“In America right now, we use words like 'smart' to talk about bombs. American rhetoric is grounded in ideas of capital-G Good, capital-E Evil, and it's very clear who is on which side. But in a book you can do just the opposite. You can use all lower-case words.” BookIdeasUseAmericaEvilSidesCan DoCasesClearRight NowSmartOppositesBombsRhetoricGrounded Author:Jonathan Safran Foer
“When I go on stage man I just want people to have fun, I don't want people to think about their problems, I want people to get energy and nutrition and food from that so they can go back into the real world and work on their problems.” PeopleThinkingMenWorldWantRealProblemEnergyFunStageGoes OnHaving FunReal WorldNutrition Author:Jon Fishman
“When I was seven or eight I was really into Cream, really into Led Zeppelin.” SevenEightCreamZeppelins Author:Jon Fishman
“You look at the fact that for millions of years species on earth have been developing and we've been knocking them off at like a hundred a day.” YearsLooksHas BeensFactsEarthMillionsHundredSpeciesDevelopingKnocking Author:Jon Fishman
“You're not there to spread any particular- if you're Bob Marley you're there to spread a message, but very few people can do that effectively without shoving opinions down someone's throat.” PeopleIfsCan DoOpinionParticularMessagesSpreadThroatBobMarley Author:Jon Fishman
“I like contemporary American literature and I like biographies and I like jazz and I like baseball and I like writers who write about the human condition and sci-fi is just something that I happened into.” WritingHumansLiteratureHappenedConditionsBaseballJazzContemporarySci FiHuman ConditionBiographiesAmerican Literature Author:Jonathan Frakes
“When I finally gave up any hope of doing anything representative of the American family, I actually seemed to have tapped into other people's weirdness in that way.” PeopleWayRepresentativesGave UpWeirdnessAmerican Family Author:Jonathan Franzen
“The Mekons were kind of like the background music of my life.” KindBackgroundsBackground Music Author:Jonathan Franzen
“It's very liberating for me to realize that I don't have to step up to the plate with a plot that involves the U.N. Security Council.” RealizingStepsSecurityPlotPlatesCouncilLiberatingStep UpSecurity Council Author:Jonathan Franzen
“It's not surprising to see in my own work, looking back, and in the work of some of my peers, an attention to family. It's nice to write a book that does tend toward significance and meaning, and where else are you sure of finding it?” WritingDoeBookMy OwnAttentionNiceFindingsSignificanceSurprisingLooking BackPeers Author:Jonathan Franzen