Dewitt Quotes

His heart was a church of his own choosing,
and the lights came through
the colourful windows. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I don't make to-do lists, but if I did, today's would have gone something like this: 1. get drunk, 2. get laid, 3. go surfing (not necessarily in that order.) Noticeably absent from the list: get arrested. And yet here I am, spending my eighteenth birthday with my back against the wall of the Colonel's hunting cabin, two FBI agents prowling the dark with their guns drawn, both trying to get me to confess to the murder of my friend Preston DeWitt. ~ Paula Stokes

After 'The Sisters Brothers,' I tried to write a contemporary story dealing with an investment adviser in New York City who moves to Paris. I did all this research, but after about a year and any number of pages written, I was bored stiff. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Nobody brings numbers to life like Horace Dediu does. ~ Philip Elmer-DeWitt

Your skin is prickly from fatigue and pain and there is a hissing in your ears. Time passes and the pills are taking hold like a glowing white planet coming into view. A reverse eclipse. And you watch with your eyes closed. The white planet is half exposed, it grips your heart in its light and seems to be pulling you forward and now you feel that you are falling. You are awake but dreaming. "The earth is not beautiful but the universe is," you say. ~ Patrick DeWitt

There are the jobs you get that do something for your confidence, like "I can do this with my life" kind of thing. And then, there are the jobs that maybe bring a certain level of awareness about you as an actor where other people feel like they can hire you. ~ Rosemarie DeWitt

Your laughter is like cool water to me," I said. I felt my heart sob at these strange words, and it would not have been hard to summon tears: Strange. " "You are so serious all of a sudden," she told me. "I am not any one thing," I said. (137) ~ Patrick DeWitt

'The Sisters Brothers' started out as a little bit of dialogue between these two men who became Eli and Charlie Sisters. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I'm always studying something or trying to learn something, keep myself creatively occupied, because I think that energy can get kind of destructive if it doesn't have somewhere to go. ~ Rosemarie DeWitt

That is to say, nine dead beavers in a line on the sand. There was something decorative about this, but also ominous or forbidding. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I will never be a leader of men, and neither do I want to be one, and neither do I want to be led. I thought: I want to lead only myself. ~ Patrick DeWitt

You put a wage behind something, it gives the act a sort of respectability. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I find the constant upkeep of the body woefully fatiguing, don't you? ~ Patrick DeWitt

Just your everyday grouping of civilized gentlemen, sitting in a round robin to discuss the events of the day with quivering erections. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Exploring the intersection of sexuality and Catholic theology kept me alive, and provided an outlet for my spirit's raging demand for love. ~ Suzanne DeWitt Hall

Susan paused a pause which, the moment Malcolm heard it, he knew something ugly was on the other end of it. He waited for the ugliness, and here it was: "He's asked me to marry him," Susan said. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Well, there's good fiction. There are wonderful books, and yes, it's good to read them. Maybe if you've read a lot of fiction, you reach this stage of satiation, and you start thinking well, what's the point, but then you talk to people who've read barely any, and you realize that things you take for granted if you've read a lot of fiction - unreliable narrators, how language frames your perception of people - things that seem obvious to the point of banality, except they're not to people who aren't in the habit of reading fiction. ~ Helen DeWitt

The dead carry with them to the grave in their clutched hands only that which they have given away. ~ DeWitt Wallace

Something looked through my grandfather's eyes. It said Being an accountant, it's not the end of the world.
Something looked at my Uncle Danny. Something looked at my aunts and it said A secretary, is that so terrible?
Linda had seen four before her do something that was not so terrible and already there was something about them, their whole lives ahead of them and the best thing cut off, as if something that might have been a Heifetz had been walled up inside an accountant and left to die.
Doom. Doom. Doom. ~ Helen DeWitt

I quite agree with you. The sun is not kind. God should use a rose amber spot. ~ Dewitt Bodeen

Don't be the best in the world. Be the best for the world. ~ Dewitt Jones

The master swordsman isn't interested in killing people. He only wants to perfect his art. ~ Helen DeWitt

Looking around, I saw so many unhappy adults, people who loathed their jobs, and I didn't want to be one of them. ~ Patrick DeWitt

When you decide you're going to join a project, it's all about the gift you're giving the audience. ~ Joyce DeWitt

As Christians, we have the choice to set our hope in the law or in Him whose mercy triumphs over judgment. Let's set our hope in Him, and pray He will judge us according to our love. And let's pray that Christians who structure so much of their faith around law will have their hearts attuned to the words of Christ. ~ Suzanne DeWitt Hall

I saw my bulky person in the windows of the passing storefronts and wondered, when will that man there find himself to be loved? ~ Patrick DeWitt

The idea is this: It's important to upset one's work habits, to topple the cart for each project. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Every once in a while in an actor's life, a cast comes together. ~ Joyce DeWitt

In 1979 I teamed up with my friend and business partner, Bill DeWitt, and together we formed an oil and gas company that invested through limited partnerships in oil and gas exploration. ~ Mercer Reynolds

I'm not an enormous proponent of plot as a reader. It's about other things; my reading has become specialized over the years. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Start out by celebrating the best in the situation because it allows us to fall in love with it, which connects us to our passion and emancipates the energy. ~ Dewitt Jones

It is true, I thought. I am living a life. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Make the subtle shift from pushing ourselves to be the best in the world, to allowing ourselves to be the best for the world. ~ Dewitt Jones

The sinner will not confess, nor will the priest receive his confession, if the veil of secrecy is removed. ~ DeWitt Clinton

When you meet someone you love, whether or not they love you back, something occurs in you that makes you want to improve yourself. ~ Patrick DeWitt

See the world with new eyes every day. ~ Dewitt Jones

The Holy Spirit whispered the messages of the Bible to the writers who captured them. But the Bible is not God. Our Creator wants us to worship him alone, and the Trinity can never be constrained to a box the size of a book on your bedside table. ~ Suzanne DeWitt Hall

Let us look within ourselves and search out the dormant warrior." "Mine is dormant to the point of non-existence, sir. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Some wear greed as a fine suit of clothes. But you, my son, bear its stamp ever more poorly. ~ Patrick DeWitt

The effects of her words stung me, and after she stole away I stood a long while before her looking glass, studying my profile, the line I cut in this world of men and ladies. ~ Patrick DeWitt

One of my teachers says the sound you hear in the center of the universe is laughter. I don't know if it's true, but if you do something and 30 years later it still produces laughter, that's a fantasy you can't make up. ~ Joyce DeWitt

I've stopped reading about the death of books because it's wasteful and morbid and insulting to the authors, agents, publishers, booksellers, critics, and readers that keep the world community of fiction interesting. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I don't suppose I have a choice.'
'As with so many things in a life, brother, I don't suppose you do. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I like to see a home like this, a home connected with people's thoughts and work, things they love. ~ Dewitt Bodeen

The writer who is literally an addict, the writer who can't help himself, the writer who HAS to write, can never be anything but an amateur, because the industry requires the professional to put writing on hold not just for a day or two, or a week, but for years. ~ Helen DeWitt

If you were at school they would not let you read a book like this, they would keep you from reading it by involving you in sport. ~ Helen DeWitt

I was often forced to whip him, which some men do not mind doing and which in fact some enjoy doing, but which I did not like to do; and afterward he, Tub, believes me cruel and thought to himself, Sad life, sad life. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I once read somewhere that Sean Connery left school at the age of 13 and later went on to read Proust and Finnegans Wake and I keep expecting to meet an enthusiastic school leaver on the train, the type of person who only ever reads something because it is marvellous (and so hated school). Unfortunately the enthusiastic school leavers are all minding their own business. ~ Helen DeWitt

I know that every actor that I know, when Daniel Day-Lewis does a film, and he doesn't work that often, but we run to the theater to see what he's up to, and with such delicious excitement. The same goes for Meryl Streep. ~ Rosemarie DeWitt

I sighed. 'It doesn't matter what we do. Money comes and goes.' I shook my head. 'It doesn't matter and you know it doesn't. ~ Patrick DeWitt

It is hard to find a friend,' I said. 'It is the hardest thing in this world,' he agreed. ~ Patrick DeWitt

In real life, I don't fall in love with the guy who wines and dines me, I fall in love with the flaws and the humanity. ~ Rosemarie DeWitt

The reason is that even in a fantasy there is nothing even remotely erotic about a toilet bowl. In fact, considered as an accoutrement to a sexual encounter, a toilet bowl is a real cold shower. ~ Helen DeWitt

My instinct is to write under the cloak of an opaque historical setting. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Live in the present tense, facing the duty at hand without regret for the past or worry over the future. ~ William DeWitt Hyde

My interest in words and literature is always changing. And every day of work is different, and it doesn't feel laborious in the way that, say, washing dishes did. I'm quite happy to be doing what I'm doing, and I feel very lucky. ~ Patrick DeWitt

You return to your car and find a note on the windshield: 'where did you go?' the note is not signed and the love in your heart is gone. It feels as if it was never there at all. ~ Patrick DeWitt

He only wished to fight and cultivate an anger toward me, thus alleviating his guilt, but I would not abet him in this. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Preparation to success is hard work of daily practice with improvement. ~ Millie DeWitt

If you don't like a language, you can go write your own. ~ Helen DeWitt

It's healthy to have interests besides books. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I don't know that I'd call myself an optimist. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I will try to be happy, you think, and your heart and chest feel a plummeting, as in the case of the hurtling rollercoaster, and your heart wants to cry and sob, but you, not wanting to cry, hit yourself hard in the center of your chest and it hurts so much but you drive on, your face dry and remaining dry, though it had been a close call, after all. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I wouldn't want to write a biography of anyone. I'd feel too inhibited by the facts and too much pressure to do the subject's life justice. ~ Patrick DeWitt

It's not trespassing to go beyond your own boundaries. ~ Dewitt Jones

It is a glory and a torment. ~ Patrick DeWitt

More and more, I find myself turning away from everything relating to contemporary society. I don't know how healthy it is, but I am creating a very private bubble that I live in. ~ Patrick DeWitt

A brilliant white light beat pitilessly down, like the fierce desert sun at midday on the French Foreign Legion; the glittering floor dazzled the eye with the cruel desert glare. We walked slowly through the cereals. ~ Helen DeWitt

I had nowhere to go and did not wish to be seen by anyone for fear they would recognize my sadness and so for several minutes I simply stood in the hall shifting my weight and breathing and attempting to clear my mind of every recognizable thought. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Unless we filter all of our contemplation of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures through the person of Christ, the words are impenetrable. And as our first week's study informed us, the person of Jesus is love. We will revisit this truth throughout the entirety of this book, because it is the key to every argument you face about LGBTQ+ issues. ~ Suzanne DeWitt Hall

I suppose any note, no matter how sour, sounds like a song if you hold onto it long enough. ~ Dewitt Bodeen

I like exploring both the light parts and the dark parts of a single person. And all of those shades tend to come out most acutely in stories about families. ~ Rosemarie DeWitt

You have to deal with people the way they are, not the way you'd like them to be. ~ Helen DeWitt

What does one tell a husband? One tells him nothing. ~ Dewitt Bodeen

Even as fog continues to lie in the valleys, so does ancient sin cling to the low places, the depressions in the world consciousness. ~ Dewitt Bodeen

Shirley Maclaine once said that she didn't want to be a big star, just a long star. That's what I want too. ~ Joyce DeWitt

Sin is man looking for love in all the wrong places. Reflections of God in creation create wonder, but not the satisfaction we really want. ~ Steve DeWitt

I have a paranoia that 'Ablutions' is the best thing I'll ever do. ~ Patrick DeWitt

There is nothing typical about my profession.' Suddenly I did not want to talk about it any longer. 'I don't want to talk about it any longer. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Every industry has slack times, and everyone has bad days at work. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I thought suddenly Look. If Kambei had stopped recruiting when the first samurai didn't work out a 205-minute masterpiece of modern cinema would have been over at minute 32. ~ Helen DeWitt

Crossing the square at Saint-Sulpice, he split through a stream of nuns, who, as insects interrupted, lost the scent of their paths and spun away in eddies. ~ Patrick DeWitt

I really felt that 'Three's Company' was a gift. When it ended, I had money in the bank and had the luxury to pursue a life that meant something, to learn and discover. ~ Joyce DeWitt

The temperate man is the strong man. ~ William DeWitt Hyde

He is not bad, I don't think. Perhaps he is simply too lazy to be good. ~ Patrick DeWitt

'The Sisters Brothers' has endeared so many prize juries because the Western format has more of a broad appeal and is familiar to readers. ~ Patrick DeWitt

When you play a piece of music there are so many different ways you could play it. You keep asking yourself what if. You try this and you say what if and you try that. When you buy a CD you get one answer to the question. You never get the what if. ~ Helen DeWitt

She knew she was living improperly but hadn't the strength to correct herself. She had twenty thousand euros left; she'd taken to flushing hundreds down the toilet each morning. ~ Patrick DeWitt

May Jesus always be the filter through which we interpret the Bible. May we never fear wrestling with its meaning. ~ Suzanne DeWitt Hall

I've got a publicist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who's been working little miracles for me, but it's true the budgets aren't what they once were in terms of advertisement and book tours. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Nature shows me incredible beauty standing just beyond the rat race. It's always there if I'm open enough to see it. ~ Dewitt Jones

I am happy to welcome you to a town peopled in morons exclusively. Furthermore, I hope that your transformation to moron is not an unpleasant experience. ~ Patrick DeWitt

The power of music feels like taking a a nice brake from this busy world ~ Millie DeWitt

I grew up in the suburbs. ~ Rosemarie DeWitt

When your protagonist bores you, you're in trouble. ~ Patrick DeWitt

By the time I left the bar, I was 30. I was a dishwasher. They call it a bar-back, but essentially, I washed dishes for a living. I had no high-school diploma, I had no agent, and my literary successes were non-existent ... but it was the only thing I ever wanted to do, so I did feel trapped. ~ Patrick DeWitt

Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary. ~ Dewitt Jones

I kept trying to write these books that were sort of outside of my realm, and I kept failing. ~ Patrick DeWitt

She wasn't precisely sure what she was walking toward but she wouldn't have turned around for the world. ~ Patrick DeWitt

The roots of Campanella's "Solar City" (and the District of Columbia) can be found in deeper occult parallels within the literature formulated by hermetical philosophers Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino in Renaissance Florence; both prophetically predicting the restoration of the Egyptian solar religion as the correct political theology of the planet and itself the model for a "New World" civil religion. In another words they believed the Abrahamic solar faiths of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam would ultimately be exposed as substituted forms of Egyptian sun worship with in "New World" - the United States. It would be this "New World" that would midwife civilization from the waning Piscean Age into the "Masonic" Aquarian Age, a new age of the holy spirit. Simon Greenleaf's Druids and Campanella's Solarians are the de-facto "mediating" Joachimite order through which heavenly signs are mediated by a Sun Priest - an executive or President - who frames policy based upon his knowledge of the correspondences between science (i.e. Egyptian natural religion), grades of being, and heavenly correspondences. This polity was replicated from 1797 within the General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons with reference both to Enoch (cf. Webb's 1797 Monitor) and the priest king Melchizedek of which the Grand Master DeWitt Clinton became the symbolic presiding executive. This configuration is important to make because it establishes the position of the District of Columbia ~ Robert W. Sullivan IV