James A. Michener Quotes - Page 4

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• I think the bottom line is that if you get through a childhood like mine, it's not at all bad. Obviously, you come out a pretty tough turkey, and you have had all the inoculations you need to keep you on a level keel for the rest of your life. The sad part is, most of us don't come out.

  James A. Michener

  Thinking, Turkeys, Childhood

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• Millions upon millions of years ago, when the continents were already formed and the principal features of the earth had been decided, there existed, then as now, one aspect of the world that dwarfed all other ... a mighty ocean, resting uneasily to the east of the largest continent, a restless ever-changing, gigantic body of water that would later be described as Pacific.

  James A. Michener

  Ocean, Years, Water

  James A. Michener (2013). “Hawaii: A Novel”, p.19, Dial Press

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• I had been educated with free scholarships. I went to nine different universities, always at public expense, and when you have that experience, you are almost obligated to give it back. It's as simple as that.

  James A. Michener

  Simple, Giving, Different

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• In a small Polish farm community, during the fall planting season of 1981, events occurred which electrified the world, sending reverberations of magnitude to capitals as diverse as Washington, Peking and especially Moscow.

  James A. Michener

  Fall, Community, Events

  James A. Michener (2014). “Poland: A Novel”, p.26, Dial Press

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• organizations like the church or General Motors promote a man up and up until he reaches a spot which he is obviously incapable of filling, and there they lay him to rest.

  James A. Michener

  Men, Organization, Church

  "Poland" by James A. Michener, (p.587), 1983.

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• It was the silent time before dawn, along the shores of what had been one of the most beautiful lakes in southern Africa.

  James A. Michener

  Beautiful, Lakes, Southern

  James A. Michener (2014). “The Covenant: A Novel”, p.27, Dial Press

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• Although most of us know Vincent van Gogh in Arles and Paul Gauguin in Tahiti as if they were neighbors -- somewhat disreputable but endlessly fascinating -- none of us can name two French generals or department store owners of that period. I take enormous pride in considering myself an artist, one of the necessaries.

  James A. Michener

  Pride, Artist, Names

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• Russia, France, Germany and China. They revere their writers. America is still a frontier country that almost shudders at the idea of creative expression.

  James A. Michener

  Country, Russia, Expression

  "A Spelunker in the Caves of History". "Modern Maturity" Magazine, August 1985.

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• The extreme geniality of San Francisco's economic, intellectual and political climate makes it the most varied and challenging city in the United States.

  James A. Michener

  Cities, San Francisco, Political

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• I have only one bit of advice to beginning writers: be sure your novel is read by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

  James A. Michener

  Advice, Novel, Beginning Writers

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• I never wrote anything that was published until I was forty.

  James A. Michener

  Forty

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• When this is over, I'm not going to be the same guy. I am going to live as if I were a great man.

  James A. Michener

  Men, Guy, Great Men

  "Storytelling Phenomenon". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. January 10, 1991.

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• I kept careful record of the impact of religion on the election in my county. The religious issue permeated every meeting I conducted. It influenced Republicans and Democrats alike. Ministers preached politics publicly and churches distributed the most vicious electioneering materials. Practically no one I met escaped the pressure of this overriding problem and both parties were ultimately forced to make their major calculations with the religious question a foremost consideration.

  James A. Michener

  Religious, Party, Impact

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• The decent thing to do is to get rid of some of this money.

  James A. Michener

  Decent, Things To Do

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• I was a Navy officer writing about Navy problems and I simply stole this lovely Army nurse and popped her into a Navy uniform, where she has done very well for herself.

  James A. Michener

  Writing, Army, Nurse

  "Tales of the South Pacific". Book by James A. Michener, 1947.

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• You write that first draft really to see how it's going to come out.

  James A. Michener

  Writing, Firsts

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• I think the crucial thing in the writing career is to find what you want to do and how you fit in. What somebody else does is of no concern whatever except as an interesting variation.

  James A. Michener

  Writing, Thinking, Careers

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• I was surprised when shortly after New Year's Day of 1983, the Governor of Texas summoned me to his office, because I hadn't been aware that he knew I was in town.

  James A. Michener

  New Year, Texas, Years

  James A. Michener (2014). “Texas: A Novel”, p.25, Dial Press

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• On 24 October 1944 Planet Earth was following its orbit about the sun as it has obediently done for nearly five billion years.

  James A. Michener

  Years, Orbit, Done

  James A. Michener (2014). “Space: A Novel”, p.22, Dial Press

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• About a billion years ago, long before the continents had separated to define the ancient oceans, or their own outlines had been determined, a small protuberance jutted out from the northwest corner of what would later become North America.

  James A. Michener

  Ocean, Years, America

  James A. Michener (1993). “Two complete novels”, Outlet

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• Things are going to go wrong, and I think we are false to life if we don’t portray it. But there is also the hope that some lucky clown is going to come along and stumble into the gold mine. And I think you are also entitled to hold out that hope.

  James A. Michener

  Thinking, Gold, Lucky

  "Storytelling Phenomenon". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. January 10, 1991.

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• I don’t know who my parents were. I know nothing about my inheritance. I could be Jewish; I could be part Negro; I could be Irish; I could be Russian. I am spiritually a mix anyway, but I did have a solid childhood fortunately, because of some wonderful women who brought me up. I never had a father or a man in the house, and that was a loss...

  James A. Michener

  Father, Loss, Men

  "Storytelling Phenomenon". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. January 10, 1991.

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• If I were a young man, I would not hesitate at writing anything to get into print, except pornography.

  James A. Michener

  Writing, Men, Young

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• Contrary to what people think, I slave over my books.

  James A. Michener

  Book, Thinking, People

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• Many people who want to be writers don't really want to be writers. They want to have been writers. They wish they had a book in print.

  James A. Michener

  Book, People, Wish

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