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Character Quote by David Brin

“My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is…” quote by David Brin — Download Open image

“My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.”

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Character Credible Duty Feels Firsts Gripping Ideas Thirds Writing Yarn

More by David Brin

Beware of self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that one must…

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Anything done in secret is more likely to result in terrible errors.

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“Men can be brilliant and strong, they whispered to one another. But men can be mad, as well. And the mad ones can ruin…

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Strutting and preening is, in fact, the surest sign of an inferiority complex.

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“We aren’t a curse upon the world. We are her new eyes. Her brain, testes, ovaries . . . her ambition and her heart.…

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If you believe you can make a living as a writer, you already have enough ego.

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Historically, central planners have generally done a poor job of managing economic resources - this we've known since the time of the Pharaohs.

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A neurosis defends itself by coming up with rationalizations to explain away bizarre behavior.

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Alas, criticism has always been what human beings, especially leaders, most hate to hear.

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It's how creativity works. Especially in humans. For every good idea, ten thousand idiotic ones must first be posed, sifted, tried out, and discarded.…

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Tragedies such as Nevil Shute's 'On the Beach' and Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr Strangelove' are so powerful because there's an underlying assumption that this did…

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In contrast, markets - oft mythologized as "natural" are the most unnatural things going. Libertarians will tell you "market laws are laws of nature",…

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Explore all 142 David Brin quotes

More Character quotes

I always like a character who makes me laugh.

Rachael Stirling

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Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…

Robert A. Heinlein

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Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.

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I'm often moved by the circumstances around some of my characters, but I don't think I've actually cried watching myself.

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When you're on a daytime drama you get one page, you better damn well know your character. You better know what she would do…

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It can sometimes make people fold into themselves and kind of run away, but I think in this case these characters are being forced…

Emily Deschanel

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If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if…

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Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…

Harry S. Truman

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In the fight between biology and morality, biology has commonly won in the end.

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Your looks don't make you pretty, it's the person inside who makes you pretty!

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I'm not a huge social media kind of guy, so I don't really know, I don't really ever get... at least in real life,…

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If you stood me in a costume next to a computer graphic of the same-looking character, I think there would be a difference. And…

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