If I scribbled a few words on a cocktail napkin and showed it to my family, they'd proclaim it astonishing and more culturally relevant than the Bible.
Marisha Pessl
Related Always live your life with your biography in mind. MARISHA PESSL I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES It is a lie. ARTHUR MILLER When you start a show, the plans are not set in stone. They're really mutable, cocktail napkin s... ERIC KRIPKE She's been on more laps than a napkin. WALTER WINCHELL I'd have these weird experiences where I'd just be walking down the street with this chord p... DUNCAN SHEIK My mom would take me to restaurants, and the first thing I'd ask for would be a pen and a napkin... ALEXANDER WANG Don't touch my napkin. I do not want the server to pick up the napkin and put it on my lap. I kn... TOM COLICCHIO If you were to ask me if I'd ever had the bad luck to miss my daily cocktail, I'd have to sa... LUIS BUNUEL I've been in more laps than a napkin. MAE WEST What do most people say on their deathbed? They don't say, 'I wish I'd made more money.&... DAVID RUBENSTEIN She's been on more laps than a napkin WALTER WINCHELL I'd seen my father. He was a poor man, and I watched him do astonishing things. SIDNEY POITIER There's nothing more Broadway than 'Hedwig.' It's very family-friendly. There's ... JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL I had more friends on my hockey team than I did on my soccer team. I might have been better at socce... CARL HAGELIN There are so many things we do in life that define the real meaning of our lives. There are so many ... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Even when my parents were together, they both had to travel and work, and it wasn't like they ha... GEORGIA MAY JAGGER Absoballylutely top hole, wot. A and B the C of D I'd say. . . Above and Beyond the Call of Duty. BRIAN JACQUES If I was to have a reality show, it wouldn't be a show based on my personal life. I'd want i... KEHLANI If you want to be a poet, you can just write it on a napkin, and it's the length of the napkin, ... ROBERT KRULWICH I even felt like I liked guys better than women - that men were relevant and women weren't. It t... LYNN COADY It goes back to the starfish. That's when the light bulb really popped over my head. We'd fo... NICK SAGAN No books is more fascinating than the Bible. And no books are less fascinating than most of our comm... PETER KREEFT And so it's inescapable and people who proclaim scrupulous honesty can only proclaim that if the... TODD RUNDGREN I speak a little bit of Italian, yeah. I understand more than I speak. I speak more of a dialect; my... LUKE PASQUALINO I'm a great believer in poetry out of the classroom, in public places, on subways, trains, on co... BILLY COLLINS To stand on the brink of what is coming, feeling eager, optimistic anticipation—with no feeli... ASK AND IT IS GIVEN I'd love to have more kids. I'm one of four, and I've always dreamed of having a huge fa... ABBEY CLANCY 37. It is better to be single and unhappy than unhappily married. JAMES C. DOBSON If I'm going to be away from my family, I'd rather it be working with my friends. ADAM SCOTT I always think family get-togethers when everybody just sort of crashes out are pretty much the best... LAUREN COHAN Mobile is a seaport town, and we ate a lot of seafood. We'd go fishing, we'd catch our fish ... BILLY WILLIAMS If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, 'Tell the truth.' If I got three ... RANDY PAUSCH It was great to get the experience of making a box. But this is really what we had our eyes set on f... DAVID HUFFORD I'm thankful to God for having a family that's been there for me. He's been there from t... ASHTON SHEPHERD Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love. I'd stepped in it a few times. RITA RUDNER '21' was the place, and you went down, and they opened the door. They had a little slit they... BROOKE ASTOR If you asked my kids to describe me, they'd go through a whole list of words before even thinkin... MICHAEL J. FOX All I watch is the Food Network. I took a cheesemaking class a few weeks ago, and I told my family a... JESSE MCCARTNEY You must have traveled all night,” she heard herself say. “I had to come back early.” Sh... LISA KLEYPAS Something did happen, and I really don't feel proud of it. DEYTH BANGER Although I cannot see your face As you flip these poems awhile, Somewhere from some far-of... SHEL SILVERSTEIN I'd say my mother made more of a difference to me than anyone else did. I know that's a conv... HERB KELLEHER One merit of poetry few persons will deny; it says more, and in few words, than prose VOLTAIRE What's the difference between people who see and seek gaps and those that see and seek bridges? The ... RICHIE NORTON I never thought I'd be making a living off of acting - it's still kind of a shock for my fam... MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER I'd say I have more shoes than anything else; they're a good way to update a look. Bags and ... ALEXA CHUNG I abhor the words 'classical music.' Few things satisfy me more than a really good cover ver... CHARLES HAZLEWOOD It is a small world. You do not have to live in it particuarly long to learn that for yourself. Ther... NEIL GAIMAN I have always despised people who thought they were better than others, and I made a promise to myse... JACKIE EVANCHO The CX-7 wasn't even a sketch on a cocktail napkin a little over two years ago. The fact that I'm st... JIM O'SULLIVAN I think my family needs me more than anybody else, and tennis doesn't need me anymore. I respect... THOMAS MUSTER When a lot of voices, make up a noise, the man who is silent represents a voice. APURVA GAGLANI The Bible is big in my teaching. It's a wonder the ACLU didn't get after me pretty good. I r... BOBBY BOWDEN In my mind, numbers and words are far more than squiggles of ink on a page. They have form, color, t... DANIEL TAMMET If you catch yourself wondering why you want more of the world and you're not satisfied with God, it... CRAIG GROESCHEL Money is not everything. My ambition was football itself, not the money I'd make from it. If tha... ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO Economically and culturally, our identity is much more diversified and complex than it used to be. WALT CROWLEY Feminists bore me to death. I follow my instinct and if that supports young girls in any way, great.... BJORK I'd rather make all my secrets public than have an image based on gossip. I'd rather put it ... EVE I've been in more laps than a napkin. MAE WEST We had cocktail parties and I'd stay up until 5 in the morning. DOROTHY MALONE Apathetic to my pity party, God interrupted in a thunderous Voice with the words, “For we walk by ... SHELLEY LUBBEN I'd give my right arm to be, like, a random extra on 'Girls,' just to walk past one of t... EMILIA CLARKE I would love to have a complete family. I'd love to do it all at once. I'd love to be able t... MICHAEL EALY All history is a Bible--a thing stated in words by me more than
once. THOMAS CARLYLE At the moment I have my family coming out with me on the road. We have our own vehicle and it's ... DAVE LOMBARDO I focus on consumer Internet. Sometimes it's a working prototype; sometimes it's an idea on ... KEVIN ROSE My family lives in Miami, and I always envision myself, if something happens, it'd be like '... NATALIE MARTINEZ I was really happy with it. It's an ideal setting and it's cheaper for a family than a movie. They'l... DANNY WALKER Gymnastics, especially in my family, is more than a sport. It's our life, it's our careers, ... NASTIA LIUKIN And I watch my words from a long way off. They are more yours than mine. They climb on my ... PABLO NERUDA We've been so disconnected agriculturally and culturally from food. We spend more time on dietin... ALICE WATERS I'd rather be the protector than the protected. I'm naturally the protector - being a mother... SOLANGE KNOWLES I teach a Bible study for homeless guys in downtown Atlanta every week. Been doing it for years. Tha... JEFF FOXWORTHY This is one of the worst things the Senate has ever done. On the back of a cocktail napkin they have... GITA GUTIERREZ I'd love to do a movie with females in it, and not necessarily the female version of 'The Ha... TODD PHILLIPS A few years ago, if you had told me I'd be moving back to Glasgow I'd have said, 'No way... KELLY MACDONALD I don't care how much a person talks, if they only say it in a few words. JOSH BILLINGS If it's a cocktail party, I generally make five or six different things, and I try to choose rec... INA GARTEN I'd say it's even harder to cater to Hispanics than to the lesbian or gay community. We'... CARLOS PONCE I'd like just to be remembered as a guy that came along and did his music, did his best and show... BUCK OWENS Let your feelings flow and the scribbled words stay as a sovereign of the moment. SOMYA KEDIA I'm going to college. I don't care if it ruins my career. I'd rather be smart than a mov... NATALIE PORTMAN It is reasonable to think that the more readers put into the Bible app in the form of small investme... NIR EYAL You release the pain of the past and press on. It's a new day, and God is doing a new thing. He want... CRAIG GROESCHEL It's so funny how my name has always been such a big deal. When I was growing up, my family was ... CALISTA FLOCKHART In five years' time I'd like to be a mum. I want to settle down and have a family, definitel... ADELE My dad used to sit me on his knee and read from the Bible to us. We were a praying family. Ours was ... ROMA DOWNEY I'm happiest at home hanging out with the kids... Having a family has been my saving grace becau... JUDE LAW People think that the people in Hollywood have some master plan. They just make the movies that peop... ALAN ARKIN A servant who serves excellently from his whole heart with due courage and humility is never a serva... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH It wasn't a secret that I was gay. I'd come out to my parents during my junior year of high ... MARY CHENEY My biggest ambition over everything is to have kids. It feels great. I'd love a big family. RAFE SPALL People would ask me to autograph their bodies and then the next time I'd see them on tour they... CHUCK PALAHNIUK We are a Bible preaching and Bible teaching church. Pastor Schwartz is a wonderful preacher. He teac... GEORGE LEAVELL While I'd like to be able to simply do all of my financings with a handshake or, possibly, on a ... BRAD FELD There were times when I blundered and got the dreaded look from the lads. But that was a good sign. ... JOHN BONHAM It's much easier to be successful than it is to be relevant. The tricks won't keep you relev... BONO If anybody wanted to photograph my life, they'd get bored in a day. 'Heres Matt at home lear... MATT DAMON
More Marisha Pessl
In America, people of a certain age ask, 'Where were you when Kennedy was shot?' In my house... MARISHA PESSL Always live your life with your biography in mind," Dad was fond of saying. "Naturally, it won'... MARISHA PESSL Always live your life with your biography in mind. MARISHA PESSL Just when you think you've hit rock bottom, you realize you're standing on another trapdoor. MARISHA PESSL No wonder so many adults long to return to university, to all those deadlines--ahhh, that structure!... MARISHA PESSL I think every writer has a book that haunts them, and on some level, every book you write is a react... MARISHA PESSL Those around you can have their novellas, sweet, their short stories of cliché and coincidence, occ... MARISHA PESSL It’s easy to be yourself in the dark. MARISHA PESSL A deus ex machina will never appear in real life so you best make other arrangements. MARISHA PESSL If I learned anything about her it was that she lived with a vehemence most of us never have the cou... MARISHA PESSL It was true. After our divorce, I'd ended up in a slight relationship with my last research assistan... MARISHA PESSL They saw me. Milton's smile curled off his face like unsticky tape. And I knew immediately, I was a ... MARISHA PESSL Not returning phone calls is the severest form of torture in the civilized world. MARISHA PESSL I couldn't help but suspect something he'd seen or encountered had changed his view of what had happ... MARISHA PESSL Landlocked Switzerland: They're Nice and Neutral Only Because They're Tiny MARISHA PESSL Within every elaborate lie, a kernel of truth. MARISHA PESSL ...I couldn't let go of the thought that it had, in fact, been he, restless and moody Heathcliff. Da... MARISHA PESSL Like that lightning that comes out of the blue when there’s not even a storm going on, just a craz... MARISHA PESSL It's a common feeling for people to feel intermittent antipathy toward individuals they're familiar ... MARISHA PESSL Mortal fear is as crucial a thing to our lives as love. It cuts to the core of our being and shows u... MARISHA PESSL