A. O. Scott Quotes

I was a huge fan of the original Star Trek, and I'd never even dreamed that I would someday be captain of a starship...

I'm constantly involved in theater, looking at theater, trying to do work in theater, support theater. And that's kind of my creative passion.

Well, I'm... first and foremost I'm a theater guy and everything that I know comes from the theater.

Ive always had an affinity for lawyers. My dad is a lawyer. Hes retired now. My brother is a lawyer.

In the fantasy, sci-fi world, the fans are so discerning and they're so tough and they're so intelligent, and they're so critical.

I like fantasy. I've always been the kind of kid who likes to dream about other things I could be and exotic situations I could be in.

I've done great theatre, great films and had a lot of opportunities in television. I also love to sing, and I've been able to do that once or twice in the television shows.

Sunday night was such a big night for television when I was growing up - you know, The Wonderful World of Disney.

I havent really thought about where to scatter my ashes when the time comes, but I doubt that it would be in space.

I am very much against weapons in space.

And I've always felt comfortable certainly in a courtroom because you're just performing. And there was a time in my life when I thought when I grew up I'd be a trial lawyer myself.

Advertising, if it is any good, should help to confirm what already is, not what should be.

Most ideas never happen. It's an uphill battle against the status quo and our own tendencies.

Among idealists and visionaries, there is no shortage of good intent, but there's often a shortage of discipline.

While the tendency to generate ideas is rather natural, the path to making them happen is tumultuous.

Rather than Surrender to Bureaucracy, take it upon yourself to break it

Today never feels like it will be history, but it will. And more likely than not, you will look back and realize that you should have known.

The vision of extraordinary achievement is,by definition, a few steps beyond consensus and conventional logic

Discovery hapens in the overlap of difference communities... in the clashes of difference.

Self-leadership is about awareness, tolerance , and not letting your own natural tendencies limit your potential.

When a lot of people are calling you crazy: you're either crazy, or you're onto something.

Ideas are worthless if you can’t make them happen.

Commit yourself to taking enough risks that you will fail some of the time. If you're not failing, we're not doing something sufficiently difficult or creative.

Innovation is significant positive change.

Good public speaking is based on good private thinking

History can't give attention to what's been lost, hidden, or deliberately buried; it is mostly a telling of success, not the partial failures that enabled success.

I don’t want to be perfect. I want to be useful, I want to be good, and I want to sound like myself. Trying to be perfect gets in the way of all three.

This is one big problem with working remotely: no one believes you have a job at all.

It's rare for people to genuinely try to understand what others are trying to say.

The way you find the answers to your problems will be unique to you.

Anyone can criticize or accept praise, but initiating a positive exchange is a hallmark of a difference maker.

It's safe to assume that no matter where you stand, someone would be happy to be in your shoes, just as you'd be happy to be in someone else's.

People say what we're doing is holding out when in reality the teams are trying to crush the draft market because they don't want to pay fair market value.

My hope is next year Terry and I can work out a contract. I have no problem with the Minnesota Twins.

Life is a sweet mistake that happened when the world wasn't looking.

In terms of a "career," I never have long-term plans, and certainly don't want to spend several years, say, writing a "long" novel.

For me, the main inspiration to write a story or novel is the voice of its central character, or the narrative voice of the story itself.

We all make terrible mistakes in our lives.

I was the youngest of seven kids and I would not have been able to go to college without an athletic scholarship.

You don't think the losing is ever going to end, but when it does end, you get to enjoy it and keep working with it and keep getting it better, and that's where we are.

When you have an intense game, you're going to have arguments. I have no problem with it. I think it's healthy.

The NBA needs more of that 'it's-about-us-against-them' mentality.

I love being in the gym.

There's nothing that you can say in the paper that should affect you.

I had that thing of wanting to prove I was a tough kid.

I feel I should be doing stupid stuff, but I'm not going to.

I don't want to sound pretentious, but you could hire a bunch of monkeys to be on a TV show, and if it's successful, then everything's perfect and everybody's happy.

I just feel like if I do good work, then people should respect me for the work I do.

When I was a kid, I was always an athlete. I played a lot of sports. I played football, basketball, baseball and soccer.

I was the bad kid in school. I was usually in trouble.