I Existed Before Star Trek. I Started In Live Television. I Was There When The Cameras Were As Big As A Table, Had Internal Fans That Were Whirring And Tubes That, Because Of The Heat, Had To Come Right Up To Our Face For A Close-up. Now, We Are Talking About Green Screen And Putting Us In Locations That We'll Never Visit. What Has Happened To Us Is A Miracle, And The Miracle Is Our Inventiveness. The Tragedy Of Our Lives Is Also Our Inventiveness.

-William Shatner

Please Wait....
Translating....

I Existed Before Star

William Shatner

Topic

Stars

Talking

Miracle

More From William Shatner

But If You Want To Know The Truth, The Weirdest Thing That Has Happened Has Been My Discovery That People Who Attend The Conventions Are Filled With Love.

Discovery

People

Want

My Dad Was Good With Actions.

Dad

Father

Action

My Wife And My Three Kids And My Grandchildren Are My Life, But My Horses And My Dogs Are Everything Else.

Dog

Horse

Kids

Careers Are Here And They're Gone. No Matter How Great We Think We Are, We're Nothing But The Temples Of Ozymandias-we're Ruins In The Making.

Success

Thinking

Careers

Mythology Needs Heroes And It Needs Villains, It Needs Heroes To Fail, It Needs Heroes To Struggle.

Struggle

Hero

Needs

I Enjoyed Reading All The Classic Authors Like Isaac Asimov And Bradbury.

Reading

Classic

Bradbury

People Have An Affinity Towards Things, And You Don't Know Where It Comes From. Mozart Wrote A Symphony When He Was Four, So It's Said; The Theory Is Maybe Because His Father Was A Conductor, It Happened In Vitro, And He Heard The Music Before He Was Born, And By The Age Of Four He Knew How To Write Music.

Father

Writing

Symphony

I Have Been Accused Of Never Saying No.

Saying No

Accused

Has Beens

I've Been In A Multimedia Extravaganza For 50 Years And It's Gone By So Quickly That It's Unimaginable. And It's Also A Major Part Of My Life That Has Gone By.

Years

Gone

Multimedia

My Name Is William Shatner, And I Am Canadian!

Names

It's Easy To Say No, I'm Not Going To Do That. I'm Not Leaving The House.

House

Leaving

Easy

I'm Not Going To Have A Tombstone. I'm Going To Be Tossed In The Air. Ashes, Tossed Like A Salad.

Tombstone

Air

Religion

Within Weeks Of Our Premiere, It Became Obvious That Leonard [nimoy] And The Character Of Spock Were Becoming Something Of A National Phenomenon. ... And To Be Unflatteringly Frank, It Bugged Me. ... [then, Gene Roddenberry] Said To Me The Wisest Thing He Could Possibly Have Uttered. He Said, `don't Ever Fear Having Good And Popular People Around You, Because They Can Only Enhance Your Own Performance. The More You Can Play To These People, The Better The Show.'

Philosophical

Character

Play

Everybody Has Their 15 Minutes, And Those 15 Minutes Should Be Spent In A Private Limo And A Private Plane. It's The Ultimate.

Limos

Should

Minutes

I Have Had Mystical Experiences With Horses. I Felt They Were Communicating With Me In Horse Communication.

Horse

Communication

Mystical Experiences

I Never Watched 'star Trek.'

Stars

If You Make A Fool Of Yourself, You Can Do It With Dignity, Without Taking Your Pants Down. And If You Do Take Your Pants Down, You Can Still Do It With Dignity.

Down And

Pants

Fool

The Great Mystery Of Our Consciousness Is Beyond Our Grasp.

Mystery

Consciousness

I Guess The Disc Jockey Thought I Was Trying To Sing Or Something So ... They Had Fun With It. But The Reality Was That It Was Something, There Was A Concept Behind It.

Fun

Reality

Trying

I'm Interested In Man's March Into The Unknown But To Vomit In Space Is Not My Idea Of A Good Time. Neither Is A Fiery Crash With The Vomit Hovering Over Me.

Men

Ideas

Space

How Do I Stay So Healthy And Boyishly Handsome? It's Simple. I Drink The Blood Of Young Runaways.

Beauty

Simple

Blood

The Conundrum Of Free Will And Destiny Has Always Kept Me Dangling.

Destiny

Free Will

Conundrums

My Mother Was An Exuberant, Silly Lady.

Mother

Silly

The Basic Quality That Any Great Story Must Have Is A Story That Illustrates The Human Condition.

Quality

Stories

Human Condition

My Site Has The Whole Thing - Blogs, Information, Video Interviews.

Video

Information

Interviews

Pain And Guilt Can't Be Taken Away With The Wave Of A Magic Wand. They're The Things We Carry With Us, The Things That Make Us Who We Are. If We Lose Them, We Lose Ourselves. I Don't Want My Pain Taken Away! I Need My Pain!

Pain

Taken

Cynical

A True Pilot Must Of Necessity Pay Attention To The Seasons, The Heavens, The Stars, The Winds, And Everything Proper To The Craft If He Is Really To Rule A Ship.

Stars

Wind

Heaven

I've Come To The Conclusion That Athletes, When They Say They Miss The Crowd, Are Not Missing The Sound Of The Crowd. What They're Missing Is The Feeling Inside That Makes The Crowd Roar. It's Not The Roar Of The Crowd, It's The Silence Inside.

Athlete

Silence

Missing

So Many Dot-com Companies Were Formulated On Air.

Air

Dots

Company

I Did A Movie In Esperanto.

Movie

Esperanto

Actors

I Think The Acting Satisfies The Need And Desire For Approval.

Thinking

Appreciate

Desire

If We Can Clean Up Our World, I'll Bet You We Can Achieve Warp Drive.

Our World

Clean

Achieve

I Think You Die The Way You Live.

Death

Thinking

Dying

I've Never Not Appeared In Front Of A Live Audience For Any Longer Period Than A Month Or Two.

Two

Months

Periods

Getting That Audience Approval Is Always A Question Mark, And It's Always That Flag That Flutters In Front Of You.

Flags

Approval

Mark

In My Proudest Moments, I Think I Had A Real Hand In The Creative Force Of Making 'star Trek.' But Most Of The Time, I Don't Think About It.

Stars

Real

Thinking

Nobody Could Have Imagined The Phenomenon That 'star Trek' Became. It's Still Almost Impossible To Imagine.

Stars

Impossible

Imagine

I Believe In Taking What Happens As Inevitable.

Believe

Inevitable

Happens

Every Piece Of Entertainment Is Made With The Idea That 'this Is Going To Be Terrific' And 'this Is The Best Thing I've Ever Done' And Then It Hits The Public And Then The Public Tells You Whether It's Good Or Bad.

Ideas

Done

Pieces

You Cannot Begin To Imagine The Shock I Had When I Came Down On The Floor For The First Time. First Of All, There's This Whole Thing About Playing Sitcom Comedy. I Didn't Want To Do The Sitcom Thing, But I Didn't Know What Else To Do. I Went Slowly. We Went Through The Week Of Rehearsal, Then We Got On The Floor With The Cameras, Which I'm Used To Because Of My Experience In The Old Days. Then Came Camera Day, With An Audience, And It Was Stunning, Enthralling, Exciting And Chaotic. I Had Never Experienced Anything Like That Before, As An Actor. I Was Part Minstrel, Part Actor.

Actors

Rehearsal

Want

If Saving Money Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right!

Money

Saving

Want

A Series Is Filled With Compromises.

Compromise

Filled

Series

I Know Very Little About The Viral, Electronic World, But I Use Twitter To Communicate Not Only Information That I Think Some Of The Fans Want To Hear About But Also Ideas.

Thinking

Ideas

Fans

Divorce Is Simply Modern Society's Version Of Medieval Torture. Except It Lasts Longer And Leaves Deeper Scars. A Divorce Releases The Most Primitive Emotions; The Ugliest, Raw Feelings. Emotionally Wounded People Do Their Best To Inflict Pain Upon The Other Party, But Rather Than Using Claws They Use Divorce Lawyers.

Pain

Party

Divorce

I Played Comedies And Dramas.

Drama

Comedy

You Have To Create Your Life. You Have To Carve It, Like A Sculpture.

Sculpture

Acting Is Easier - Writing Is More Creative. The Lazy Man Vies With The Industrious.

Writing

Men

Lazy Man

Has It Ever Occurred To You That How We Deal With Death Is At Least As Important As How We Deal With Life?

Death

Important

Dying

I've Got Rock 'n' Roll In My Blood.

Rocks

Blood

Rock N Roll

The Mysteriousness And Mystique Of Space Is Such, That Science Fiction Attempts To Tantalize You By Telling You A Story That Could Possibly Be Out There And That's The Appeal Of Science Fiction.

Space

Fiction

Stories

I Believe That When Things Happen, They Happen With A Purpose.

Believe

Purpose

Happens

There's An Ecstasy About Doing Something Really Good On Film: The Composition Of A Shot, The Drama Within The Shot, The Texture... It's Palpable.

Drama

Texture

Film

A Pretty Girl Is Certainly Comparable To A Good Horse.

Girl

Horse

Pretty Girl

Oh, For God's Sake... Get A Life, Will You?

Sake

I've Been Approached To Do Some Things With Astronauts And The Preparation That Astronauts Go Through.

Preparation

Astronaut

Memories Were The Markers Of The Journey Through Life. It Was Necessary To Know Where You Had Come From. Only Then Could You Know Where You Were Going.

Memories

Journey

Markers

Sci-fi Films Are The Epic Films Of The Day Because We Can No Longer Put 10,000 Extras In The Scene - But We Can Draw Thousands Of Aliens With Computers.

Epic

Aliens

Computer

My Boy, That Was A Tv Show. I Used A Stunt Double. I Always Use A Stunt Double. Except In Love Scenes. I Insist On Doing Those Myself.

Boys

Tv Shows

Use

There's Too Many People In The World.

People

World

Nonsense

It's I Who Have To Talk Fast. It's You Who Have To Think Fast.

Thinking

Christmas Is Fun Anyway. It's A Myth Organized Over The Years And Gained Different Mythological Qualities As The Years Go By.

Fun

Years

Quality

You Need To Be Silly To Be Funny.

Funny

Silly

Needs

Writing An Acceptance Speech Gives You The Expectation Of Winning, And You Are Therefore Devastated Or Hurt If You Didn't Win.

Hurt

Writing

Acceptance

You Have To Continuously Fail. You Fail At Something, Then You Get Over It, Then You Fail Some More. And After You Fail, There's Always Something New There. And That Something New Can Be Really Interesting.

Interesting

Failing

Something New

Heroes, Classical Heroes Have The Look Of Eagles, Too. They're Looking Beyond The Immediate Problem And Into The Future.

Hero

Eagles

Looks

Death Is An Absolute Marvel.

Absolutes

Is There A God? There Is, But We Don't Know Where. Or Who. And, Indeed, Why.

I Love Technology. Matches, To Light A Fire Is Really High Tech. The Wheel Is Really One Of The Great Inventions Of All Time. Other Than That I Am An Ignoramus About Technology. I Once Looked For The 'on' Button On The Computer And Came To Find Out It Was On The Back. Then I Thought, Anyone Who Would Put The 'on' Switch On The Back, Where You Can't Find It, Doesn't Do Any Good For My Psyche. The One Time I Did Get The Computer On, I Couldn't Turn The Damn Thing Off!

Technology

Fire

Light

Stop And Smell The Garlic! That's All You Have To Do.

Smell

Garlic

My Dad Died Of A Stroke.

Dad

Father

Strokes

I'm Anxious To Make Another Film.

Film

Anxious

I Hate Flying, Flat Out Hate Its Guts.

Hate

Flying

Flats

The Idea Of Being A Professional Actor Never Occurred To Anybody, Including Myself, For A Long Time.

Ideas

Long

Actors

When I Was Out For The Christmas Holidays In School, I Would Go Skiing Up To The Mountains And There They Had Santa On A Sled. Pulled By Horses And Other Reindeer, It Was A Very, Very Picturesque Time And That Struck Me Very Emphatically Then And Has Remained With Me All This Time.

Horse

School

Holiday

I Had Been In A Shakespeare Company For Three Years And Done A Lot Of Shakespeare. That Was Fun. That Was Interesting. It Was A Lot Of Work - Anything Other Than Shakespeare Was Less Work. I Had A Lot Of Interesting Roles, But I Don't Point To Them And Say, "that Was More Interesting Than That," Because I Don't Know What The Criteria Are.

Fun

Years

Interesting

The Pictures Remind You Of Something That Can Never Be Recaptured, The Time Is Gone, The Only Thing You Know Is The Present. That's All That's Knowable And Even The Present Isn't Knowable. The Present Becomes The Past... So You Really Don't Know Anything.

Past

Gone

Knows

The Truth Can't Be Hidden For Long.

Long

When There Are Tiers Of Meaning In An Ad It Intrigues The Audience And They Look For It Again And Again.

Looks

Intrigue

Audience

Spencer Tracy Was A Man Who Did Very Much What I Do On A Set, And That Is, He Comes Down And He Does His Job, And Then He Goes Back To His Dressing Room.

Jobs

Men

Doe

If There's Anything I'm Not Pompous About, It's Myself Or My Work. But I Seem To Be Able To Play It.

Work

Play

Able

What Is Down Will Go Up. At The Same Time, You Have To Be Prepared For What Is Up To Go Down.

Be Prepared

Prepared

My Plan Has Always Been To Return To Broadway Every 50 Years.

Years

Broadway

Return

My Kids Say If There's Any Family Dinner That Doesn't Result In Somebody Crying, It's Not A Good Dinner. They Cry Because It Helps Relieve Them Of A Guilt Or Some Onerous Emotional Burden. It's Like A Family Tradition.

Kids

Emotional

Guilt

I Think Of Doing A Series As Very Hard Work. But Then I've Talked To Coal Miners, And That's Really Hard Work.

Inspirational

Success

Hard Work

Although I'm A Business Major Out Of Mcgill University, I Know Nothing... But Then I Found Out Much Later In Life, Nobody Knows Anything.

Later In Life

Found

Nobody Knows

I Had A Major In Business, And I Graduated With A Business Degree, But I Was Perhaps The Worst Student To Graduate From That Program.

Degrees

Students

Graduates

When I'm Interviewing Somebody I Don't Work From Prepared Questions.

Prepared

The Good Life Is One That's Artistically Made.

Good Life

Life Is

Made

I Did Some Professional Radio Acting As A Teenager, And I Essentially Put Myself Through College With Radio Acting In Montreal. When I Graduated, I Got Jobs In Professional Theatres, Repertory, And Stock Theatres In Canada For A Couple Of Years. And Then I Went To Stratford, Ontario, Where I Spent Three Years With A Shakespeare Company. We Took A Classical Play From Stratford To New York City, And I Got Some Good Notices There And Essentially Stayed And Did Live Television. And That Brings You To The Beginning Of Filming.

New York

Jobs

Couple

Captain Kirk Has Been A Source Of Pleasure And Income For A Long Time.

Long

Income

Captain Kirk

I've Discovered That The More Freedom I Have To Be Creative, The More Creative I Become.

Creative

Be Creative

If You Read My Books, Especially The Star Trek Books And The Quest For Tomorrow Books, You'll See In Them The Core Theme Of The Basic Humanistic Questions That Star Trek Asked.

Stars

Book

Quests

Most People, Including Myself, Keep Repeating The Same Mistakes.

Mistake

People

Same Mistakes

My Beautiful Wife Is Dead. She Meant Everything To Me. Her Laughter, Her Tears And Her Joy Will Remain With Me The Rest Of My Life.

Beautiful

Death

Laughter

I Love The Musicality Of Words.

Musicality

Gradually The Live Tv Scene Simmered Out, Replaced By Film, And That Took Place In L.a. So Many Actors Left New York.

New York

Actors

Tvs

I'm Looking For The Perfect Paintball Movie.

Perfect

All I Know Is That I Am Constantly Intrigued By Something I'm Doing.

Intrigued

Knows

You Can't Do Anything About The Past. And You Don't Know What The Future Is.

Past

Knows

I Also Derive A Great Deal Of Pleasure From Horses And Dogs... The Ocean... And Love.

Dog

Horse

Ocean

This Is My Saddest Story: In Grade School, They Would Have Us Open Our Valentine's Cards And Read Them Out Loud. I Always Sent Cards To Myself Because Nobody Else Did.

Valentine

School

Cards

Success Should Always Be Just Beyond Your Grasp.

Should

I'm A Performer, Comedian, Entertainer, Writer And Director.

Comedian

Directors

Entertainers

Somewhere In University, I Realized That I Hadn't Been To Classes In Months, And I'd Get Tired To The Point Of Narcolepsy Doing Anything Other Than Some Form Of Performing, Directing, Writing, Or Acting.

Writing

Tired

Class

I'm Coming Little Animal!.

Animal

Littles

A Sense Of The Unknown Has Always Lured Mankind And The Greatest Of The Unknowns Of Today Is Outer Space. The Terrors, The Joys And The Sense Of Accomplishment Are Epitomized In The Space Program.

Space

Accomplishment

Joy

Montreal Is A Very Cosmopolitan, Sophisticated, Erudite, Educated, Glorious City Today. But It Wasn't Quite That Way When I Was Growing Up There. There Was A Lot Of Anti-semitism. And I Had To Deal With That In An Area Of The City That Had Very Few Jews.

Growing Up

Cities

Today

I Always Thought That The Spine Of A Character Was Awe And Wonder.

Character

Awe And Wonder

Spine

One Of The Advantages Of Being A Captain Is Being Able To Ask For Advice Without Necessarily Having To Take It.

Advice

Captain Kirk

Able

Conquest Is Easy. Control Is Not.

Easy

Conquest

Ads Need To Be Little Pieces Of Entertainment.

Needs

Pieces

Littles

There's A Joy And A Pain About Directing Where The Dreams You Have Are Becoming Concrete But The Attention To Detail, The Need For Time Is Such That It's Overwhelming At Times, And The Stream Of Responsibility.

Dream

Pain

Responsibility

Never Buy Anything That Eats While You Sleep.

Sleep

Exercise? A Jew Doesn't Exercise.

Exercise

Jew

When I Direct And Have To Look At Filmed Scenes Of Myself, I Suck.

Looks

Scene

Direct

I Think Making A Good Film Shot Is Joyful.

Thinking

Film

Joyful

Here's Something Pompous - You Take Your Day And Artistically Create It, So Every Moment Has An Artistic Flavor.

Inspirational

Success

Insightful

Yeah, I Do Stand-up, My Own Type Of Stand-up.

Yeah

Type

My Own

The Essence Of Paint Ball Is The Fact That When You Get Hit By A Ball Full Of Paint, It Hurts Just Enough To Say, 'ow, I Gotta Get Out Of The Way,' But Not Enough To Say, 'i Quit.'

Hurt

Essence

Balls

Is This Year Over Yet? Too Many People Are Passing Away. Rest In Peace, George Michael.

Rest In Peace

Years

People

A Stage Actor Has To Be 10% Aware Of The Audience As He's Performing.

Stage Actors

Performing

Audience

The Name Shatner Is Austrian And Partly Germanic, And There's Germanic Reticence And Silence Perhaps, But There Is Passion Underneath.

Passion

Names

Silence

So Bitcoin Is Cyber Snob Currency.

Bitcoin

Currency

Cyber

I'm Not Out To Convince Anybody Of Anything.

Convince

What Have I Done? I've Blundered My Way Through Life. So I Have My Picture On The Wall. The Minute I Die, That Picture Will Start To Yellow And Fade And Eventually Be Gone. Blown In The Wind And Become Part Of The Molecular Structure Of Something Else. These Things We See As "success," They're Non-accomplishments.

Success

Wall

Yellow

Divorce Is Probably As Painful As Death.

Divorce

Painful

And I Enjoyed The Celebrity And The Creativity That Was Involved In Star Trek.

Stars

Creativity

Enjoyed

I Want To Discover A Truth For Myself That Is Really True. Whether It's A Piece Of Scientific Knowledge, Or A Philosophical Truth.

Philosophical

Pieces

Want

Remember - You Can't Beam Through A Force Field. So, Don't Try It.

Remember You

Remembers You

Force Fields

My Mother Was Born In The City, My Dad Was An Immigrant. Probably From Germany. Could Have Been Austria, Could Have Been Poland. The Borders Were Changing. My Dad Brought Over A Large Family Of Shatners When He Was Very Young. Scraped Together The Money, Got 11 Brothers And Sisters A Passage On The Boat. There's A Lot Of Shatners In Montreal.

Mother

Brother

Dad

I Didn't Want To Do The Sitcom Thing, But I Didn't Know What Else To Do.

Want

Minstrels

Sitcom

Don't Be Afraid Of Making An Ass Of Yourself. I Do It All The Time And Look What I Got.

Looks

Ass

We're All Embers From The Same Fire. Our Ember Winks Out, We're Ashes, We Go Back To The Fire. I Like That Image. There Has To Be A Unifying Theory. I Think There Is A Continuity Of Some Kind, That My Love For My Wife Will Go On Past The Death Of My Body. Nature Is Perfect.

Past

Thinking

Fire

What Part Of Me Was Born With The Courage To Stand In Front Of Strangers And Risk Rejection?

Rejection

Risk

Stranger

Fate Gives You The Finger And You Accept.

Fate

Giving

Accepting

I Love The Concept Of Togetherness And The Entwinement Of Marriage.

Togetherness

Concepts

I Had Been In A Shakespeare Company For Three Years And Done A Lot Of Shakespeare. That Was Fun. That Was Interesting.

Fun

Years

Interesting

The Political Scene Is Already So Turgid, It Doesn't Need More Of That From Me.

Political

Needs

Scene

I Am Curious About Many Things, And Find The World Around Me, And The People And Objects And Things In It, Equally Fascinating. There Is A Great Deal Of That Awe And Wonder In Me.

Awe And Wonder

People

World

I Sometimes Find That In Interviews You Learn More About Yourself Than The Person Learned About You.

Inspirational

Funny

Motivational

You And I And Everybody In Show Business And The Entertainment Industry Fly By The Seat Of Our Pants. We Don't Know Quite What Is Going To Happen.

Pants

Entertainment

Shows

The Possibilities That Are Suggested In Quantum Physics Tell Us That Everything That We're Looking At May Not Be In Fact There, So The Underlying Nature Of Being Is Weird.

May

Facts

Physics

My Life Is My Statement And I Try To Be True To Myself And Thusly To Other People. Whatever My Failings Are, They Are Human And I Try To Perfect It Each Day.

Life

People

Perfect

I've Never Been Without A Dog. I've Made Trips Across The Country With A Dog. I've Been In That Angst Of Loneliness, Where You're Really Alone In The Universe, Except For The Dog.

Country

Dog

Loneliness

These People Who Come To Comic-con And Dress Up - All Across The Country, The Rest Of The Population Who Doesn't Understand Are Scoffing At Them.

Country

People

Population

I Love To Go To A Movie, Get A Diet Coke And A Barrel Of Popcorn, And Sit There With My Kids And Watch A Film.

Kids

Watches

Popcorn

I Don't Twitter. I Can't Even Remember My Password Name. I Have Problems With Electronics, So What I've Done Is Hire A Young Man Out Of College, Whose Very Fingers Are The Extension Of Computer Keys, And He Twitters. He Does The Mechanics, But I Very Carefully Modulate What Is Said And Have Used Twitter To Publicize Stuff, Have Conversations And Instigate Competition.

College

Men

Keys

I Got On A Horse When I Was About 12 Years Of Age, And Started Galloping Around. My Mother Came Up Said "where Did You Learn To Ride A Horse?" I Said "this Is The First Time I've Ever Been On A Horse" I Just Knew, I Just Felt The Horse.

Mother

Horse

Years

Your Cadence Is Your Music.

Cadence

Things People Say Strike Me As Amusing, And I Am Prone To Saying Out Loud What Everybody's Thinking.

Thinking

People

Amusing

I Love Living In Los Angeles.

Los Angeles

Marriage Is A Reflection Of Your Life In General: How You Treat People, How You Argue, How Secure You Are In Your Own Thoughts. How Vehemently Do You Argue Your Point Of View? With What Disdain Do You View The Other's Point Of View?

Reflection

Views

People

I Love Cameras But I Find Myself Reluctantly Taking Pictures Because What's Past Is Past.

Past

Cameras

Taking Pictures

Let Women Figure Out Why They Won't Sleep With You. Don't Do Their Work For Them.

Sleep

Sexuality

Homosexuality

Avatar Is A Watershed Movie. We'll Always Refer To Lawrence Of Arabia In The Same Way. We'll Always Look At Avatar And Say, "that's About As Good As It Gets." It's An Enormous Advance, In Every Way, Shape And Form, Of Movie Making.

Good As It Gets

Arabia

Looks

I'm So Not Ready To Die. It Petrifies Me. I Go Alone. I Go To A Place I Don't Know. It Might Be Painful. It Might Be The End. My Thought Is That It Is The End. I Become Nameless, And I Spent A Lifetime Being Known.

Death

Suicide

Might

Everyone Knows Everything About All Of Us. That's Too Much Knowledge!

Too Much

Knows

I Proceeded To Prove Everybody Right As To How Bad An Economics Student I Was By Failing As An Assistant Manager In Every Theatre I Went To That Hired Me, Both As An Assistant Manager And As An Actor. I Lost Money And Tickets, And I Couldn't Keep Track Of Anything. So Eventually They Fired Me From Assistant-manager Jobs, But Kept Me On As An Actor.

Jobs

Track

Theatre

All In All, Kirk's Character Is Something I Am Very Proud Of.

Character

Proud

Kirk

I Often Conduct Interviews In My Truck.

Interviews

Truck

And That Works For Me. So That If This Is It, You Better Take It At Its Right Proportion. That There Are Serious Things, But Most Things Are Temporal And Ephemeral, And You Should Cultivate That Attitude. That Joy And Love And All The Verities Are What Counts. So I Try Not To Take Too Many Things Seriously, And If I Find Myself Caught Up In The Seriousness Of The Moment, Within A Period Of Time, I'm Able To Cajole Myself Out Of It.

Attitude

Struggle

Joy

I Can't Stand The Gossip Of Celebrities' Lives, All The Time! Every Minute!

Gossip

Minutes

Celebrity Life

I Envy The People Who Say, 'oh, Well, I've Got My Name In The Golden Book And I'm Going To Be Entered Into The Pearly Gates.'

Book

Names

People

When I Did The Film Generations, In Which The Character Died, I Felt Like A Guest For The First Time. That Made Me Very Sad.

Character

Generations

Guests

The More Powerful The Villain Is The More Powerful The Hero.

Powerful

Hero

Villain

Even One Word, Or Certainly One Sentence, Should Be Able To Describe The Basic Characteristic That The Scene Has, Or The Character Has, Or The Story Has. And Then You Begin To Detail That One Spine, And You Have Offshoots From That Spine, And It Becomes More And More Complex, But All Of It Stems From That One-word, One-line Theme, Which Can Give The Character, The Scene, Or The Play Its Uniqueness.

Character

Play

Giving

I'm Surfing The Giant Life Wave.

Surfing

Giants

Wave

The Ability To Breathe The Air And Drink The Water Will Be What The Wars Will Be About From Here On In. And It's Coming With Alarming Rapidity.

War

Air

Water

I See People Putting Text Messages On The Phone Or Computer And I Think, 'why Don't You Just Call?'

Thinking

Phones

People

I Was Built For The Long Run, Not For The Short Dash, I Guess.

Inspirational

Success

Running

A Director Is A Choreographer, Both Politically And Creatively.

Directors

Choreographers

We Live In Grief For Having Left The Womb, For Having Left The Teat, Then School, Then Home. In My Case, It Was Leaving Marriages, And The Death Of My Wife.

Grief

Home

School

My Understanding Is, The Fans Are So Ravenous In Canada, They Gnaw On The Stars.

Stars

Understanding

Fans

A Tree You Pass By Every Day Is Just A Tree. If You Are To Closely Examine What A Tree Has And The Life A Tree Has, Even The Smallest Thing Can Withstand A Curiosity, And You Can Examine Whole Worlds.

Tree

Curiosity

World

I Don't Think Of Myself As Being Tied.

Thinking

Tied

I Love To Evoke The Bones And Meat And Thoughts Of Characters.

Character

Meat

Bones

There Were Many Times When I Kept Silent About Being Jewish As I Got Older, When Jewish Jokes Were Told.

Silent

Jokes

No, I Don't Regret Anything At This Point. That May Change On The Next Phone Call, But At The Moment I Don't Regret Anything.

Regret

Phones

May

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

Trending Author

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing