English Major Quotes

• The number one secret of being a successful writer is this: marry an English major.

  Stephen Ambrose

  Successful, Numbers, Secret

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Not Shakespeare. In college I took a Shakespeare class because I was an English major, and they had a Summer program called Shakespeare at Winedale, which is out in the German Hill country in Texas , where you go out and live for two months and then you perform three plays at the end of that time.

  Jenna Bush

  Majors

  20 Copy quote

• I was an English major in college!

  Maggie Siff

  College, Majors

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• I had higher math SATs than in English - yet I became an English major in college.

  Christie Hefner

  Math, College, Sat

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• I was an English major in college with minors in Fine Arts and Humanities.

  Sue Grafton

  Art, College, Humanity

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• I am an English major in school with an emphasis in creative writing. I think hearing Maya Angelou speak at school last year was one of the best moments Stanford, at least, intellectually, had to offer.

  Fred Savage

  Writing, School, Thinking

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I read good. I was an English major.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Majors

  "P.J. O'Rourke Takes On 'The Wealth of Nations'". Interview with Neal Conan, www.npr.org. January 8, 2007.

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• I didn't know shorthand either. This meant I couldn't get a good job after college. My mother kept telling me nobody wanted a plain English major. But an English major who knew shorthand would be something else again. Everybody would want her. She would be in demand among all the up-and-coming young men and she would transcribe letter after thrilling letter. The trouble was, I hated the idea of serving men in any way. I wanted to dictate my own thrilling letters.

  Sylvia Plath

  Mother, Jobs, College

  11 Copy quote

• She'd become an English major for the purest and dullest of reasons: because she loved to read.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Reason, Majors

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2011). “The Marriage Plot: A Novel”, p.20, Macmillan

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• More than anything, being an English major made me more appreciative of authors and what an incredible feat it is to just finish a novel, let alone a really brilliant one.

  Dan Mangan

  Brilliant, Incredibles, Appreciative

  Source: www.songfacts.com

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• I do tend to be an analyzer. I'm an old English major from way back, so I do have fun tearing apart texts and trying to find the hidden secrets and the subtexts in there.

  Cynthia Nixon

  Fun, Secret, Trying

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• I honor English majors. It's a dumb thing to major in. It leads nowhere. It's good to be dumb, it allows us to love something for no reason. That's the best kind of love.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Dumb, Honor, Kind

  Natalie Goldberg (2011). “Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life”, p.131, Open Road Media

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• As an English major I was familiar with the stories of dozens of writers trying to get their work done among the multifarious diversions of the world and the hurdles of their own vices. A professor had said that what saved writers is that they, like politicians, had the illusion of destiny that allowed them to overcome obstacles no matter how nominal their work.

  Jim Harrison

  Destiny, Trying, Dozen

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• Being an English major prepares you for impersonating authority.

  Garrison Keillor

  Authority, Majors

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• Maybe because I began as a writer, I have a good ear for dialogue, and maybe being an English major - and that I also read a lot as a kid - if I hear somebody say something that I think's funny, or I find a situation or story, I'll try to work that into the movie.

  Owen Wilson

  Kids, Thinking, Trying

  Interview with Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, www.interviewmagazine.com. January 15, 2016.

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• I was an English major in college, though I ended up getting my degree in "General Stduies" because my grades were too bad to qualify for an English degree.

  Josh Lieb

  College, Degrees, Grades

  "Wanna Write For Latenight? Get Tips From a 'Tonight Show' Producer". Interview with Kat Rosenfield, www.mtv.com. May 04, 2015.

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• I was an English major, so I love discussing possibilities and alternate theories.

  William Mapother

  Possibility, Theory, Discussing

  "Going on From Lost, Actor William Mapother Heads to Another Earth". Interview with Brad Balfour, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 18, 2011.

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• There's no doubt that scientific training helps many authors to write better science fiction. And yet, several of the very best were English majors who could not parse a differential equation to save their lives.

  David Brin

  Writing, Doubt, Training

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• Finding a technical cofounder would have been difficult for me. I was an English major and didn't know any computer programmers.

  Jessica Livingston

  Computer, Difficult, Findings

  "The Advice For Any Woman Who Wants To Found A Startup" by Jessica Livingston, www.businessinsider.com. January 31, 2011.

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• I was an English major in college, and then I went to graduate school in English at the University of North Carolina for three years.

  Elizabeth Edwards

  School, College, Years

  51 Copy quote

• I was an English major in college, took a ton of creative writing courses, and was a newspaper reporter for 10 years.

  Jennifer Weiner

  Writing, College, Years

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• I did try to go to college and try to be an English major.

  Hamish Linklater

  College, Trying, Majors

  "Hamish Linklater Stops Time, Fights Aliens, Discovers The Future". Interview with Gillian Mohney, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 15, 2011.

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• Absolutely, but let me qualify that - I consider myself an authentic feminist. Not as defined by the modern movement. And, let me clarify that a little bit more. I was an English major, so break it down: -ist means one who celebrates. As a feminist, I celebrate my femininity.

  Christine O'Donnell

  Mean, Feminist, Movement

  "Christine O'Donnell Running For Senate In Delaware At AFP's RightOnline Conference". Interview at Americans for Prosperity's RightOnline Conference, www.youtube.com. July 2010.

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• We English majors...need to promote public libraries as a tool in the war against terror. How many readers of Edith Wharton have engaged in terroristic acts? I challenge you to name one...Do we need to wait until our cities lie in smoking ruins before we wake up to the fact that a first-class public library is a vital link in national defense?

  Garrison Keillor

  War, Lying, Book

  5 Copy quote

• I was an English major at the University of Minnesota, and I was very shy, which many people misinterpreted as intelligence. On the basis of that wrong impression, I became the editor of the campus literary magazine.

  Garrison Keillor

  Editors, People, Shy

  4 Copy quote