There are two sides to me. One is the writer. That's a savage person who looks at everything as ...
WALTER KIRN E-mails, phone calls, Web sites, videos. They're still all letters, basically, and they've c...
WALTER KIRN Novelists who pretend to understand what keeps them scribbling are really just guessing. A profound,...
WALTER KIRN I had the impression from reading English literature that British women were great beauties, and I o...
WALTER KIRN Realize that the game of life is the game of, to some extent, being taken advantage of by people who...
WALTER KIRN A sociopath doesn't warm up their environment, doesn't make it cozy. They don't have to;...
WALTER KIRN I'm a magpie in my fiction, taking whatever looks shiny and curious to line the nest of my story...
WALTER KIRN No matter how you cut them, paste them, rotate them, or distort them, lip syncing and air-guitar pla...
WALTER KIRN Here's how adaptation works - almost everything in the movie is in the book in some form. But it...
WALTER KIRN God is a freaking character, with enough foibles, tantrums, and paradoxical behaviors to supply a th...
WALTER KIRN I think people get a sense of possibility when they're on a plane, even romantic possibility, wo...
WALTER KIRN Thanks to Twitter, iPads, BlackBerrys, voice-activated in-dash navigation systems, and a hundred oth...
WALTER KIRN Uncertainty doesn't make life worth living, quite, but it does make striving and gambling worth ...
WALTER KIRN Everyone his own cinematographer. His own stream-of-consciousness e-mail poet. His own nightclub DJ....
WALTER KIRN I review books as a day job, and through the years I've come to view the contemporary memoir as,...
WALTER KIRN What is it in people, or just in people like me, that would rather let a lie go by, would rather wis...
WALTER KIRN We want to believe that we're invulnerable, and that people who get tricked deserve it. Well, th...
WALTER KIRN In fourth grade, I learned that reading was serious business, not just a pleasant way to pass the ti...
WALTER KIRN I remember the first time I went to Italy when I was eighteen, I was in Florence and there were all ...
WALTER KIRN The strange anthropological lesson of social media is that human beings, if given a choice, often pr...
WALTER KIRN The reason con artists get away with what they get away with is, their victims are ashamed of their ...
WALTER KIRN I've come to learn that the determined and gifted and genuine sociopath has far more power to de...
WALTER KIRN Literary dementia seems dated now, but there was a time when a month in the funny farm was as de rig...
WALTER KIRN I grew up in a little town in Minnesota, 500 people. I went out to Princeton, and I wasn't very ...
WALTER KIRN Everyone loves a witch hunt as long as it's someone else's witch being hunted.
WALTER KIRN To young people born under the weird planet of the SAT, intelligence was equated with agility, with ...
WALTER KIRN A true nature is a gloomy monolith, sort of like that old black rotary phone that I had to sing '...
WALTER KIRN Size matters in fiction, but so does lack of size. Everything else being equal, fat novels tend to b...
WALTER KIRN I love reference books, especially collections of memorable quotations, world almanacs, and atlases....
WALTER KIRN The room-service Caesar salads with soggy croutons, the distant relatives who show up at readings pi...
WALTER KIRN Every generation looks at literature through the lens of their own experience, but with the Bible, e...
WALTER KIRN The fictionally correct have all the answers, and that's what's wrong with them. They're...
WALTER KIRN The success that Americans are said to worship is success of a specific sort: accomplished not throu...
WALTER KIRN When I shoot at the range, I don't feel personally powerful but like the custodian of something ...
WALTER KIRN When we have a favorite writer, it's always the places where they grew up, lived, worked, and th...
WALTER KIRN Once you realize just the sort of glut of books that exists out there, it does become incumbent on y...
WALTER KIRN Good short-story collections, like good record albums, are almost always hit-and-miss affairs - succ...
WALTER KIRN Let the novelists fret about consistency - story writers should feel free to jam; to get things righ...
WALTER KIRN Ask Jeeves! Who ever used that thing? College freshmen to find out who Goethe was - that's it.
WALTER KIRN I'm a novelist, a critic, an essayist - I tend to see politics as a subset of cultures rather th...
WALTER KIRN Art, art of any kind, shows that folks are trying.
WALTER KIRN I read somewhere once that in the 1960s, fiction writers were troubled by the notion that life was b...
WALTER KIRN It's been a concern of mine for years that the mainstream media coverage of culture and politics...
WALTER KIRN [Most writers' view of the New West is] either phony - obsessed with the same tired mythology - or i...
WALTER KIRN She started out all excited and impressed. ... (She took an immediate dislike to Bill, who struck he...
WALTER KIRN I've been around - having gone to Princeton, and I went to Oxford after that - some pretty fancy...
WALTER KIRN A hundred and fifty years ago, this was just a continent. You could move to the borders and start a ...
WALTER KIRN because she was very upset and I was trying to do the gentlemanly thing.
WALTER KIRN Since the founding of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other mainstays of what technology writers ha...
WALTER KIRN When Loughner himself speaks and we find out his real influences are Spiderman, 'Gnome Chomsky,' Tay...
WALTER KIRN The Bible has been through millions of rounds of exegesis and interpretation, but it hasn't been...
WALTER KIRN Memo to extreme partisans: If you can't bring yourselves to love your enemies, can you at least lear...
WALTER KIRN Just breathing can be such a luxury sometimes.
WALTER KIRN In America, to be ID'd - sorted, tagged, and permanently filed - is to lose a bit of one's s...
WALTER KIRN In the age of networked everything, life moves sideways and covers lots of ground while barely touch...
WALTER KIRN A president, like a college freshman, can't know in advance which questions he'll have to an...
WALTER KIRN Nothing is less suspenseful than a threat that threatens the maker of the threat at least as much as...
WALTER KIRN You're able to do things in novels: introduce subplots, other characters, thematic layers and so...
WALTER KIRN Cross the wrong state border with your gun, or wake up one morning to new legislation or a new presi...
WALTER KIRN The jurors appear vaguely stranded and at loose ends, uprooted from their routines and livelihoods.
WALTER KIRN Every day, God grants us the precious gift of life. Yet every day, we squander it with our selfish, ...
KIRN HANS Gifts must affect the receiver to the point of shock.
WALTER BENJAMIN America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.
WALTER CRONKITE I look forward to making tangible and inspirational contributions to the Houston Technology Center&#...
WALTER O'BRIEN Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memori...
WALTER BENJAMIN All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.
WALTER BENJAMIN I can never believe how much time and energy and money and talent and everything else is being poure...
WALTER BECKER There are some things that I write that I know are personal in a way, or the gag is so obscure that ...
WALTER BECKER We have been fortunate enough to do something that has always been out of the mainstream and yet hav...
WALTER BECKER All our wives are experimental psychologists.
WALTER BECKER If there's a strange way to do something, I would certainly like to know about it. I feel that I...
WALTER BECKER I always look for the weirdest note to land on. I felt that that was the least I could do for the gr...
WALTER BECKER From a linguistic point of view, you can't really take much objection to the notion that a show ...
WALTER BECKER That's sort of what we wanted to do: conquer from the margins, sort of find our place in the mid...
WALTER BECKER You have a kid, and it's like, 'He's gotta go to college! Gotta have some clothes!'
WALTER BECKER '8 Miles to Pancake Day' is a reconciliation of the classic space-time dilemma.
WALTER BECKER It seemed like the more complex the music we were playing, the less able we were to guarantee its co...
WALTER BECKER There was a film called 'FM,' and we were asked to do the title song. And I said, 'Does ...
WALTER BECKER 'Deacon Blues' was special for me. It's the only time I remember mixing a record all day...
WALTER BECKER The protagonist in 'Deacon Blues' is a triple-L loser - an L-L-L Loser. It's not so much...
WALTER BECKER There's a great freedom in writing by yourself. You can write anything you want.
WALTER BECKER I spent a couple of years not doing any music or anything, just here in Hawaii trying to get healthy...
WALTER BECKER I'm not interested in a rock/jazz fusion.
WALTER BECKER It's great fun to play with a really good band.
WALTER BECKER People are really exercised about one particular thing, and that is themselves. They will bore you e...
WALTER BECKER Rock music is being systematically merged with fashion.
WALTER BECKER Cynicism, I contend, is the wailing of someone who believes that things are, or should be, or could ...
WALTER BECKER When you start to work with someone, there's a negotiation that takes place involving what's...
WALTER BECKER My primary influences were the best jazz players from the 50's and 60's and later some of th...
WALTER BECKER I listen to a mixture of old jazz, contemporary, pop, some world beat stuff and various odds and end...
WALTER BECKER I'm a self-taught musician aside from what I've been able to pick up from other players.
WALTER BECKER Honor sinks where commerce long prevails.
WALTER BAGEHOT You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-d...
WALTER BAGEHOT An influential member of parliament has not only to pay much money to become such, and to give time ...
WALTER BAGEHOT No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of a political economist...
WALTER BAGEHOT The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will leap to a hasty opi...
WALTER BAGEHOT No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation.
WALTER BAGEHOT Public opinion is a permeating influence, and it exacts obedience to itself; it requires us to drink...
WALTER BAGEHOT The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not kn...
WALTER BAGEHOT All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality - the story of escape. It is the only...
WALTER BAGEHOT Life is a school of probability.
WALTER BAGEHOT It is unsound for an independent editor to be a financial contributor to any cause which would cause...
WALTER ANNENBERG I have very little respect for Nancy Reagan. There is something about her that is very petty.
WALTER ANNENBERG I cannot compromise or inhibit my independence.
WALTER ANNENBERG Your Majesty, I took the liberty because I was so desirous of visiting alone with you for a few minu...
WALTER ANNENBERG God grant you the strength to fight off the temptations of surrender.
WALTER ANNENBERG You will not be satisfied unless you are contributing something to or for the benefit of others.
WALTER ANNENBERG What matters is that you are doing what you think is right based on the standards which you hold.
WALTER ANNENBERG The greatest happiness comes from being vitally interested in something that excites all your energi...
WALTER ANNENBERG Live rich, die poor; never make the mistake of doing it the other way round.
WALTER ANNENBERG I shall participate, I shall contribute, and in so doing, I will be the gainer.
WALTER ANNENBERG Adversity tests us from time to time and it is inevitable that this testing continues during life.
WALTER ANNENBERG Accomplish something every day of your life.
WALTER ANNENBERG People who think about art as an investment are pathetic.
WALTER ANNENBERG The test of character is having the ability to meet challenges.
WALTER ANNENBERG In the world today, a young lady who does not have a college education just is not educated.
WALTER ANNENBERG Never buy four C-plus paintings when you can buy one A.
WALTER ANNENBERG My country has been very good to me; I must be good to my country.
WALTER ANNENBERG Some people find an interest in making money, and though they appear to be slaving, many actually en...
WALTER ANNENBERG Many activities and team play participation will give you a training that will prove invaluable late...
WALTER ANNENBERG Too much work, too much vacation, too much of any one thing is unsound.
WALTER ANNENBERG The greatest power is not money power, but political power.
WALTER ANNENBERG I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible f...
WALTER ANDERSON Good listeners, like precious gems, are to be treasured.
WALTER ANDERSON We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone - but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, ne...
WALTER ANDERSON I'm not afraid to learn from my coaches.
WALTER ALSTON I put myself through college playing pool.
WALTER ALSTON I always liked Casey Stengel as a manager because he seemed to have a grasp of so many things.
WALTER ALSTON The toughest thing about managing is knowing your personnel and what it can give you under all condi...
WALTER ALSTON I do worry about tomorrow's game, but never about next year's job.
WALTER ALSTON I've won plenty of games by knowing when to take out my pitcher; whom to replace him with; or ho...
WALTER ALSTON I think for being not unsympathetic that their appearance may also appear, so differently it, must; ...
ULRICH WALTER Every astronaut flew into space for a living. But while NASA has not solved the security problems, I...
ULRICH WALTER Judgment comes from experience - and experience comes from bad judgment.
WALTER WRISTON She's been on more laps than a napkin.
WALTER WINCHELL Nothing recedes like success.
WALTER WINCHELL Hollywood is where they shoot too many pictures and not enough actors.
WALTER WINCHELL Broadway is a main artery of New York life - the hardened artery.
WALTER WINCHELL The best way to get along is never to forgive an enemy or forget a friend.
WALTER WINCHELL The only ones who like Milton Berle are his mother - and the public.
WALTER WINCHELL Today's gossip is tomorrow's headline.
WALTER WINCHELL I never lost a friend I wanted to keep.
WALTER WINCHELL What I would like to be remembered for is that Walter Washington changed the spirit of the people of...
WALTER WASHINGTON Mine has been a concern for the people, a concern to maintain stability, a concern to get people wor...
WALTER WASHINGTON I passed the Bar on the first shot, But I have never practiced law.
WALTER WAGER I always liked spy stories.
WALTER WAGER I use the city because it saves time, I don't have to do a lot of research on the setting.
WALTER WAGER In France, I learned about wine and cheese.
WALTER WAGER I keep working under the delusion that someday a library will ask for my manuscripts.
WALTER WAGER The government of the German Democratic Republic rejects secret policies. It works for the people, a...
WALTER ULBRICHT May we soon enjoy the fruits of our labor in a peaceful and united Germany.
WALTER ULBRICHT The nature of a democracy consists to an important degree in the right of the people to criticize pr...
WALTER ULBRICHT The more you participate in our common endeavors, the more successful your work in the factory, mine...
WALTER ULBRICHT The West German population would protest passionately if it knew what secret meetings between the fe...
WALTER ULBRICHT When has there ever been a government in German history that came to the people and revealed its det...
WALTER ULBRICHT The plan shows that the twenty million people in the German democratic Republic and in the democrati...
WALTER ULBRICHT In the past, people worked together only when some great disaster threatened.
WALTER ULBRICHT The success of each of us benefits us all, and the success of us all benefits each of us individuall...
WALTER ULBRICHT Something new has happened: For the first time in German history our fatherland is guided by a plan ...
WALTER ULBRICHT The guiding principle is not to manufacture the goods everyone needs, rather to earn profits for a f...
WALTER ULBRICHT The victory of the working people over the exploiters and slave holders is at the same time the vict...
WALTER ULBRICHT Let us show our fellow countrymen and the entire world what the Germans can do when they work for pe...
WALTER ULBRICHT This hunger for profits causes great misery for the people.
WALTER ULBRICHT It is the most important contribution we can make to speeding up reunification.
WALTER ULBRICHT Let there be great enthusiasm for the plan throughout the entire republic that will overcome all obs...
WALTER ULBRICHT Gifts fall from heaven only in fairy tales.
WALTER ULBRICHT The Old Firm clubs are not easy clubs to manage and sometimes I think frustration comes in that, in ...
WALTER SMITH There are people for whom Rangers Football Club is their entire way of life.
WALTER SMITH From my own point of view, I hope everybody would realise that people who work in Scottish football ...
WALTER SMITH Paper and ink are all but trash, if I cannot find the thought which the writer did think.
WALTER SMITH I started out in Scotland, not as a footballer of any note, and I didn't play to draw the attent...
WALTER SMITH If you can achieve winning a league championship, that, to me, is the full test of the team and mana...
WALTER SMITH Whether people like it or not, you have to say the Old Firm are a major part of Scottish football. I...
WALTER SMITH Our works decay and disappear but God gentlest works stay looking down on the ruins we toil to rear.
WALTER SMITH The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual he...
WALTER SCOTT He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out o...
WALTER SCOTT A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass, will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.
WALTER SCOTT Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues he...
WALTER SCOTT Faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest.
WALTER SCOTT Success - keeping your mind awake and your desire asleep.
WALTER SCOTT When thinking about companions gone, we feel ourselves doubly alone.
WALTER SCOTT One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth wh...
WALTER SCOTT Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above: For love is heaven, and ...
WALTER SCOTT Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life.
WALTER SCOTT Of all vices, drinking is the most incompatible with greatness.
WALTER SCOTT To all, to each, a fair good-night, and pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.
WALTER SCOTT What I have to say is far more important than how long my eyelashes are.
WALTER SCOTT A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some kno...
WALTER SCOTT Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities.
WALTER SCOTT We build statues out of snow, and weep to see them melt.
WALTER SCOTT Look back, and smile on perils past.
WALTER SCOTT When I come to London, I always like to see what's playing at the NFT.
WALTER SALLES We all knew the book well because it's the cult book in Latin America. For me, this was a sacred...
WALTER SALLES The Sundance Institute has been vital to the film communities of Latin America.
WALTER SALLES The other aspect is that you become much more aware of the structural problems that pertain to that ...
WALTER SALLES The necessity to conceptualise has to come very early on, and defining a vector of development for t...
WALTER SALLES The films that I've done before were original stories most of the time, I did two adaptations be...
WALTER SALLES That's why I have always admired documentaries, because they open windows that can make you unde...
WALTER SALLES So when I was very young, I longed for Brazil.
WALTER SALLES So the search for a father in Central Station is also a search for a country.
WALTER SALLES