I don't make a lot of money, but I get to have freedom. Hilton Als More Quotes by Hilton Als More Quotes From Hilton Als I thought of the structure as musical. The first piece, for instance, contains the names/subject matter of every person to come in the book. Like a piece of music with themes, etc. Hilton Als musicalnamesbook I really don't think we should dismiss a book because we feel messed about intellectually. Or emotionally. That's the writer's job! Hilton Als jobsbookthinking Nothing is more flattering for a writer than when someone knows your work. Hilton Als flatteringknows People have a copyright on their own life. Hilton Als copyrightpeople I think it's cultural racism more than anything, which dovetails with actual racism, but the cultural racism to me is even more shocking. Hilton Als shockingracismthinking Great sadness can be off putting, hard to comprehend, especially if it hasn't been your experience. It's amazing for me to know now that AIDS, for instance, is something a lot of people don't "get," whereas it entirely shaped my social life since the time I was twenty until I was almost forty. Hilton Als sadnesstwentiespeople I think that if you feel imaginatively towards a subject, you really shouldn't do it in a journalistic context, because then you're just fabricating, and that's crazy. Hilton Als crazyfeelsthinking I had to re-write "Philosophy" a lot. It was more obscure than what's in the book now, even! Some things I had to go back to and excise my former self, who was even more dense. I think you should teach whatever you want, Brian! That's the point of books like White Girls, to help free our thoughts! Hilton Als girlphilosophybook Every time I put a collection together I'd scrap it because there was no "meaning," until I wrote about the two black men - friends - in the beginning of the book. So much of their experience was ABOUT trying to find friends in the authors/artists I wrote about - subjects that were/are a source of comfort, somehow, since none of them "fit," either Hilton Als artistmenbook I don't know what makes fashion cruel, except I feel nothing but spiritual depletion around it. There's nothing enriching, spiritually. Hilton Als fashionspiritualfeels I feel like there are so few girls in New York like that anymore, who are not focused on getting a man with money. Hilton Als girlnew-yorkmen Recalling, for me, is a great way of living, so not to forget. Hilton Als forgetway I think what we're attracted to on the page is something that is very difficult to do in life, which is to examine in what seems like a moment. To examine what we can't do in life very well, which is to be as present and accountable to what an experience is. That's why life is short and art is very long. Hilton Als momentexperiencelifeart I'm one of those crazy people who have to write every day. Otherwise, I feel really sort of despondent, and it's because I don't feel very happy about not learning. Hilton Als daylearningcrazypeople I'm attracted to people who work their little plot of land and cultivate it and cultivate it. Hilton Als wholandworkpeople Boredom means you develop your own interior life. Hilton Als yourownyoulife If you have a word of encouragement, you can do anything. Hilton Als wordanythingyouencouragement My self encompasses a lot of different things. Hilton Als lotthingsdifferentself Racism seduces us with its desire to categorize, shutting out the living and breathing and 'different' world all around us. Hilton Als livingracismdesireworld I grew up in a largely black community during the '70s and '80s that scoffed at 'white' music. That music - folk, rock, some disco - was considered soulless, aberrant, just one more example of the Caucasian's desire to scream and yell and demand whatever their privilege and perpetual adolescence dictated they should demand. Hilton Als blackmusiccommunitywhite
