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Quotes by British Authors
"Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs."
"Admitting, however, for the sake of argument, that I am prime and sole minister in this country, am I, therefore, prime and sole minister of all Europe? Am I answerable for the conduct of other countries as well as for that of my own?"
"People often argue about this. Obviously one of the skills in performance is acting, and you can't expect every Romeo to really be in love with their Juliet!"
"Golf seems to be an arduous way to go for a walk. I prefer to take the dog's out."
"The problem, for me, with the writing programs is that they produce a terrible uniformity of product."
"The public impression is that the government, industry or the highest bidder can buy a scientist to add credibility to any message. That crucial quality of impartiality is being lost."
"Few speeches which have produced an electrical effect on an audience can bear the colourless photography of a printed record."
"I was so incensed that I was oblivious to all as I ran over broken glass, holding a five-foot weightlifting bar. The glass tore the soles of my feet as I chased the gang's car up the street. I remember breathing heavily as I cursed failing to catch my enemies."
"These are excellent lessons to break him, and make him light in hand: but nothing puts a horse so much upon his haunches, and consequently makes him so light in hand, as my new method of the pillar."
"I do like to work on a Marvel method, so if I've got the opportunity, and the writer is happy to do it, I like to have a writer detail what happens on a page, but not saying what happens in every scene."
"Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters."
"I don't need to hear Bill to go through a song. I need to hear Keith to go through a song. I know Bill will be playing what I'm playing anyway. I need to hear Keith because it's all there: the time, the chord changes, and all the licks you have to follow."
"Money is always transitively valued. More money is supposedly always better than less money."
"Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it."
"At that time, the academic orientation was rather technical contrary to that of the university, where art theory is very important. The teachers were renowned artists and among the best of that time."
"I once did a role which I couldn't rehearse in my street clothes, I had to have the character's costume on before I could rehearse it. I just couldn't think as the character unless I looked like him, or I knew that I looked like him."
"The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility."
"We started filming in 1993 which was only four years after the fall of communism. The difference in Budapest over the last five years has been remarkable."
"I really, really love music. I'm affected by it and uplifted by it, and made to laugh and cry, and almost fall in love with the person who has made me feel so brilliant and communicated so profoundly to me."
"The gift of broadcasting is, without question, the lowest human capacity to which any man could attain."
"My neighbour asked if he could use my lawnmower and I told him of course he could, so long as he didn't take it out of my garden."
"Emeth came walking forward into the open strip of grass between the bonfire and the Stable. His eyes were shining, his face was solemn, his hand was on his sword-hilt, and he carried his head high. Jill felt like crying when she looked at his face. And Jewel whispered in the King's ear, "By the Lion's Mane, I almost love this young warrior, Calormene though he be. He is worthy of a better god than Tash."
"There are three reasons why this book came into being. First, throughout the 33 years I've been writing recipes - although I'm not vegetarian myself - I have greatly enjoyed creating vegetarian recipes, and cooking and serving them at home."
"Judgment is not upon all occasions required, but discretion always is."
"Few men of action have been able to make a graceful exit at the appropriate time."
"I went into a French restaraunt and asked the waiter, 'Have you got frog's legs?' He said, 'Yes,' so I said, 'Well hop into the kitchen and get me a cheese sandwich.'"
"We have hated the French for years. Now you have just joined the club. It makes you much more likable."
"As a piece of literacy criticism, Freud's best writing is about Dostoyevsky. It's a kind of displaced literacy criticism."
"I don't always wear underwear. When I'm in the heat, especially, I can't wear it. Like, if I'm wearing a flower dress, why do I have to wear underwear?"
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