28 David Means Quotes for You to Enjoy

David Means

American Writer

Born: Oct 17, 1961

Country Love Think Time Work You

Related authors: Dale Carnegie Denis Waitley Dr. Seuss H. L. Mencken Napoleon Hill Ray Bradbury W. E. B. Du Bois William Arthur Ward

I find the middle classes kind of boring. The middle class has kind of been beaten like a dead horse by fictional writers. It's old news, and literature is supposed to bring new news, and for me, I feel I have to go as far out as I can to try and tell the kind of stories I want to tell. David Means

News Me Class Try Old Out Tell Kind Find Boring Classes Horse Beaten Writers Feel New Like Supposed Dead Dead Horse Go Been Middle Want Middle Class Stories Fictional Literature Far Bring

I love the nooks and crannies of the American landscape; the back roads and back alleys, the places that are still untouched by the corporate gloss, the veneer of sameness that seems to be spreading across the country. David Means

Love Country Back Corporate Seems Alley Roads Veneer Untouched Gloss Spreading Still American Sameness Places Across Landscape

A short story collection can be as exciting as a novel. It is a real complete experience, like when you listen to a real good recording, a Beatles record, and there are so many good songs. David Means

Good You Beatles Experience Recording Complete Collection Record Songs Exciting Like Real Listen Short Short Story Story Many Novel

I knew for years I wanted to write a novel that addressed the personal trauma of my older sister, who suffered - and still suffers - from mental illness. For a long time I imagined - and I know it's absurd - that she was an indirect casualty of the Vietnam War. David Means

War Time Long Long Time Sister Older Mental Mental Illness Indirect Write Casualty Knew Absurd Know She Still Years Personal Wanted Vietnam Vietnam War Who Illness Trauma Novel Older Sister Suffered Suffers Imagined

Novels often thin themselves out to a watery hue - some even start that way - and at times seem to only ride along the surface of things, giving us what we already know, reporting the news that is just news. David Means

I'm a relatively optimistic kind of guy. David Means

Relatively Kind Guy Optimistic

We're all building our narratives in our heads. David Means

Building Our Heads Narratives

I studied English at the College of Wooster in Ohio, and I did an M.F.A. in Poetry at Columbia. David Means

College Poetry Studied Columbia Did Ohio English

I was an at-home father, taking care of them for seven years when they were babies. I was one of those new-age, at-home dads. David Means

Care Father Babies Seven Those Taking Were Years Them Dads

We believe in cures; we're a quick-fix country, and we drive forward, and we eat up what we have extremely fast in terms of natural resources and also ideas and intellectual property. We're kind of wilfully stupid a lot of the time, anti-intellectual. David Means

You can't take a story and just stretch it out - that does not a novel make. David Means

You Out Take Make Does Just Story Novel Stretch

The short story is kind of a precision tool. It allows me a certain type of freedom to go in and out of the American landscape, without having to commit myself to a full-length novel. I find a lot of novels out there very boring. David Means

Myself Freedom Me Type Tool Out Kind Find Boring Having Without Go Lot Very American Commit Precision Short Short Story Story Certain Landscape Novel Novels

Alice Munro is an atomic writer blasting doors into narrative time. David Means

Time Doors Alice Atomic Writer Blasting Narrative

I write first drafts by hand, often out of the house somewhere, and then, when I've got a draft, type it up and let it sit, sometimes for a long time, and then when I'm ready, I work on revision. David Means

Iggy Pop is a pure Michigan product - gritty, smart, but not afraid of looking stupid or foolish. His father was once a high school English teacher. I love Iggy as a physical entity, sinewy, twisty - even in old age - an embodiment of rock and roll history. David Means

Love Teacher History Age School Smart Old Father Pure Looking Stupid Old Age Gritty Once High Embodiment Physical High School Entity Foolish Rock Rock And Roll His Michigan Roll Afraid Pop Iggy Product English English Teacher Even

There is this idea of 'north,' and if you're from Michigan and you wandered the Upper Peninsula, you know what it feels like. The sky has a particular vibe, a coldness, stretching into the upper reaches of Canada. David Means

You Sky Stretching Coldness Peninsula Idea Feels Particular Like Know Canada North Michigan Upper Vibe Wandered

A kiss is often about the future and the past. A lost dream, about the discretion of the idealism. David Means

Future Kiss Lost Past Dream About Idealism Discretion Often

A few days after 9/11, I put the old cassette of 'Born in the U.S.A.,' twisted and worn, on the car deck as I drove past West Point, across the Bear Mountain Bridge, along the Hudson River. It was the perfect moment to hear it. David Means

Old Car Past Few Worn Born Cassette Bear Perfect Point Perfect Moment River Put Drove Along Days Hear West West Point Hudson Mountain After Deck Across Moment Bridge Twisted

From George Martin's classically inspired production of the Beatles to Peter Gabriel's early solo masterpieces, to Stereolab's beautiful loops and blips, U.K.-based bands have often found a way to squeeze warmth and compassion from the stone-cold - especially now that the tubes are gone - machinery of the recording studio. David Means

Beautiful Beatles Compassion Recording Gone Way Machinery Solo Martin Recording Studio Inspired Studio Masterpieces Loops George Bands Squeeze Tubes Often Gabriel Warmth Production Peter Found Now Early

What I appreciate about Radiohead's work - and it's most evident in 'Hail to the Thief' - is how the juxtaposition of narratives on the band's albums somehow creates a sense of wholeness. David Means

Work Band Sense Thief Evident About Somehow Hail Most Narratives How Juxtaposition Creates Radiohead Wholeness Albums Appreciate

In the days following 9/11, when we were reeling and disoriented, there was a kind of solace to be found in old recordings, and even pseudo-folk singers like James Taylor seemed to be safeguarding something, drawing back bygone days. David Means

America turns its back on the mentally ill. It likes to think it doesn't, but it does. David Means

Think Back Mentally Likes Does America Turns Ill

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