Latest Tao Lin Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I think I don't view myself as an author. I view myself as a person. I view anything as part of being a person, so I feel okay with "marketing" or other things like that.

  Tao Lin

  Thinking, Marketing, Okay

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

• I don't feel a connection with younger people or with Generation X, or any generation, I feel. If I felt a connection with people my age I wouldn't have written six books about feeling depressed, alienated, lonely. If I did I would have many friends and feel connected with them and probably be a happy person who has a real job.

  Tao Lin

  Lonely, Real, Book

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

• I don't think anything ever "needs" to happen. I don't think it's more positive to have a Twitter account, a Tumblr, and a blog. Someone without those things will use their time to do other things, like read books or swim or talk to their children or read websites or listen to music or write books or lie in bed or sit in a chair. I don't think any of these things are more positive than any other things.

  Tao Lin

  Children, Lying, Book

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

• Most people will agree that they would like if they were treated by other people based on what they have concretely done in their life, not what other people have done, with their lives. Focusing on being a person instead of an Asian or an anything seems to promote a worldview that encourages people to treat others based on what each person has specifically done in their life, which seems like it would reduce such things as war, racism, unfairness, "hate crimes".

  Tao Lin

  Hate, War, Racism

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

• I think everyone is "racist," to differing degrees, in that everyone's brain will automatically associate information with other information, based on the information they are looking at, but I think focusing on race in any manner that isn't neutral or self-aware probably increases racism.

  Tao Lin

  Thinking, Racism, Brain

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

• If I focused hard on getting a literary agent, and doing things like that, instead of designing my blog's header, I would have more money, I think. I think I don't view myself as an author. I view myself as a person. I view [anything] as part of being a person, so I feel okay with "marketing" or other things like that.

  Tao Lin

  Thinking, Views, Design

  "Tao Lin: They See Me Trolling". Interview with Peter Heyneman, brightestyoungthings.com. February 4, 2011.

• I don't think it's more positive to have a Twitter account, a Tumblr, and a blog. Someone without those things will use their time to do other things, like read books or swim or talk to their children or read websites or listen to music or write books or lie in bed or sit in a chair. I don't think any of these things are more positive than any other things. I don't think having an internet presence helps financially.

  Tao Lin

  Children, Lying, Book

  "Tao Lin: They See Me Trolling". Interview with Peter Heyneman, brightestyoungthings.com. February 4, 2011.

• If I wrote about "being [abstraction]" I would be ignoring existential issues (such as death, limited-time, the arbitrary nature of the universe, the mystery of consciousness) that I feel affect me most in my life and think about most of the time. Another reason is that it doesn't seem specific or accurate, to me, to write about "being [abstraction]." I think there are some other reasons.

  Tao Lin

  Writing, Thinking, Issues

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

• I feel connected with people because of their sense of humor, worldview, and what they think and feel about certain existential issues (things not affected, in my view, by if someone rides a horse or drives a car or talks only IRL or only by typing), not how old they are, what they use to convey what they think and feel about certain existential issues, or if we have both watched the same TV shows or looked at the same websites.

  Tao Lin

  Horse, Thinking, Issues

  "Tao Lin: They See Me Trolling". Interview with Peter Heyneman, brightestyoungthings.com. February 4, 2011.

• It seems like most people will agree that they would like if they were treated by other people based on what they have concretely done in their life, not what other people have done, with their lives.

  Tao Lin

  People, Done, Agree

  "Tao Lin: They See Me Trolling". Interview with Peter Heyneman, brightestyoungthings.com. February 4, 2011.

• Focusing on being a person instead of an Asian or an [anything] seems to promote a worldview that encourages people to treat others based on what each person has specifically done in their life, which seems like it would reduce such things as war, racism, unfairness, "hate crimes," [other things most people feel aversion toward].

  Tao Lin

  Hate, War, Racism

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

• I don't know what to say about Asians. I think everyone is "racist," to differing degrees, in that everyone's brain will automatically associate information with other information, based on the information they are looking at (for example skin color, bone structure), but I think focusing on race in any manner that isn't neutral or self-aware probably increases racism.

  Tao Lin

  Thinking, Race, Skin Color

  "Tao Lin: They See Me Trolling". Interview with Peter Heyneman, brightestyoungthings.com. February 4, 2011.

• I think Gmail chats are different than IRL conversations because Gmail chats are saved by Gmail exactly as they occurred. I like texts and emails. Seems like I don't have anything to say that isn't obvious about texts, emails, and Gmail chats.

  Tao Lin

  Thinking, Email, Different

  "Tao Lin: They See Me Trolling". Interview with Peter Heyneman, brightestyoungthings.com. February 4, 2011.

• I usually have Kafka biography in my bathroom. It's a book I can open at random and feel interested in immediately. It's really funny. With this book, since I'm opening it at random and immediately interested, I don't feel the need to read more than I want to read, in that there's not, like, a plot that leads me along. So I can stop whenever.

  Tao Lin

  Book, Plot, Needs

• I don't know how to incorporate regret. But I'll say, like, "It affected me that way," "I learned this," "Next time maybe I'll do it differently".

  Tao Lin

  Regret, Way, Next

  "Tao Lin" by David Shapiro Jr, www.interviewmagazine.com. June 6, 2013.

• I just don't feel good if I'm repeating myself.

  Tao Lin

  Feel Good, Feels, Ifs

  Interview with David Shapiro Jr., www.interviewmagazine.com. June 6, 2013.

• I'm a shy, nervous person, and I don't like teaching with "terms." I didn't teach them, like, "This is first person, this is second person, this is foreshadowing," or whatever, so no one probably felt like they were learning anything. But I feel like teaching in that way reduces the concept to a term.

  Tao Lin

  Teaching, Shy, Way

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• It seems like I'm not [happy]. Because if you look at my tweets and what I think and say, it seems like I'm worried about what's going to happen.

  Tao Lin

  Thinking, Looks, Not Happy

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• Regarding drugs: just the existence of drugs seems troubling to me.

  Tao Lin

  Drug, Existence, Seems

  Interview with David Shapiro Jr., www.interviewmagazine.com. June 6, 2013.

• I think mostly the commodifying comes after I've done something that has some other value to me.

  Tao Lin

  Thinking, Done, Values

  Interview with David Shapiro Jr., www.interviewmagazine.com. June 6, 2013.

• I cried when my ex-girlfriend sent me a text message saying how much she liked my present to her.

  Tao Lin

  Girlfriend, Messages, Text Message

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• I was delivering pizzas at Domino's. I was 17 maybe. I liked it a lot. Just driving in the nice weather and listening to music.

  Tao Lin

  Nice, Weather, Listening

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• I just keep investing in the future, and I haven't reached the point where I'm not doing that.

  Tao Lin

  Investing, Investing In The Future, Havens

  Interview with David Shapiro Jr., www.interviewmagazine.com. June 6, 2013.

• It seems like for the last 10 years, I've just been investing in the future.

  Tao Lin

  Years, Investing, Lasts

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

• I like Bret Easton Ellis' sense of humor. I feel like mine is sometimes similar to his. And how his characters sometimes seem really confused in a humorous manner. I like that. And I have that sometimes in my characters.

  Tao Lin

  Confused, Humorous, Character

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com