOSHUA MALINA I think of Mike Myers as the Buster Keaton of today. I think he's brought us something so specia...
ROBERT WAGNER Comedy isn't necessarily all dialogue. Think of Buster Keaton: the poker face and all this chaos...
CLINT EASTWOOD I'm not bitter about Hollywood's treatment of me, but of its treatment of Griffith, von Sternberg, B...
ORSON WELLES I would have loved to have met Buster Keaton.
NATALIE MORALES It's important to see how people see your work and how they feel about it. I know a lot of direc...
XAVIER DOLAN It was interesting to find how dominating American vision is all over the world. I think there's...
K'NAAN I say things as if they've already happened, so as I'm getting ready I can think about it an...
MANDY BUJOLD I wanted to write a story about colonization and about Hawaii. I went to college right at the height...
HANYA YANAGIHARA Sometimes I get to see a movie that's adapted from a book that I haven't heard about or that...
TATIANA DE ROSNAY Right now, it's all about getting the ice ready. It?s all about flooding.
FRED HABERMAN Future forecasting is all about testing strategies - it's like a wind tunnel.
JAMAIS CASCIO Just about every science whiz can tell you how he or she took apart the TV or the radio when they we...
CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE I want every Israeli child, secular and religious, to know about Moses, about Maimonides, about Yoni...
NAFTALI BENNETT I was single-minded and I had tunnel vision. Now it's time for a change.
EVELYN ASHFORD I worked on 'Lonesome Dove' three weeks all together. When I heard they were doing it, I wan...
BARRY CORBIN I love Buster Keaton. I was a big fan of the stunt shows at Universal Studios. I'm a huge Cirque...
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS I bought a book of Mark Twain quotes. That's about my speed. I'll read a couple quotes and p...
KID ROCK How much of a book review is about the reviewer? Sometimes it's mostly about the reviewer!
KATHRYN HARRISON It's that one thing that you're passionate about, that you end up developing tunnel vision f...
JOHNNY GALECKI Ron Paul's crazy talk about the Federal Reserve makes more sense these days. Right now, every - ...
MARK STEYN It's all right to agree or disagree on the balanced budget amendment. It's all right to talk...
SHEILA JACKSON LEE With both quarterbacks, their vision is exceptional right now. They're getting the ball to the guy w...
LARRY TERRY I've always believed that success for anyone is all about drive, dedication, and desire, but for...
STEPHEN CURRY I liked to watch the expression in the fighter's face change when you connected with him. You kn...
GERRY COONEY Every time I'd read about the stone circles, it would describe how they worked as an astronomica...
DIANA GABALDON You want to know about anybody? See what books they read, and how they've been read...
KERI HULME I'm happy to see book clubs on TV. Talking about books has always been an important and invigora...
ANN PACKER It's all about progression, not getting stuck and about having aspirations, which can lead you t...
DAMIAN WOETZEL The thrill I got discovering Buster Keaton when I was growing up was so exciting. He was one of the ...
JOHN CLEESE There was a film class in my high school in Northfield, Minnesota, which was very unusual. I saw my ...
SIRI HUSTVEDT You know what I loved about 'Sideways'? Well, the wine, of course. But it was one of the few...
KRISTAN HIGGINS It's fun to peek into other people's worlds and see how they go about doing things.
NORAH JONES When I'm deciding to read a book, I never open to the first chapter, because that's been rev...
CARL HIAASEN Ford Maddox Ford's 'The Good Soldier' is my favourite novel. I first read it in the 1950...
RUTH RENDELL I write so that people will read what I write. I don't want to write a book that a thousand peop...
ANN HOOD In elementary school, I read every single space book in the library about all the planets, about neb...
SUNIL NAGARAJ I love to talk to children about making mistakes. It's important that I tell them about how I do...
PATRICIA MACLACHLAN Some actors actually think about what they're going to talk about during the interview - they re...
AIDAN QUINN The best thing about getting a flu shot is that you never again need to wash your hands. That's ...
CHUCK PALAHNIUK It's cool to be in the paper every once in awhile and people read about you and they know who yo...
TAYLOR PHINNEY From age 16, I lived and breathed wine. I read every magazine and book about wine.
GARY VAYNERCHUK Yeah, the Mac Life... it's about sipping some tea, getting together with the knitting circle. Yo...
CONOR MCGREGOR The book is called 'Thanks for Nothing' and it's really the story of how I got into come...
JACK DEE It's extraordinary how many people read a book that's new and weird and befriend it.
JUNOT DIAZ The idea of Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet so inflaming the fanboy community is amusing, since that ...
ELVIS MITCHELL As an audience member, I live vicariously through the characters I watch or read about. There's ...
JAMES BADGE DALE I have read every book in the 'Dune' series and every Anne Rice book.
LORRAINE TOUSSAINT I think success right now is not about how famous you are or how much you're getting paid, but i...
SARAH HYLAND Every night, I have to read a book, so that my mind will stop thinking about things that I stress ab...
BRITNEY SPEARS The relentless pursuit of perfection has been my problem over the years. It's maybe held me back...
RONNIE O'SULLIVAN He's my favorite! He wrote and produced, and starred in and cast all of his movies! Can you imag...
EMMA STONE I saw Roland Barthes's 'Mourning Diary' at a bookshop, and I felt it was like I was dest...
GO AH-SUNG Readers have the right to say whatever the fuck they want about a book. Period. They have that right...
STACIA KANE When I read Andrew Motion's biography, I wept. It's something about the purity of the story ...
JANE CAMPION I try to remember, as I hear about friends getting engaged, that it's not about the ring and it&...
GWYNETH PALTROW On a job, there's so much commitment you have to give, in regards to time, research... I like th...
LIAM CUNNINGHAM Tim O'Brien's book about Vietnam, 'The Things They Carried', has won every award, is...
DAVE EGGERS Wrestling is different to me. As I talk to other wrestlers, wrestling seems a little different to me...
DANIEL BRYAN I read this book once where the girl yelled 'cat' right before they were about to get some bow-chick...
J. LYNN I could talk for ages about how women are amazing, but essentially we shouldn't be manipulated b...
BAT FOR LASHES Those songs are about getting out; they're not about getting out of family. It wasn't about ...
BOB GELDOF At a certain point, I became a kind of musician that has tunnel vision about jazz. I only listened t...
HERBIE HANCOCK In both the world of fashion and politics, what's required to succeed is passion, dedication, an...
R. J. CUTLER Every single aspect of myself, let me put it this way, it's all about trying to incorporate. It&...
DANICA PATRICK Every book has a soul, the soul of the person who wrote it and the soul of those who read it and dre...
CARLOS RUIZ ZAFóN In the case of 'Ocean at the End of the Lane,' it's a book about helplessness. It's ...
NEIL GAIMAN It was all about music, about getting your friends to come and see you play. I don't see that sa...
LAYNE STALEY I like to think 'The God Delusion' is a humorous book. I think, actually, it's full of l...
RICHARD DAWKINS I have come across many who have got tunnel vision, I have to admit I have also got tunnel vision, h...
DIPU AHAD I want to be happy. I realized that being happy isn't necessarily about getting there, it's ...
BEN HUH I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right.
BILLY GRAHAM My favorite book is 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. It is multi-layered, and I see so...
KIMBERLY WILLIS HOLT I was focused on building things from an early age. When I was about 3, our toilet broke, and my mot...
COLIN ANGLE I feel like it's such an exercise in, like, several things to read a ton of 'Cosmo's or ...
MEGAN AMRAM If it's about what I like, I like opera as a music and deathstep and dubstep.
DEYTH BANGER Solitary people, these book lovers. I think it's swell that there are people you don't have to worry...
HELEN OYEYEMI I don't micromanage, but I do care deeply about every product we make. Every one goes through me...
JOHN PAUL DEJORIA People are worried about what's going to happen to journalism - and they should be. Every day, t...
KARA SWISHER I went right to the 'Guide to the Marvel Universe,' which has every Marvel character from A-...
J. AUGUST RICHARDS I was once again looking for a book idea, and I remembered Holmes, but I specifically remembered tha...
ERIK LARSON Maybe it's whiner's fatigue, but I'm getting tired of hearing about how hard it is to st...
DAVID ULEVITCH I think 'Comic Book: The Movie' is the apex of my career in terms of making a personal state...
MARK HAMILL I just kind of do my thing with sort of tunnel vision for the story and my role and how it fits toge...
LIN SHAYE When you're younger, it's about, 'How can I get better? How can I become the player that...
TONY ROMO When I put my nose in a glass, it's like tunnel vision. I move into another world, where everyth...
ROBERT M. PARKER, JR. Pursuit is a rather desperate act in itself. There's something kind of frantic about the notion ...
MICHAEL LEUNIG There's a children's book by Anthony Browne called 'The Tunnel' that I've always...
BILLY HOWLE All that chatter you hear from yuppie parents at the playground about how expensive it is to 'do...
TUCKER CARLSON My advice is this. For Christ's sake, don't write a book that is suitable for a kid of 12 ye...
TERRY PRATCHETT Ron allowed us to see right away the private piece of a person about to become very public. I suspec...
MARY MCDONNELL

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THOMAS MERTON Technology is not in itself opposed to spirituality and to religion. But it presents a great temptat...
THOMAS MERTON The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me.
THOMAS MERTON In the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for ''finding...
THOMAS MERTON In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was sud...
THOMAS MERTON Perhaps I am stronger than I think
THOMAS MERTON The degradation of the sense of symbol in modern society is one of its many signs of spiritual decay...
THOMAS MERTON Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real
THOMAS MERTON Advertising treats all products with the reverence and the seriousness due to sacraments.
THOMAS MERTON To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many...
THOMAS MERTON We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of men and irrational mania of those who ha...
THOMAS MERTON To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to li...
THOMAS MERTON We thought it would have significance for practice but nothing of the magnitude that's occurred over...
ROBERT MERTON In effect, the same kind of methodology or technology that was developed about 25 years ago is being...
ROBERT MERTON The moral mandate to achieve success exerts pressure to succeed by fair means, if possible, and by f...
ROBERT MERTON It is a good idea to be ambitious, to have goals, to want to be good at what you do, but it is a ter...
ROBERT MERTON The point is not that they will then be nice to you. It is that you will feel better about yourself.
ROBERT MERTON We must be willing to accept the bitter truth that, in the end, we may have to become a burden to th...
THOMAS MERTON If a man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit.
THOMAS MERTON Solitude is a way to defend the spirit against the murderous din of our materialism.
THOMAS MERTON To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many...
THOMAS MERTON Be still:
There is no longer any need of comment.
It was a lucky wind
That blew away ...
THOMAS MERTON For Abelard, the death of Christ on the Cross did not, strictly speaking, redeem man: it only offere...
THOMAS MERTON And yet with every wound You robbed me of a crime,
And as each blow was paid with Blood,
Y...
THOMAS MERTON Surrender your own poverty and acknowledge your nothingness to the Lord. Whether you understand it o...
THOMAS MERTON I brought all the instincts of a writer with me into the monastery.
THOMAS MERTON All men who live only according to their five senses, and seek nothing beyond the gratification of t...
THOMAS MERTON Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to t...
THOMAS MERTON Power always protects the good of some at the expense of all others.
THOMAS MERTON I suppose what makes me most glad is that we all recognize each other in this metaphysical space of ...
THOMAS MERTON What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from...
THOMAS MERTON We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at th...
THOMAS MERTON We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace ...
THOMAS MERTON The Bible is not primarily a written or printed text to be scrutinized in private, in a scholar's st...
THOMAS MERTON