J. Robbins Quotes

There is no question that [Dan] Quayle is an uneducated idiot. But someone, somewhere cleverly realized that the best diversion from Bush is to put on a clown show.

I'm not gangly; I'm very coordinated. I do have a bit of a baby face. But I guess that just means I'll be working longer.

As we applaud the hard-edged realism of the opening battle scene of Saving Private Ryan, we cringe at the thought of seeing the same on the nightly news.We are told it would be pornographic.

You should never try irony or self-effacing humour.

It's difficult when you have to turn down a tremendous amount of money because you don't like what the script is saying and you don't have any money.

New York is not conductive to theater. New York does not encourage its young. It does not encourage experimentation.

When you make the judgement as a network that there are only three candidates, you are censoring points of view.

It's certainly a lot more difficult to get a project made if you're talking about something progressive. That's just the nature of the industry.

I am cheerful. I don't know if I'm happy. There is a difference, you know.

Approfondement is a French word that means 'playing easily in the deep.'

My life is not merely a public phenomenon, it is a solitary adventure as well.

Kissing is man's greatest invention. All animals copulate, but only humans kiss.

I believe in nothing, everything is sacred. I believe in everything, nothing is sacred.

Purpose! Purposes are for animals with a hell of a lot more dignity than the human race! Just hop on that strange torpedo and ride it to wherever it's going.

…not a fighter… an adventurer. He doesn’t attack, he engages; He doesn’t defend, he expands; He doesn’t destroy, he transforms; He doesn’t reject, he explores; ….

The price of self-destiny is never cheap, and in certain situations it is unthinkable. But to achieve the marvelous, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.

We only rise above mediocrity when there's something at stake. p. 174

Transformation, liberation and celebration are the themes of all my novels.

'Neotenty' is 'remaining young,' and it may be ironic that it is so little known, because human evolution has been dominated by it.

You don't have to be a genius to recognize one. If you did, Einstein would never have gotten invited to the White House.

Never be afraid to make a fool of yourself. The furthest out you can go is the best place to be.

At birth, we emerge from dream soup. At death, we sink back into dream soup. In between soups, there is a crossing of dry land. Life is a portage.

The more advertising I see, the less I want to buy.

You've heard of people calling in sick. You may have called in sick a few times yourself. But have you ever thought about calling in well

The universe does not have laws. It has habits. And habits can be broken.

It was autumn, the springtime of death.

Meet me in Cognito, baby. In Cognito, we'll have nothing to hide.

If complexity doesn't beat you, paradox will.

To an artist a metaphor is as real as a dollar.

I'm probably more interested in sentences than anything else in life.

Usually, autobiography is such an indulgence of the ego.

Unfortunately, little darlings, there is no such thing as a simple love story.The most transitory puppy crush is complex to the extent of lying beyond the far reaches of the brain's understanding.

Live the beauty or your own reality.

Never be afraid to love, not even when there's a chance you're not being loved in return.

Western civilization was declining too fast for comfort, but too slowly to be very exciting.

Don't talk about it - you'll talk it away. Let the ideas flow from your mind to the page without exposing them to air. Especially hot air.

Peeple of zee wurl, relax

almost any object, including this book you hold, can turn up as Exhibit A in a murder trial.

I journey to the east, where I have been told, there are men who have taught death some manners.

Love is the ultimate outlaw.

Dreams don't come true. Dreams are true.

I am looking for the novelists whose writing is an extension of their intellect rather than an extension of their neurosis.

Things. Cosas. Things attach themselves like leeches to the human soul, then they bleed out the sweetness and the music and the primordial joy of being unencumbered upon the land.

And what would our ideas of God, of religion, be like if they had come to us through the minds of women? Ever think of that?

Heaven is living in your hopes and Hell is living in your fears. It's up to each individual which one he chooses.

Now that I'm in love, I haven't a clue. Now that I'm in love, I'm completely stupid on the subject.

Writing a novel is not so much a project as a journey, a voyage, an adventure.

Life is hard if you think it's hard.

If you were Jesus with missing years to kill where would you go?

But the center can be a harmful place for one who has lived so long on the edge.... Normality is the Great Neurosis of civilization.