Adam Gopnik quote: "All tastes have the quality of being in some way artificial and invented. The secret of life is to have enough detachment from your tastes and your values to see that they are a little bit absurd."

Cooking is the showy side of domesticity.
ADAM GOPNIK

I think that we're always drawn - particularly sophisticated people - are always drawn to the id...
ADAM GOPNIK

In the New Yorker library, I have long been shelved between Nadine Gordimer and Brendan Gill; an eer...
ADAM GOPNIK

In bookstores, my stuff is usually filed in the out-of-the-way, additional interest sections.
ADAM GOPNIK

I rush to add that I find the Web infinitely useful for rustling up information, settling arguments ...
ADAM GOPNIK

Protein was the most valued ingredient 250 years ago: It was the rarest thing. Now the rarest thing ...
ADAM GOPNIK

I still think the best classic meal in New York is a coffee-shop breakfast - you sort of can't s...
ADAM GOPNIK

You can't have a decent food culture without a decent coffee culture: the two things grow up tog...
ADAM GOPNIK

The coffee shop is a great New York institution, but it has terrible coffee. And the more traditiona...
ADAM GOPNIK

There are as many attitudes to cooking as there are people cooking, of course, but I do think that c...
ADAM GOPNIK

Writing is the process of finding something to distract you from writing, and of all the helpful dis...
ADAM GOPNIK

The World Series is played in my doubtless too-nostalgic imagination in some kind of autumn afternoo...
ADAM GOPNIK

Going to a restaurant is one of my keenest pleasures. Meeting someplace with old and new friends, or...
ADAM GOPNIK

[T]he relentless note of incipient hysteria, the invitation to panic, the ungrounded scenarios--the ...
ADAM GOPNIK

We breathe in our first language, and swim in our second.
ADAM GOPNIK

Yet human intelligence has another force, too: the sense of urgency that gives human smarts their dr...
ADAM GOPNIK

American long for a closed society in which everything can be bought, where laborers are either hidd...
ADAM GOPNIK

Good editorial writing has less to do with winning an argument, since the other side is mostly not l...
ADAM GOPNIK

[A]s military history reveals, a bad plan is often better than no plan, especially if the people on ...
ADAM GOPNIK

Samuel Johnson called it the vanity of human wishes, and Buddhists talk about the endless cycle of d...
ALISON GOPNIK

The brain is highly structured, but it is also extremely flexible. It's not a blank slate, but i...
ALISON GOPNIK

What we want in students is creativity and a willingness to fail. I always say to students, 'If ...
ALISON GOPNIK

What happens when children reach puberty earlier and adulthood later? The answer is: a good deal of ...
ALISON GOPNIK

Young children seem to be learning who to share this toy with and figure out how it works, while ado...
ALISON GOPNIK

The youngest children have a great capacity for empathy and altruism. There's a recent study tha...
ALISON GOPNIK

We have lots of evidence that putting investments in early childhood education, even evidence from v...
ALISON GOPNIK

If parents are the fixed stars in the child's universe, the vaguely understood, distant but cons...
ALISON GOPNIK

What makes knowledge automatic is what gets you to Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice.
ALISON GOPNIK

If you just casually look at a baby, it doesn't look like there's very much going on there, ...
ALISON GOPNIK

Asking questions is what brains were born to do, at least when we were young children. For young chi...
ALISON GOPNIK

On the Web we all become small-town visitors lost in the big city.
ALISON GOPNIK

For better or worse, we live in possible worlds as much as actual ones. We are cursed by that charac...
ALISON GOPNIK

Animals are certainly more sophisticated than we used to think. And we shouldn't lump together a...
ALISON GOPNIK

Putting together philosophy and children would have been difficult for most of history. But very for...
ALISON GOPNIK

I'm afraid the parenting advice to come out of developmental psychology is very boring: pay atte...
ALISON GOPNIK

Like most parents, I think, my children have been the source of some of my most intense joys and des...
ALISON GOPNIK

Teaching is a very effective way to get children to learn something specific - this tube squeaks, sa...
ALISON GOPNIK

I wanted to answer big questions about humanity, about how it is that we understand about the world,...
ALISON GOPNIK

Scientists and philosophers tend to treat knowledge, imagination and love as if they were all very s...
ALISON GOPNIK

The radio was an improvement on the telegraph but it didn't have the same exponential, transform...
ALISON GOPNIK

The brain knows the real secret of seduction, more effective than even music and martinis. Just keep...
ALISON GOPNIK

We learn differently as children than as adults. For grown-ups, learning a new skill is painful, att...
ALISON GOPNIK

From an evolutionary perspective children are, literally, designed to learn. Childhood is a special ...
ALISON GOPNIK

One of the things I say is from an evolutionary point of view: probably the ideal rich environment f...
ALISON GOPNIK

Imagine if baseball were taught the way science is taught in most inner-city schools. Schoolchildren...
ALISON GOPNIK

Babies and young children are like the research and development division of the human species, and w...
ALISON GOPNIK

When nobody read, dyslexia wasn't a problem. When most people had to hunt, a minor genetic varia...
ALISON GOPNIK

Each new generation of children grows up in the new environment its parents have created, and each g...
ALISON GOPNIK

Being a developmental psychologist didn't make me any better at dealing with my own children, no...
ALISON GOPNIK

I've had three of my own children and spent my professional life thinking about children. And ye...
ALISON GOPNIK

Childhood is a fundamental part of all human lives, parents or not, since that's how we all star...
ALISON GOPNIK

What, of course, we want in a university is for people to learn the skills they're going to need...
ALISON GOPNIK

Our babies are like penguins; penguin babies can't exist unless more than one person is taking c...
ALISON GOPNIK

Imaginary friends are one of the weirder forms of pretend play in childhood. But the research shows ...
ALISON GOPNIK

Texts and e-mails travel no faster than phone calls and telegrams, and their content isn't neces...
ALISON GOPNIK

Historically, absolute IQ scores have risen substantially as we've changed our environment so th...
ALISON GOPNIK

Scientists learn about the world in three ways: They analyze statistical patterns in the data, they ...
ALISON GOPNIK

Love is somthing that can not be explained - the force that drives us to protect the ones we care ...
ADAM

Good people eat all their veggies and all the fruits, but they still have good grades. I call this, ...
ADAM

Sometimes the world seems like a big hole. You spend all your life shouting down it and all you hear...
ADAM DURITZ

Holiday binge-buying has deep roots in American culture: department stores have been associating tur...
ADAM DAVIDSON

I auditioned in Chicago for Juilliard and didn't get in. I was basically living in a back room o...
ADAM DRIVER

When I was getting started, I was so busy just fighting my way through, and I was under contract at ...
ADAM WEST

There is a very thin line between confidence and arrogance.
ADAM PEATY

When you wear a mask and create a character, nothing will pigeonhole you faster.
ADAM WEST

You may love football, but that doesn't mean you have any business trying to play the sport. It&...
ADAM GREEN

I can't be a hypocrite as a coach because as a player that's what I wanted. I wanted feedbac...
ADAM OATES

Once people take ownership over the decision to receive feedback, they're less defensive about i...
ADAM GRANT

So many people witness atrocities and can't take their eyes away from them, but that doesn't...
ADAM LEVINE

Stevie Wonder is just one of those guys that completely delivers everything that you want to be true...
ADAM LEVINE

You have to be able to fail with the improv. You have to not care.
ADAM MCKAY

I don't want to be an actor, but why not take these opportunities when they come to you? I'm...
ADAM LEVINE

The main difference between the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution was that the former was most...
ADAM MICHNIK

I've been kind of toying around with the bi thing in my head. I wouldn't ever give myself th...
ADAM LAMBERT

I was kind of the black sheep with the Disney kids. I was uninterested in making friends with most o...
ADAM LAMBERG

I like sitting and writing with my buddies.
ADAM SANDLER

My movies just kind of sneak up on you. I don't have to worry too much about what everybody is g...
ADAM SANDLER

How many actors have a shot at being a part of something that became a part of pop culture? It's...
ADAM WEST

Bush already gave obscene tax breaks to people like me and Warren Buffet, and we are saying it's...
ADAM MCKAY

It is unlikely that we will hit a home run anytime soon but if we are unable to get rid of offensive...
ADAM DODEK

That's the most amazing thing about writing, whether it's in prose or comics: that you can c...
ADAM CHRISTOPHER

Historically, diversity has been a real issue for superhero comics - so we need to do something abou...
ADAM CHRISTOPHER

To be honest, writing comics is a dream come true - the form is unparalleled and is home to some of ...
ADAM CHRISTOPHER

Our house has a library - it seemed better use of the space than as a dining room! - and I try to sp...
ADAM CHRISTOPHER

'The Burning Dark' needs a certain kind of soundtrack - something dark and moody, electronic...
ADAM CHRISTOPHER

My own writing has perhaps more of an American flavor than a British one, but that's because the...
ADAM CHRISTOPHER

The appeal of the Golden Age heroes for me is their simplicity, even their naivety - they represent ...
ADAM CHRISTOPHER

I'm an internet junkie. There, I said it. That's the first step, right? I also have a thing ...
ADAM CHRISTOPHER

I have feelings that are to the right, and I have feelings that land on the left side of the aisle. ...
ADAM CAROLLA

I want to work for myself, and I do work for myself. I make plenty of money working for myself.
ADAM CAROLLA

All's the government should do is keep the taxes and regulations at a manageable rate, keep a de...
ADAM CAROLLA

I get depressed at airports.
ADAM CAROLLA

Of course on air I use occasional hyperbole to tell a story.
ADAM CAROLLA

There are certain things women are better at than men.
ADAM CAROLLA

I mean, we sit around and we go, you know, 'Torture doesn't work.' Well, it's been a...
ADAM CAROLLA

If women built the bridges or were meant to build the bridges, then they would have done it.
ADAM CAROLLA

When you're doing a radio show, you can express yourself.
ADAM CAROLLA

I don't think healthcare's a right. The only right you have is the ability to go out on an e...
ADAM CAROLLA

Well, guys are better at mechanical stuff and women are better at emotional stuff.
ADAM CAROLLA

Whoever is for higher taxes, feel free to pay higher taxes.
ADAM CAROLLA

I'm not sexist, I'm just a realist.
ADAM CAROLLA

The reason why you know more funny dudes than funny chicks is that dudes are funnier than chicks. If...
ADAM CAROLLA

You don't realize how much you use your credit card not even to buy things. It's a card you ...
ADAM CAROLLA

If you've driven over to the gay section of Los Angeles, it's like a golf course... Real est...
ADAM CAROLLA

When you have kids, you instantly feel that you do not want to do them wrong. Those dads that go off...
ADAM CAROLLA

I cook a little bit. I make a Hungarian dish called chicken paprikash that's out of this world. ...
ADAM CAROLLA

If in 1989 I said, 'I have an idea: Bottle water and sell it. And charge more than a beer,' ...
ADAM CAROLLA

My first film is coming out, and it's in 3D, and it's 'The Hobbit,' so it's a bi...
ADAM BROWN

As a first movie, 'The Hobbit' is not a bad place to start.
ADAM BROWN

It was just really odd to be in a room with Ian McKellen sharing cucumber sandwiches.
ADAM BROWN

You kind of forget he's Peter Jackson in a way because he's so normal; he's lovely. It&#...
ADAM BROWN

I consider The O.C. as my college. It was four years and I made friends who I'll have forever.
ADAM BRODY

Transitioning to being an unemployed film actor is different, but it's fun and I've been loo...
ADAM BRODY

I always enjoyed movies and in hindsight I realise how captivating they were to me.
ADAM BRODY

I have been in teen shows for years, so doing that stuff - kissing - is kind of commonplace and not ...
ADAM BRODY

I have a pretty lousy voice.
ADAM BRODY

It helps if you don't date other actors, but actresses are beautiful. How can you say no?
ADAM BRODY

I've had to fight for roles and I've lost a hundred roles, but 'Smoking' and 'Sm...
ADAM BRODY

I worry that I can come off smarmy. I wonder if I was listening to myself if I'd want to kick my...
ADAM BRODY

If I don't direct a movie at some point, I've failed personally.
ADAM BRODY

I like an interesting movie even if it's controversial or offensive, depending on your taste.
ADAM BRODY

There's no conversation more boring than talking about what it's really like to live in Newp...
ADAM BRODY

Well, I guess most people would only know me from The O.C. I did a few episodes of Gilmore Girls bef...
ADAM BRODY

My best jokes are so cheap. All I do is say things sarcastically.
ADAM BRODY

I like to always have humour in whatever I do.
ADAM BRODY

I just want to be in good things that I want to see, and I want to work with talented people who are...
ADAM BRODY

I am super-proud to have a sort of famous character in my background that if you're a certain ag...
ADAM BRODY

It's very important to me to love what I do. It was important to me to find a career that I trul...
ADAM BRODY

It's bad writing, however naturalistic it's written, that's where you have to do your be...
ADAM BRODY

Comic books aren't nerdy. You'd have to be an idiot to think computers are nerdy.
ADAM BRODY

I'm a fake intellectual.
ADAM BRODY

I want to work with intelligent people and look for scripts that I think are intelligent and surpris...
ADAM BRODY

I wish I came from a more pure place. I don't have something to say from the bottom of my soul. ...
ADAM BRODY

Any time you end a relationship, and everyone has ended plenty in their life, it's always a toug...
ADAM BRODY

Really, as long as I am working and have diversity, I am happy.
ADAM BRODY

I always believed in if you give your best, people will see it, and it moves to the next level. I go...
ADAM BEACH

When I initially started acting, all I wanted to do was to be in one movie. That's it. That was ...
ADAM BEACH

When I was growing up, my white friends would call me: 'Hey, Chief!' Even when I go to work ...
ADAM BEACH

I go to South Dakota for ceremonies when I have the time. And when you learn what the Indian peoples...
ADAM BEACH

I learned the mechanics of how to fly a plane, but I never lifted a plane off the ground.
ADAM BEACH

What's nice about 'Skinwalkers' is it's allowing an audience to see a different Indi...
ADAM BEACH

I never understood the realism of an imaginary circumstance. While I was doing 'Smoke Signals,&#...
ADAM BEACH

I feel I will always have that spirit bear with me, so I will always feel protected.
ADAM BEACH

As a kid, I was just led out in the morning to go spend my day with my friends and just run in the w...
ADAM BEACH

It's much easier to come back as a recurring character. Because you already know his traits and ...
ADAM BEACH

I think with 'Skinwalkers,' the success of it spoke for itself. Meaning a lot of people want...
ADAM BEACH

Once you lose your parents, you get this numbness, this feeling of having to really be able to conne...
ADAM BEACH

I was in high school. A couple of my friends and I decided we had to be in a class together where we...
ADAM BEACH

Movies have been my way to get out of my backyard. I'm trying to let people know that movies cha...
ADAM BEACH

Acting has made me embrace my childhood. It's become some weird form of therapy. It's like I...
ADAM BEACH

I've learned that for Indian people, the opportunity for us to succeed is very slim. So acting w...
ADAM BEACH

When I was sixteen I started acting, and I also started to embrace my tradition and culture. I had a...
ADAM BEACH

Some people look for a certain structure in their lives that they're comfortable with. People wh...
ADAM BEACH

With 'Smoke Signals,' the character was so much like me growing up. I lost my parents, and I...
ADAM BEACH

You can't propel a nation to move forward if all you are doing is taking something from them.
ADAM BEACH

I do a lot of inspirational talks for kids, to motivate them to change their lives and give them hop...
ADAM BEACH

I remember, as a kid, I'd follow the rooster and the chickens and watch what type of grass they&...
ADAM BEACH

I always did think that when I turned 40, I'd start coming into my own.
ADAM BALDWIN

I'm no Leonardo DiCaprio.
ADAM BALDWIN

The guys I grew up with, my cinematic heroes, have always been men of few words, but of action. Clin...
ADAM BALDWIN

I'm not much of a jokester.
ADAM BALDWIN

You get a sense of how the show works and then let your personality take over.
ADAM BALDWIN

My heroes are the camera crew and the electricians. They work such long hours.
ADAM BALDWIN

I tested for a couple of pilots, but they said I was too tall.
ADAM BALDWIN

I think work begets work.
ADAM BALDWIN

What I try to do is to appreciate every job I have while I'm working on it.
ADAM BALDWIN

The only people who have control over their careers are the ones you see on the covers of magazines....
ADAM BALDWIN

I was involved with drama departments since the 5th grade. I played at it. It was an escape.
ADAM BALDWIN

A lot of the television industry is so cookie-cutter. In general, there are so many shows that are e...
ADAM BALDWIN

I'm always looking, as an actor, for activities. I think it's far more interesting to watch ...
ADAM BALDWIN

I'm like a fungus; you can't get rid of me.
ADAM BALDWIN

It was never the fame or fortune that drove me to act. It was something I love and enjoy doing it. A...
ADAM BALDWIN

I just consider myself a piece of the puzzle and I'm lucky enough to be asked or invited to the ...
ADAM BALDWIN

Stillness as a technique is still really captivating to me.
ADAM BALDWIN

Bad things happen sometimes.
ADAM ANT

I feel very grateful to be alive and well enough to make music.
ADAM ANT

Creative people are more prone to depression.
ADAM ANT

Antidepressants are very good, but it's a clinical cosh, really. Sometimes you have to be knocke...
ADAM ANT

I have suffered from depression for most of my life. It is an illness.
ADAM ANT

My daughter, Lily Caitlin, means the most to me in the world.
ADAM ANT

I'm a punk rocker. I don't do Christian.
ADAM ANT

I like being infamous. I think it is safe being a cult.
ADAM ANT

I have loved eight women in my life. I remember every woman's face.
ADAM ANT

Men look like pandas when they try and put make-up on.
ADAM ANT

I think what's going on with gorillas is pretty bad. The fact is that you can buy gorilla meat i...
ADAM ANT

It may be a coincidence, but from the minute I took anti-depressants, I didn't pick up a guitar ...
ADAM ANT

The brain isn't like the heart. They learned how to transplant a heart. The brain is more comple...
ADAM ANT

My daughter's the greatest thing that's happened to me in my life and she turned me into a m...
ADAM ANT

I wanted to make good records. But my problem is I've got a low boredom threshold, so I wanted i...
ADAM ANT

If you make a mistake, you should enjoy it.
ADAM ANT

To me, style is consistency.
ADAM ANT

I just think, certainly for live music it should look as good as it sounds.
ADAM ANT

Since the decline of record companies and music sales, I've always played live.
ADAM ANT

Depression is something that doesn't just go away. It's just... there and you deal with it. ...
ADAM ANT

I'm blind without my glasses.
ADAM ANT

Mental health needs a great deal of attention. It's the final taboo and it needs to be faced and...
ADAM ANT

Achievement results from work realizing ambition.
ADAM ANT

Winston Cup and the Busch Series are two totally different leagues. You get put in different situati...
ADAM PETTY

I have patterned myself after my father and God.
ADAM PETTY

They can hop on a line and really dice it up out there.
ADAM PETTY

All tastes have the quality of being in some way artificial and invented. The secret of life is to have enough detachment from your tastes and your values to see that they are a little bit absurd.

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Adam Gopnik

All tastes have the quality of being in some way artificial and invented. The secret of life is to have enough detachment from your tastes and your values to see that they are a little bit absurd.

Adam Gopnik

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