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" I'm still always surprised that anyone might be interested in my work or me. "

Anthony McCarten

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" Since my student days, I'd been a fan of those books with titles like 'Great Speeches that Changed the World,' as I loved the idea that the right person with the right words at the right time could really make a difference. "

Anthony McCarten

Make A Difference

" Truth is seldom appreciated and never understood, whereas a flattering lie is always appreciated and instantly understood. "

Anthony McCarten

" I was born to a very large family, one of 7 kids. I grew up with carnivals and chaos all around me, so I can write anywhere. "

Anthony McCarten

" The New Zealand sense of humor is tough and realistic. Jokes are not surreal; they are about life and death and tough decisions. "

Anthony McCarten

" My routine is to create activities for myself unrelated to writing that allow little time for writing. This means that when I do get the chance to write, it is like a stolen luxury, something clandestine and almost forbidden. "

Anthony McCarten

" Most writers live in self-imposed exile, even when they don't leave their country. They prefer the undiscovered country inside their own heads. "

Anthony McCarten

" Be more ambitious. Do your homework. There's no easy way around this. "

Anthony McCarten

" The more I read about the rules the great orators used, the more I realised, of course, this is how you stir people's hearts, and you persuade and cajole and move people out of fixed positions. The techniques are quite menacingly easy. "

Anthony McCarten

" Before Churchill had done anything else, he was a writer. He believed to the core that words matter. They count. They can change the world. "

Anthony McCarten

Change The World

" When I grew up, my house contained only two books: the Bible and the 'Edmonds' cookbook. We were a working-class household. Books were a poor second to the television, which was always on, usually with me in front of it. "

Anthony McCarten

" It's impossible to make a living in the arts unless you make a fortune. There's almost no in-between. Writers are either broke or rolling in it. Oddly, you can't tell them apart. "

Anthony McCarten

" As you get older, you become more vain. But as your looks slowly deteriorate, your eyesight worsens, so it all balances out. "

Anthony McCarten

" One of the real ways out of conflict is humour. It builds bridges; it's a weapon against rigid ideology, narrow thinking, intolerance. "

Anthony McCarten

" At 17, I wanted to be a rock star. "

Anthony McCarten

" Reading is essential to human life. When the last reader dies, humanity will be at an end. "

Anthony McCarten

" There's a really fine line between artistic license and artistic licentiousness. And history is a lousy filmmaker. It doesn't give you all the ingredients you need. No story will quite fulfill that three-act structure. "

Anthony McCarten

" You can't write a character more brilliant than yourself. It's just not physically possible. "

Anthony McCarten

" I have three favorite cities: London, Wellington, and Los Angeles. What makes them so good? The friends who live there. "

Anthony McCarten

" No murder or sin or act of barbarism or cruelty has ever been committed by a person fully absorbed in the reading of a book. By this fact alone, we can conclude that readers are nicer people, at least until they put the book down. When we are reading, we are better. "

Anthony McCarten

" Life is not a waste of time. "

Anthony McCarten

" There is the cult of the actor and of the director, and there's even been the cult of the celebrity chef and gardener, but there has never been a cult of the screenwriter. But I'm happy about that because what I crave - in a completely venal way - is creative opportunities, not recognition. "

Anthony McCarten

" If we did not have the impulse and ability to believe in the impossible, we would not have religion, democracy, or marriage. "

Anthony McCarten

" Commercial success and quality are not necessarily allied. "

Anthony McCarten

" I am so superstitious that I think even discussing this subject is dangerous and will probably bring me terrible luck. Having been raised a Catholic, superstition becomes almost part of your DNA. The challenge is to slowly rid yourself of these little delusions. "

Anthony McCarten