Patricia Highsmith Quotes

I love to sit and watch people. I love to sit and listen to people.

I have an obsession with just watching people and what they're into.

A dramatist is one who from his earliest years has found that sheer gazing at the shocks and counter-shocks among people is quite sufficiently engrossing without having to encase it in comment.

I love to kind of people watch; that's part of what I do as an actor and creative person and sort of step back and watch others.

Most people consider life a battle, but it is not a battle, it is a game.

I know that's really horrible, but that's how I do it in my head. I'm going to die. It doesn't matter. I don't matter. I'm a grain of sand. As a grain of sand, I may as well go out and relate to people and enjoy my short time on this planet that I have. Who knows what's coming next?

Many good people mistake their reputation for their character. It is a mistake I have made many, many times.

In the scheme of life, in emotion and loss, I responded the way I did. I lost. I shouldn't have responded that way. I've had some people tell me that I did a great thing - sticking up for myself - but to me, personally, with the way that I handled my emotions, I lost. But I learned. That will not happen again.

You put faith in people sometimes that can't deliver for you. And those are mistakes and you have to... don't work with them again. It's pretty easy.

In my own life I like to be poised and have a positive outlook on life, and I'm leading by example to my children and people around me.

Working with President Trump closely and seeing the way he operates as a leader, he's always interested in a broad range of opinions. But make no mistake about it. We want in this administration people that share the president's vision for a safer America. For a stronger America. For a more prosperous America.

I spend my time sitting in train stations, parks, parking lots, cafes, just looking at people - eavesdropping, basically. I'm vulnerable to all of it.

Death cures psychoneurosis. In a sense all these neurotic concerns--fear of rejection, interpersonal concerns--seem to melt away, and people get another perspective on their lives. The important things are really important, and the trivia of life is trivialized.

Homeless people's dogs are more knowledgeable than dogs in Beverly Hills. Why? Because they explore, they move forward, they go through the ups and downs in life. A dog in a wealthy environment, there is no downs except what he lives.

There's something about taking a classic movie that people love and doing another version of that, you're setting yourself up for a mistake.

We make a big mistake when we conclude that the law is the answer to bad behavior. In fact, the law alone stirs up more of such behavior. People get worse, not better, when you lay down the law. To be sure, the Spirit does use both God's law and God's gospel in our sanctification. But the law and the gospel do very different things.

People seldom learn from the mistakes of others-not because they deny the value of the past, but because they are faced with new problems.

The most common mistakes were investing in money market funds by people who were so scared at the prospect of managing their own funds that they picked the most conservative option, and their investments did not keep up with inflation. The second major mistake was being too heavily invested in their own company's stock, and buying when it was high and there was a lot of optimism about the company, and then having to sell it low when the company got in trouble.

I really, truly believe in learning from other people's mistakes.

Scripts are a house of cards and you can't just reach in the middle and pull out the middle card because the house of cards will fall down. But at a certain point you almost have to allow that house of cards to get knocked down a few times because you need to make it sturdier. How many times do you hear, "No, that doesn't make sense," or "Why would this happen?" That was a mistake. You shouldn't have those moments, because the moment you're knocked out of the story, then you're dead. And all you can go is moment to moment,or joke to joke. And that's gonna wear people out.

The Ukrainian people should not be coerced. Make no mistake: the US stands together with the Ukrainians aspiring for democracy.

I take from people all the time. I didn't ever go to acting classes or anything. You can just watch people.

I learned to observe other people - that’s sort of what it teaches you. To pay attention. Which can also be a really natural human skill so I don’t think I’m better equipped than other human beings.

Money has become the grand test of virtue. By this test beggars fail, and for this they are despised. If one could earn even ten pounds a week at begging, it would become a respectable profession immediately. A beggar, looked at realistically, is simply a businessman, getting his living, like other businessmen, in the way that comes to hand. He has not, more than most modem people, sold his honour; he has merely made the mistake of choosing a trade at which it is impossible to grow rich.

Whatever happened in the neighborhood. That's what I was rapping about. And that sparked people's interest. And that's what kind of put me on that path.