I would be good for maybe not the center square but an upper square on 'Hollywood Squares.' John Hodgman More Quotes by John Hodgman More Quotes From John Hodgman Specificity is the soul of narrative. John Hodgman specificity narrative soul When a good friend gives you his or her book, you don't want to read it, because you're afraid that it's not going be what you hope it can be. John Hodgman good-friend giving book Truth may be stranger than fiction, goes the old saw, but it is never as strange as lies. John Hodgman inspirational lying fiction Tonally, there was no discussion; I just don’t know any other way to do it. I don’t want to make people feel bad, and I don’t want to make their problems into a joke. I do love telling people when they’re right and wrong, but for the most part, it was always going to be about real fights where people have a real difference of opinion and a real dispute. I want to make jokes, but I also want to make a decision that is fair. John Hodgman differences fighting real This is not to say there are not Chicagoans. But I would suggest that they are a nomadic people, whose lost home exists only in their minds, and in the glowing crystal memory cells they all carry in the palms of their hands: a great idea of a second city, lit with life and love, reasonable drink prices at cool bars, and, of course, blocks and blocks of bright and devastating fire. John Hodgman life-and-love block memories Traffic counting was very boring and cold to sit out on the streets of New Haven in five pairs of pants - well, that's an exaggeration; it was three pairs of pants - in November for hours and hours clicking buttons counting which cars go left, right, and forward. John Hodgman buttons car three This is one of the defining sorrows of books: that we cannot see one another. John Hodgman defining sorrow book For a long time, I would write without music, because I thought it was distracting until I appreciated that it actually unlocks a certain unconscious productivity vault in my mind. John Hodgman mind writing long We estimate that there are perhaps 20,000 prehistoric hunter-gatherers frozen up in those glaciers. Now, if they simply thaw and wander around, it's not a problem, but if they find a leader - a Captain Caveman, if you will - we'll be facing an even more serious problem. John Hodgman frozen hunters leader I had the pleasure of listening to Rickie Lee Jones' Flying Cowboys album on audio cassette, which had just come out at that time because I am an elderly man. John Hodgman elderly cowboy men Life may be miraculous in its unlikelihood in the universe, but it would be a fallacy to suggest that its rareness makes it inextinguishable. John Hodgman fallacy would-be may A lot of my time is spent reading antique or out-of-print books of reference. John Hodgman antiques reading book Even the worst job has its benefits and so does being a professional literary agent, and - I know I said this at the time but I still believe it - the worst job is the one that you know is wrong for you, but you still do it. You're afraid to quit. John Hodgman doe jobs believe I had some very, very fond memories of the people I worked with and the authors I worked with - and I won't mention any names - but as I have been traveling through rural Maine over the past few weeks, one of my favorite things to do is to go into bookstores on the side of rural routes and paw through the old copies of Tom Clancy and Trevanian books they have in there for weird old 1970s thrillers that I haven't read yet. John Hodgman memories book past What I've discovered more recently is copies of books that I didn't represent, but that my boss represented when I assisted her on the dollar pile. I won't mention any names, but it is this profoundly bittersweet time of realizing, "Oh, I had a wonderful time working on this book and now it is a dollar relic on the side of the road." John Hodgman boss names book Everything we make in life, eventually, is sold for a dollar or a penny or given away. John Hodgman dollars given pennies My memories of literary agenting are of a very happy time and there are surprising reminders of it coming back now. John Hodgman happy-times coming-back memories I would say 70 percent of people who are in therapy are in therapy not because of their upbringing, not because of their mean sister or obsessions, but because of anxiety brought about by lack of financial security. John Hodgman anxiety mean people I think in American culture, we put value on economic success but tell people you don't have to be economically successful to be happy. John Hodgman successful people thinking I made an impulse buy of a house in Maine to make my wife happy and now have gone back into debt and it's all started over for me. John Hodgman wife gone house
