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54 James McBride Quotes & Sayings
"
54 James McBride Quotes & Sayings
American
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Born: 11 September 1957 |
Musician
|
Writer
|
James McBride
Always
Details
Journalist
Story
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First person narrative is a very effective tool but you have to know as a writer how to make it work.
James McBride
Effective
First
First Person
How
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If you have the material it will form itself as a kind of connective tissue.
James McBride
Form
Itself
Kind
Material
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James McBride
Cutting
Fat
Getting
Me
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People don't realize you're blowing over changes, time changes, harmony, different keys. I mark a point in my solo where it's got to peak at point D I go to A, B, C D then I'm home.
James McBride
Blowing
Changes
Different
Go
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I put headlights in Ford vans. I still drive a Ford.
James McBride
Drive
Ford
Headlights
Put
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I'm not interested in food. It's just fuel.
James McBride
Food
Fuel
Interested
Just
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James McBride
Career
Is
My
Family
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Be kind to the living.
James McBride
Be Kind
Kind
Living
To The Living
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I wish all critics, no matter their color, were more sophisticated when it comes to the moral questions a film like 'St. Anna' is trying to raise.
James McBride
Anna
Color
Critics
Film
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I'd like to do something involving jazz. But books are how I earn my living, and I'd like to stay with the horse I rode in on.
James McBride
Books
Earn
Horse
How
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It's the same old story. Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens. And therein lies the problem of being a professional black storyteller - writer, musician, filmmaker.
James McBride
Being
Black
Filmmaker
Folks
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Newt Gingrich wrote a novel, and he's a short story. Bill Clinton wrote a biography, and he's a novel.
James McBride
Bill
Bill Clinton
Biography
Clinton
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James McBride
Cancer
Expose
Fix
Until
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The question of religion in black America is something filmmakers don't want to touch.
James McBride
America
Black
Black America
Filmmakers
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The black church will accept anybody.
James McBride
Accept
Anybody
Black
Church
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As a writer, you have to be near people and hear stuff. I'm a hamburger and cheese kind of fellow; I'm not Henry David Thoreau.
James McBride
Cheese
David
Fellow
Hamburger
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Don't get me started on Americans and war. One of the things I learnt over in Italy is how they mythologised the war so that it's all good old gung-ho guys from Omaha and ignored everyone else's role.
James McBride
American
Else
Everyone
Get
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I just don't see the point in sitting around hollering the blues over things you have no control over. It's all in God's hands.
James McBride
Around
Blues
Control
God
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If you don't have humor, you're not going to make it. You're going to be one of those people who walks around with your head about to explode.
James McBride
About
Around
Explode
Going
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James McBride
About
Differently
Family
Humorous
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James McBride
Anything
Anything Else
Books
Else
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I'm not one of those who can listen to music and write. I need the door closed. Windows shut. Facing the wall. No birds tweeting, views of nature, and so forth.
James McBride
Birds
Closed
Door
Facing
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You can't write just anything. Your story needs structure.
James McBride
Anything
Just
Needs
Story
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I don't like a bunch of writers sitting around, puffing smoke, they like this book, he wrote this - tell me a dirty joke, you know. It's just not my style, I've never been that kind of person.
James McBride
Around
Been
Book
Bunch
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I can't be a creative person if I'm a celebrity.
James McBride
Celebrity
Creative
Creative Person
Person
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The hard part about writing about a guy like John Brown is that he was so serious, and his cause was so serious, that most of what's been written about him is really serious and, in my opinion, a little bit boring.
James McBride
About
Been
Bit
Boring
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I love the language of, you know, the old black country man with a blues guitar and... boots and the quick banter.
James McBride
Black
Blues
Boots
Country
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James Brown was the Monday-to-Friday guy. He was the hardest man in show business. He was like your dad and your uncle: He showed up, and he hit hard.
James McBride
Brown
Business
Dad
Guy
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James Brown's music still sounds as fresh and as good and as new as it did when he first created it.
James McBride
Brown
Created
Did
First
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James McBride
Band
Business
Democracy
Show
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I type most of my books for the first chapter or two - I use a manual typewriter for the first 50 pages or so - and then I move to the computer. It helps me keep the work lean so I don't end up spending 10 pages describing a leaf.
James McBride
Books
Chapter
Computer
Describing
Favorite
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If you can whistle the melody, then the song will stick. But if you need a bunch of machines to make it sound good, you're probably not writing anything that's going to last a long time.
James McBride
Anything
Bunch
Going
Good
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I split my time between a small town in New Jersey and New York City.
James McBride
Between
City
Jersey
My Time
Favorite
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James McBride
Asleep
Done
Else
Everyone
Favorite
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I go through periods listening to specific types of music. Because I'm a musician, listening to music is... it's a bit like work for me. A little bit.
James McBride
Because
Bit
Go
Like
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I grew up in a house with a lot of kids, brothers and sisters. So I don't mind a lot of talking, yelling, playing. I can tune most of that out.
James McBride
Brothers
Brothers And Sisters
Grew
House
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James McBride
Book
Depressing
Read
Want
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Historical novels are hard to do for the general public for commercial writers like myself.
James McBride
Commercial
General
General Public
Hard
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You can't live for literature. You can't live for the job.
James McBride
Job
Literature
Live
You
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I don't live for my work. My life is my life. That's more important, and I think that helps my work.
James McBride
Helps
I Think
Important
Life
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All of us want to be Superman when we grow up, fighting for truth and justice. That's part of what drives me as a writer.
James McBride
Drives
Fighting
Grow
Grow Up
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I'm trying to get Americans to see that we're all pretty much the same. I believe it; I was taught God doesn't have a color. I want to better the planet a little bit.
James McBride
American
Believe
Better
Bit
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You have to be able to toss the thing out. You can't fall in love with your characters, and you have to know when to fight - and when to quit.
James McBride
Able
Characters
Fall
Fight
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Spike Lee listens a lot. He's one of the quietest creative people I've ever met.
James McBride
Creative
Creative People
Ever
He
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James McBride
Band
Being
Brown
Dreamed
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I cannot recall any moment of clarity about becoming a writer. I always liked to read. That's what did it.
James McBride
About
Always
Any
Becoming
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As far as making a living, if plumbing earned more, I'd probably do it. At least you can leave the job at home once the tools are put away. A writer works in his mind 24/7.
James McBride
As Far As
Away
Earned
Far
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We're learning a tremendous amount of propaganda from television and the Internet.
James McBride
Amount
Internet
Learning
Propaganda
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My wife and kids like the quiet and the countryside - I still find that kind of quiet hard to listen to.
James McBride
Countryside
Find
Hard
Kids
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James McBride Quotes & Sayings