Before my book, 'California,' came out, I had modest hopes for it. Or, let's put it this way - I had the same hopes that every literary fiction writer in America has: I wanted the novel to be well-received, critically. As for sales? I didn't want it to disappoint, but I didn't expect it to be a best-seller, either.
Women are far and away the bigger consumers of fiction than men, but men are still far and away the more reviewed, the more critically esteemed, the more respected. That can get frustrating.
I've been as critically rubbished as acclaimed and the worst thing about that is that it usually plays into your own self-criticism.
It is only through contact and comparison that the relative value or worthlessness of the various cultural elements can be clearly and critically seen and understood.
It seems that Argentina is incapable of looking critically at its tragic military adventure in the Falklands.
The Americans have taken the course of confrontation and do not assess their own steps critically at all.
The individual dynamics going on within a venture fund are critically important to you. Unfortunately, they're also very opaque.
It's so easy to manipulate an audience, but it's nearly always clear that you are being manipulated. I think even people that are not critically attuned are aware of cynical manipulation in film.
From the beginnings of modern monetary theory, in David Hume's marvelous essays of 1752, 'Of Money and Of Interest,' conclusions about the effect of changes in money have seemed to depend critically on the way in which the change is effected.
Right action tends to be defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society.
Well, the fact is that one imagination is critically important, and if you have had your imagination stimulated by what is basically a variety of subjects, you are much more amenable to accepting, to understanding and interacting with the realities of the world.
You know, you want everything you do, obviously, to be a success critically and commercially. But what you find out as you go along is that everything won't.
I was brought up in a home environment where I was taught to think critically and was encouraged to seek answers to questions about my faith.
When you're writing a book, you don't really think about it critically. You don't want to know too well what you're doing. First, you write the book, then you find the justification for it.
I think we live a culture that's obsessed with people, you know, 'Celebrities are just like us!' Everything I do except my job is critically analyzed online.
My dad has always been vocal about critically appreciating me. If I have done a bad job, he will definitely try to correct me with his inputs.
As any student of literature knows, the books that last are often not the books that are most popular when they are written. Both 'Moby Dick' and 'The Great Gatsby' were complete failures, critically and commercially, when they first appeared.
The danger for any artist whose work is both recognizable and critically acclaimed is complacent repetition - the temptation to churn out easily identifiable, eagerly welcomed, and readily salable designs.
I guess, at the beginning of any project, I always have the same hope, which is that it's going to be wildly successful and critically acclaimed, and it'll be a major thing.
Presidents need to be critically studied and analyzed.
I would say critically of myself that I am somebody without secrets. Sometimes acting depends on you having a secret. I don't think I've ever had that.
I am an American. I love my country and have great hopes for it. It is for this reason that I speak candidly and sometimes critically about it. I have benefited greatly from the freedom that exists in my country, and for this, I am eternally grateful.
Even though I wanted to experience all these things I was interested in, I couldn't get them. So I had to think critically and culturally about what was available.
In quiet moments when you think about it, you recognize what is critically important in life and what isn't. Be wise and don't let good things crowd out those that are essential.
I believe whatever smart, ambitious people are working on will be the trend of the future. I do think that it's worth thinking critically about what the future will be.
I did two movies that were arthouse movies; they were critically successful but made no money at all... but after making those movies, I thought, 'I wouldn't watch my own movies when I was 16, and my buddies where I came from wouldn't watch my movies, because they were boring.'
We will do whatever the government tells us to do, which is a critically important principle of the Chinese market economy, and there is nothing more for discussion about it.
Pell Grants are, and have been, critically important tools in making higher education a possibility for lower- and middle-income students.
