Source: Nonfiction, Dave Barry Turns 50 (1998), p. 71
Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997) Chinese politician, Paramount leader of China
When asked about China's political stability by a group of American professors in 1983, as quoted in The Pacific Rim and the Western World: Strategic, Economic, and Cultural Perspectives (1987), p. 105
“If you can't write a decent short story because of the cold, write something else. Write anything.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934), A Cold Day
Context: If you can't write a decent short story because of the cold, write something else. Write anything. Write a long letter to somebody.
Frank McCourt book 'Tis
§14
'Tis (2000)
Source: ' Tis: a Memoir
Context: Why is it the minute I open my mouth the whole world is telling me they're Irish and we should all have a drink? It's not enough to be American. You always have to be something else, Irish-American, German-American, and you'd wonder how they'd get along if someone hadn't invented the hyphen.
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate
"Petty Notes on Some Sex in America" first published in Playboy magazine (1961 - 1962)
Cannibals and Christians (1966)
Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman
As quoted in "The Rides of Passage" in Via magazine (July 2005)
Context: Disneyland is something that will never be finished. It's something that I can keep developing. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing, once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor, you're through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. But I can change the park, because it's alive.
Boy George (1961) English musician
The London Evening Standard, 20 February 2006:
On Kanye West's winning of the Brit award
Henry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924) American statesman
The Day We Celebrate (Forefathers' Day), Address, New England Society of Brooklyn (December 21, 1888).
“Television is something the Russians invented to destroy American education.”
Paul Erdős (1913–1996) Hungarian mathematician and freelancer
As quoted in Comic Sections : The Book of Mathematical Jokes, Humour, Wit, and Wisdom (1993) by Des MacHale
