Jonathan > Jonathan's Quotes

“First, I'm going to give you all the Copperfield crap, and I'm not going to apologize for any of it, not one paragraph, so if you're not interested in how I came to see the future, or how I came to understand that the biggest truth in my life was a lie, or, for that matter, how I parlayed my distaste for hot dogs into an '84 RX-7 and a new self-concept, do us both a favor, and just stop now.”
― Jonathan Evison, All About Lulu

“We are born haunted, he said, his voice weak, but still clear. Haunted by our fathers and mothers and daughters, and by people we don't remember. We are haunted by otherness, by the path not taken, by the life unlived. We are haunted by the changing winds and the ebbing tides of history. And even as our own flame burns brightest, we are haunted by the embers of the first dying fire. But mostly, said Lord Jim, we are haunted by ourselves.”
― Jonathan Evison, West of Here

“Can we really be whoever we want to be, now that we’ve collected all that we are?”
― Jonathan Evison, West of Here

“A man’s destiny is not in the eyes of others. It’s in his own. And that, my young friend, is as good as any bank note.”
― Jonathan Evison, West of Here

“He threw himself headlong at a job as if were he to stop the job would throw itself headlong back at him.”
― Jonathan Evison, West of Here

“He prayed for clear skies and discovery, for danger and heartache and laughter, for a life beyond fear, a life that got bigger, really got bigger, as it receded.”
― Jonathan Evison, West of Here

“People really do change. Don't let anyone tell you differently. That the future does not conform to the past is not the exception, but the rule.”
― Jonathan Evison, All About Lulu

“If we’ve learned one thing digging up all these old bones, dusting them off, and holding them to the light, we’ve learned this: While the days unfold, one after the other, and the numbers all move in one direction, our lives are not linear, Harriet. We are the sum of moments and reflections, actions and decisions, triumphs, failures, and yearnings, all of it held together, inexplicably, miraculously, really, by memory and association.”
― Jonathan Evison, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

“But you can see it, Harriet, a look in his eyes, an alertness, as if somewhere behind the disease, behind the scar tissue, behind the fog of disassociation, Bernard is all there, he's just lost his ability to communicate. Like somebody turned off his volume. You're certain he can see everything that is transpiring with crystal clarity, and he can't do a goddamn thing about it.”
― Jonathan Evison, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

“Friends,” Andrew says, the candlelight hitting his braces just so. “It’s true, we all rage. We all hate. We all fail. But . . .” And here, he raises a finger, pausing for dramatic effect, something he learned at his Toastmasters group. “That rage and contempt, that disappointment, that’s what makes us yearn so hard. Those deficits, they make us reach, they stretch us. They make us fight back when it matters.”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“And furthermore, it's my opinion that those who claim their accomplishments al to themselves, those who are the heroes of their own stories, are liars".”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“I don't like it,' said Pigott. 'This is a well-established neighborhood. These families go back generations.'

'Don't all families go back generations?”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Maybe the biggest lesson I've learned, in art and in life, is that when the questions become too numerous and the considerations begin to feel a little overwhelming, you just have to look away for a minute and regather your vision for the thing, try to see it the way it originally came to you. Ask yourself, how did I arrive here? What was I trying to accomplish?”
― Jonathan Evison, Lawn Boy

“Three things, actually: One, an almost instinctive obedience to authority, which you abhor in yourself, though you have no power to stop it. Two, some dark impetus beyond reason, some grotesque thing that’s been living under a rock your whole life (let’s call it repression). And lastly, there’s the truth, plain and shabby as a hobo’s trousers, that you believe yourself to be worthless, though you don’t fully know it yet, at least you haven’t formally acknowledged it.”
― Jonathan Evison, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

“wine is a much better salve than anything the medical profession has ever prescribed. Even the Bible condones it!”
― Jonathan Evison, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

“It’s a cruel process, aging. Take my advice, dear, maintain your independence as long as possible.”
― Jonathan Evison, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!