Unless one is planning to go shopping – basically begging to be smothered by the ravening throngs of returners and bargain hunters; an embrace as constricting as that hugging machine designed by autistic author Temple Grandin – then Boxing Day feels like a bar after last call when the lights have been turned up. David Rakoff Read Quote
The rigors of creativity – the self-doubt, the revising, the solitude – do require a kind of self-consumption. It comes at a cost; a cost that isn’t for everyone. David Rakoff Read Quote
Deprived of the opportunity to judge one another by the cars we drive, New Yorkers, thrown together daily on mass transit, form silent opinions based on our choices of subway reading. Just by glimpsing the cover staring back at us, we can reach the pinnacle of carnal desire or the depths of hatred. Soul mate or mortal enemy. David Rakoff Read Quote
I was going to say that writing is about disclosure and acting is about obfuscation, but that’s such a little lie. Both of them are about obfuscation and masking oneself. David Rakoff Read Quote
Everybody’s got something. In the end, what choice does one really have but to understand that truth, to really take it in, and then shop for groceries, get a haircut, do one’s work; get on with the business of one’s life. That’s the hope, anyway. David Rakoff Read Quote
I do not go outdoors… As far as I’m concerned, the whole point of living in New York City is indoors. You want greenery? Order the spinach. David Rakoff Read Quote
Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Well, of course not Adam and Steve. Never Adam and Steve. It’s Adam and Steven. David Rakoff Read Quote
Let’s face it: professing a deep interest in movies, the absolutely dominant global art form of the last century, is at this point like professing an interest in air. Passion is nice. Erudition is admirable. But it’s like that moment when good manners cross over into meaningless etiquette. David Rakoff Read Quote
There’s nothing particularly wrong with being more pessimistic than optimistic. Optimism is broad-based, non-detail-oriented thinking; pessimism is detail-oriented thinking. David Rakoff Read Quote
Here’s the thing: I’m not beautiful. I mean, I’m a perfectly normal-looking Jewish guy. My face has never been my fortune, nor has my body… physical beauty has never been part of my equation. It’s just not on my shopping list. David Rakoff Read Quote
