Esquire’s “What I’ve Learned” Feature
I love Esquire’s What I’ve Learned feature, in which (usually famous) people share their opinions, life lessons, and arbitrary thoughts.
From Christopher Walken:
Most of the jobs I get are basically very unwholesome people. There’s always something wrong with the guy, and sometimes something deeply wrong. I’m tired of that. I tell my agent I want a Fred MacMurray part.
From Philip Glass:
When you hear for the first time the music you have composed, there is that astonishing moment when the idea that you carried in your heart and your mind comes back to you in the hands of a musician. People always ask, “Is it what you thought it would be?” And that’s a very interesting question, because once you hear it in the air, so to speak, it’s almost impossible to remember what it was you imagined. The reality of the sound eclipses your experience.
From Carrie Fisher:
Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
From Michael Eisner:
When I read biographies, I’m only interested in the first few chapters. I’m not interested in when people become successful. I’m interested in what made them successful.
From B.B. King:
Water from the white fountain didn’t taste any better than from the black fountain.
From Tom Petty:
What I’ve learned about marriage: You need to have each other’s back; you have to be a kind of team going through life. That’s beautiful — to have that kind of friendship. You’re going to need it when you get old.
From John Goodman:
I always overtip. Because at the end of the night, your feet hurt and you get to count it up and there’s a nice feeling when you’ve gotten tipped well. I know what it’s like. My mom lived on tips.
From Alex Trebek:
Don’t tell me what you believe in. I’ll observe how you behave and I will make my own determination.
From Elmore Leonard:
If an adverb became a character in one of my books, I’d have it shot. Immediately.