“My prescription for writer's block is to face the fact that there is no such thing.... Writing well is difficult, but one can always write something. And then, with a lot of work, make it better. It's a question of having enough will and ambition, not of hoping to evade this mysterious hysteria people are always talking about.” PeopleWritingWellsEnoughFactsFacesDifficultTalkingAmbitionBlockMysteriousPrescriptionsHysteriaWriter's BlockWriting Well Author:Thomas Mallon
“There's a dangerous bottom-lining, and super-summarizing that happens in a lot of our press and our media, and sort of our politicians' talking points, that's dangerously simple. I don't know a better way to say it. And there's usually a lot more complicated facts going on than what is quoted and quotable.” KnowsWayFactsHappensSimpleTalkingMediaDangerousPoliticianPressesBottomComplicatedBetter WaysSummarizing Author:Seth Gordon
“All my movies have an autobiographical dimension, but that is indirectly, through the characters. In fact I am behind everything that happens and that is said, but I am never talking about myself in first person. Something in me - probably a dislike of cheap exhibitionism- stops me from approaching a project too autobiographically.” FirstsPersonsSaidCharacterFactsHappensBehindsTalkingProjectsDimensionsDislikeFirst PersonExhibitionism Author:Pedro Almodovar
“Psychic development is not a fanatical, freaky study, predicting the future, talking to UFOs, and being able to find out curious facts that are basically irrelevant to one's time in life.” FactsAbleTalkingStudySeeingDevelopmentCuriousIrrelevantPsychicsUfoPredictingFreakyPredicting The Future Author:Frederick Lenz
“It is not surprising that in talking about uncertainty we should lean heavily on facts, just as the court of law does when interrogating witnesses. Facts form a sort of bedrock on which we can build the shifting sands of uncertainty.” ShouldDoeFactsFormLawTalkingCourtWitnessUncertaintySandSurprisingShiftingBedrockShifting Sand Author:Dennis Lindley
“I am not talking about rebelliousness, but giving people time for constructive internal reflection and even daydreaming. A lot of research is suggesting that the more that you demand people's external attention, the less chance you are allowing them to dip into the default mode where daydreams and reflection happen - and lot of great ideas are not going to come from the brute force of work but from personal life experience. Mind-wandering seems to be essential to the creative process, and I don't think a lot of businesses are aware of that fact.” PeopleThinkingGivingMindIdeasFactsSeemsHappensForceProcessChanceAttentionTalkingCreativeDemandEssentialsResearchReflectionWanderInternalsAllowingLife ExperienceCreative ProcessPersonal LifeConstructiveBrutesGreat IdeaDaydreamingNot TalkingDefaultSuggestingDipBrute Force Author:Scott Barry Kaufman
“It is only the basest writer who cannot speak of the sea without talking of "raging waves," "remorseless floods," "ravenous billows," etc.; and it is one of the signs of the highest power in a writer to check all such habits of thought, and to keep his eyes fixed firmly on the pure fact , out of which if any feeling comes to him or his reader, he knows it must be a true one.” IfsKnowsFactsFeelingsEyeSpeakTalkingSeaReaderHabitPureHighestWaveRageChecksFixedHis EyesEtcFloodTrue OnesRemorseless Book:The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings Source: The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings
“You're gonna die. You're gonna die. And nobody's gonna care which version of the iPhone you used to make something on Twitter, or to go and post about your bowel movement on Facebook. And I'm not even talking about legacy; I'm talking about the fact that I personally feel most alive when I'm making something, and I feel least alive when I'm being led around by some obnoxious use of my attention that I wasn't aware of. To me, that's the thing. You can buy the jogging shoes and you can buy the Runner's World, but until you put them on and walk out the door every day, you're just a fat man.” MenWorldFeelsFactsUseCareUsedDiesWalksAttentionTalkingAliveDoorsMovementShoesVersionsFatsPostsLegacyRunnersIphoneObnoxiousJoggingFat ManBowel Movements Author:Merlin Mann
“The terrible state of public education has paid huge dividends in ignorance. Huge. We now have a country that can be told blatant lies - easily checkable, blatant lies - and I'm not talking about the covert workings of the CIA. When we have a terrorist attack, on September 11, 2001 with 19 men - 15 of them are Saudis - and five minutes later the whole country thinks they're from Iraq - how can you have faith in the public? This is an easily checkable fact. The whole country is like the O.J. Simpson jurors.” ThinkingMenCountryStatesWholeFactsLyingTalkingFiveMinutesIgnoranceHugeTerriblePaidIraqTerroristHave FaithSeptemberFive MinutesCiaSeptember 11Not TalkingSaudisDividendsPublic EducationTerrorist AttacksCovertSeptember 11 2001JurorsBlatant Lies Author:Fran Lebowitz
“[Children are] like talking animals. Their consciousness is so different from ours that they constitute a different species. They don't have to be particularly interesting children; just the fact that they are children is sufficient. They don't know what anything is, so they have to make it up. No matter how dull they are, they still have to figure things out for themselves.” KnowsChildrenStillsDifferentMatterFactsAnimalInterestingConsciousnessTalkingFiguresSpeciesSufficientDull Author:Fran Lebowitz
“All the excitements of a prohibited book had their usual effect, one of which, as always, is to expose the fact that the censors don't know what they are talking about.” KnowsBookFactsTalkingEffectsExcitementUsual Book:Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere Source: Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere
“There are details within details within details to anchor you in the fact that we are talking about the real world, not an illustrated children's book fantasy world.” WorldChildrenBookRealFactsTalkingFantasyDetailsReal WorldAnchorsChildren's BooksFantasy Worlds Author:Joe Rohde
“If you can somehow force a liberal into a point-counterpoint argument, his retorts will bear no relation to what you’ve said - unless you were in fact talking about your looks, your age, your weight, your personal obsessions, or whether you are a fascist. In the famous liberal two-step, they leap from one idiotic point to the next, so you can never nail them. It’s like arguing with someone with Attention Deficit Disorder.” IfsLooksSaidTwoFactsAgeNextForceAttentionTalkingStepsBearsArgumentWeightRelationArguingObsessionLeapDisorderNailsDeficitFascistsIdioticAttention Deficit DisorderRetorts Author:Ann Coulter
“What's always got me is the fact that when people talked on the telly about Iraq, before Afghanistan kicked off, you'd get only these public-school-type army officers talking about what was going on out there. I kept thinking, 'Why don't we get the true voice of the squaddie? Why don't we hear from the lads on the battlefield?'” PeopleThinkingFactsSchoolVoiceTalkingTypeArmyIraqOfficersAfghanistanPublic SchoolBattlefieldsLadArmy Officers Author:Ross Kemp