A satisfying ending can make up for a lot of mistakes that come before it. — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
I never worked directly in book publishing, but New York media is adjacent. — Cord Jefferson Book Copy Share Image
I come from a background in TV, where there's a real commitment to character. — Cord Jefferson Character Copy Share Image
I've never been prepared for the spotlight. It makes me incredibly nervous. — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
I don't ever want to police people's laughter. People laugh for all different kinds of reasons. — Cord Jefferson Comedy Copy Share Image
For a few weeks one summer, when I was about eight or nine, my family and I road-tripped from our home in… — Cord Jefferson Family Copy Share Image
Beware bros trying to inform you what they 'deserve.' A hurt man can be a handful - but a hurt man inspired… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
Art is subjective. Just because an executive, or even if five executives say that they don't like the idea and that they… — Cord Jefferson Art Copy Share Image
Like any major clothing company, Polo hawks a lifestyle - or at least the dream of a lifestyle - just as much… — Cord Jefferson Business Copy Share Image
I have loved Erika Alexander since I first saw her in 'Living Single' when I was a kid. I was obsessed with… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
I fear no longer being able to find glimmers of joy and hope in friends' weddings, the birth of children, the contours… — Cord Jefferson Body Copy Share Image
Bravery is a virtue people revere in dead soldiers and then turn to disparage in someone extending her hand to a weirdo. — Cord Jefferson Bravery Copy Share Image
When a young black man acts crazily in my presence, I can't help but feel that, secretly, everyone is not only judging… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
I like Barbour jackets a lot, and Tod's driving moccasins. I even like 'Nantucket red' pants with a crisp white shirt and… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
The thing about New York stories that many storytellers often forget is that they can take place anywhere in the world. That's… — Cord Jefferson City Copy Share Image
When my German-American mother married my black-American Indian father, her dad and stepmom disowned her immediately. They would have been upset had… — Cord Jefferson Dad Copy Share Image
Newspaper haters is a group of people that doesn't really exist, but, even if it did, it wouldn't be composed of people… — Cord Jefferson Close friends Copy Share Image
The Black experience in America now includes everything, all the way up to being the president of the United States.' But there's… — Cord Jefferson Adversity Copy Share Image
Cutoff culture,' 'the friendzone:' these are just neologisms used by men to mask or soften the reality that they have been -… — Cord Jefferson Culture Copy Share Image
For several years, I made my unofficial beat the stories, struggles, and politics of blacks in America. I wrote about other things,… — Cord Jefferson America Copy Share Image
My mother was raised in a very, very racist environment. She used to tell me that her father was such a bigot… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
I feel very drawn to characters who hide themselves and take great pains to disguise themselves from the world. — Cord Jefferson Character Copy Share Image
The idea that America used to be great is, in the minds of a lot of people who were oppressed by America,… — Cord Jefferson America Copy Share Image
My professional life doesn't stop because my personal life is in shambles, and vice versa. It all happens at once and you've… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
To be raised as a man of color in America - especially a black man, and particularly a very dark black man… — Cord Jefferson America Copy Share Image
Americans have long had a difficult time accepting just how bleak the English are willing to get for laughs. — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
To be very good at football, you need to be able to snuff out the voice inside of you that says it's… — Cord Jefferson Body Copy Share Image
Unfortunately, police violence and white supremacist violence are something that you can set your watch to in the United States of America. — Cord Jefferson America Copy Share Image
It's exhausting to always be writing and thinking about a new person being racist or sexist or otherwise awful. It's exhausting to… — Cord Jefferson Dignity Copy Share Image
To me, even in the most miserable times, I've always found ways to laugh and enjoy myself and time with my family… — Cord Jefferson Comedy Copy Share Image
As a defense attorney in Ohio, my dad would accept food in lieu of money from his poorer clients, and work into… — Cord Jefferson Dad Copy Share Image
There is an appetite for things that are different and a story with Black characters that's going to appeal to a lot… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
I've come to think about my heart the way others think about god, an all-powerful force I can't see that could wipe… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
I had a horrible 2020. Besides the Covid thing, I had a big professional failing: I came very close to getting a… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
I think that 'The Good Place,' for instance, is a sitcom about ethical philosophy. Sounds crazy, but it worked. — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
For me, being an artist was a thing that, like, rich people in New York and L.A. and Paris and Rome did.… — Cord Jefferson Art Copy Share Image
I'm not sure how we got to a place in which it's considered a political act to buy fast food, but here… — Cord Jefferson Copy Share Image
It should go without saying that there's no outside arbiter of who 'deserves' which woman, or of what one 'deserves' to receive… — Cord Jefferson Feminism Copy Share Image
Hardship and turmoil, I think, is the turning point for lots of young males, the moment when they say, 'Oh, so this… — Cord Jefferson Life Copy Share Image
The reason I became a writer is because I like sitting in dark rooms by myself, not standing on stage and talking… — Cord Jefferson Dark Copy Share Image
