L.A. Paul Quotes

I wrote poems and an essay about that weird language. We still remember it to a certain extent, and it still comes up when we're all together. It's so fundamental to how I think.

We don't act the same in every situation. Things bleed into all kinds of other things, from behavior to identity.

My good friend, the poet Kofi Natambu, once said, "Contradiction is how we operate."

Even when it comes to writing fiction, how do you encompass all this stuff that's right on the tip of your tongue? You have to fold that into what you're working on.

I can't say that I love writing, but I do love the satisfaction that it gives me.

I don't try to be satirical. I just try to get what's in my head on the page. And that part is hard for me to do. It takes a long, long time to make it poetic, somewhat essayistic.

There's this line between propriety and how we really speak and how we really think. And I'm just trying to have fun with that stuff.

I'm not very pious about anything, fortunately, but I'm skewering myself first. I'm skewering things that I care about and things that are important to me and then just my own foibles.

I co-taught a seminar called Small Group Processes with my professor. I learned so much from it, so much about myself, about groups, how this stuff works. I bring all that stuff to teaching now.

Maybe I'm just sensitive to that person who's on the outside.

The other thing [my psychology professor] said to me was that I was always very mindful of the person who was away from the group, that I was always trying to bring them in.

I try to be accommodating, but I'm pretty much a loner.

I've written a little bit in Germany.

If I'm in LA, I'm close to home, and that just brings up all these other things, good and bad. There is a reason why I am not there .

I'm healthier in California, probably a little happier, maybe.

I forget how beautiful and calm California is. It's not so much about the place, but also the age that I came to the place and, well, other things. New York is hard.

I'm hugely honored [with the Man Booker Prize].

I'm very fortunate. I'm not much of a self-promoter or anything.

Sometimes I would get frustrated, I'd think, "You know, this is a good book, how come no one is paying attention to it?" So it's nice to have some recognition.

If all the students who slept through lectures were laid end to end, they'd all be a lot more comfortable. If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door.

I don't know exactly what a black Chinese restaurant would be, but I would sure love to see one.

Ah yes! Conservatives. Some of the finest minds of the 12th Century.

There's the great line: the definition of a liberal is someone who's afraid to take their own side in a fight. And that's my problem with my fellow liberals.

If we are negative by nature, we Americans are more human than most. The Founding Fathers loved going negative. Heck, the Declaration of Independence is one long negative ad.

It is a painful reminder that even the most well-intentioned among us sometimes act in ways that put children in danger of being abused or neglected.

[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country.

It seems to me the American people never really forgave the Democrats for being right about Vietnam.

Culture has always been more important than politics. Sometimes culture is a mirror that reflects what is; sometimes it's a search-light pointing the way to what will be.

But I think what happened was that Clinton knew how to fight back. And the way he fought back was on the issues - being tough in staying on the things that mattered to people in their lives.

I think his deepest quality is empathy.

See, I think if it just became who's sleeping with whom, then there's no reason to prefer one party over the other, 'cause the truth is we're all sinners.

Always attack, never defend.

If my wife hears one more report that I'm joining Hillary's campaign I'm going to have to go in the Pundit Protection Program.

The difference between Martin Sheen and George W. Bush is Martin Sheen is actually convincing when he acts like he's president.

In a world of increasing grey areas, we are becoming more and more entrenched in black and white positions.

My experience of people is that they are infinitely forgivable.

I really like telling stories. When I was a kid, I wanted to write songs. In quite a fundamental, gratifying, childish way, I enjoy the doing of telling a story.

I think language is the most important thing that human beings have ever accomplished, and the only thing that's really going to get us all out of the troubles that we find ourselves in.

Doing the big budget films really makes you appreciate doing movies like Shelter. It's because this is like doing theater, you just have to hit the ground running

I realized that this story [Shelter] is all about family, family loss, and how it influences you day to day life.

Logic doesn't really provide for loyalty. If your logic changes suddenly and things not make sense, you can alter your allegiance, but love stops you from being able to do that.

I wanted to know as the director how the actors wanted to tell this story I wanted to know what they thought.

I'm sure some people have an absolute grasp of where they are in their careers. I just don't think about it that much.

So the actual privilege is that you can then take time off - and if you don't, you're a fool. You're earning all this money to support children whom you then don't see, which is absurd.

For a while, I stopped enjoying making movies and I stopped enjoying acting, because I made a few decisions that I wish I hadn't made.

I was born a Catholic and now I'm a lapsed Catholic. I'm something but I'm not a believer any more.

I think when you're trying to produce a relationship on screen that doesn't actually exist, perhaps sometimes there's a temptation to look at each other more, to touch each other more...

The music of Wagner imposes mental tortures that only algebra has the right to inflict.

It's not what happens in life, it's how you react to what happens in life.

I just love going out and listening to people. People can teach us a lot.