A drop-out designer in Portland, OR via Campbell, CA
Never mind what I’ve been through, just look at what I’ve become
All the shit I’ve avoided, what it done for my sons [...]
I sold dope and dropped out of school. Seems it’s all they can see.
They don’t notice none of my family did that since me.
I broke that cycle.
— T.I. (“On Top Of The World”)
Why does he hang out with those “retarded gorillas” as you call them? Because any one of them, if he asked them to, would take a fucking bat to your head, okay? That’s called loyalty.
— Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting (1997)
- Matt: Are either of you even remotely concerned that I tanked tonight?
- Danny: You didn’t tank.
- Matt: Yes, I sure did.
- Jordan: Hang on, cause I’m curious. What if you DID tank tonight? What are you afraid would happen?
- Matt: Strangers wouldn’t like me, friends wouldn’t like me, the network wouldn’t like me, the press wouldn’t like me, women in general wouldn’t like me and Harriet wouldn’t like me.
- Jordan: Is he in therapy?
- Danny: No, he’s got me.
— From an episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
- Natalie: Am I smokey?
- Jeremy: You better believe it. I’ll tell you what else you are: You are a slow drink of whiskey.
- Natalie: Say some computer things… Right now.
- Jeremy: Listen, seriously, those new herbs you’ve been taking? I think you should stop.
- Natalie: I’m a slow drink of whiskey?
- Jeremy: Among other things, yes.
— From an episode of Sports Night
All you see’s
a bunch of “what the fucks”
Dude is dating so and so,
blabbering ‘bout such & such.
And that ain’t Jersey Shore.
Homie, that’s the news.
And these the same people
supposedly telling us the truth.
— Lupe Fiasco (“Words I Never Said”)
‘Because it’s ugly!’ whinge the pedants. It’s only ugly because it’s new and you don’t like it. Ugly in the way Picasso, Stravinsky and Eliot were once thought ugly. And before them: Monet, Mahler and Baudelaire.
— Stephen Fry
- Teacher: Do you at least know the river which flows through Cairo?
- Vitus: No idea. But I could look it up in an atlas for you.
- Teacher: Thanks, but I know the name of the river.
- Vitus: So teachers always know more than their students?
- Teacher: Yes, that’s usually the case.
- Vitus: In that case, do you know who invented the steam engine?
- Teacher: Of course I know that. It was James Watt.
- Vitus: And why didn’t his teacher invent the steam engine?
— From the movie Vitus (2006)
The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready. It goes on because it’s 11:30.
— Lorne Michaels, creator & producer of Saturday Night Live
Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.
— Teller in an interview with Esquire
Mr. President… We talk about enemies more than we used to. I wanted to mention that.
— Joshua Lyman in an episode of The West Wing (“Enemies”)
I’m just happy to be here. Traveled more this month than half my peers traveled in a year.
— Illmaculate (“Rapper of the Year”)
- Mark Harris: So, to extend your baseball analogy, was The West Wing your home run?
- Aaron Sorkin: Solid double.
- Mark Harris: Really? Just halfway home?
- Aaron Sorkin: A solid double’s good! Listen, I love series television for many reasons, but the one downside is, if I’m writing a movie or a play and I’m not writing well, I call the studio or the producer and say, “It’s gonna be late. I’ve run into trouble, you’ll have to wait another month or two.” You can’t do that when you’re writing a television series. You have to write when you’re not writing well. I wrote 88 episodes of The West Wing. One of them is going to be your 88th best. And I’m not good enough for my 88th best to be very good.
— From an interview with Aaron Sorkin
So he’s a little hard on himself.
(“You know who isn’t hard on themselves? Amateurs.”)
Beginner’s luck done, now your buzz gone. You’re like a surgeon’s hands: Washed up, before you even put the gloves on.
- Harry Shearer: I went to UCLA.
- James Lipton: And what did you study there?
- Harry Shearer: Political science. But the real answer to your question is, “as little as possible.”
— From Inside The Actor’s Studio with the cast of The Simpsons
Watch me make love — to hard work ethics
Cause game without ambition is game never respected
— Lemon Andersen in his poem, “Watch Me“