Tom Perrotta quote: "I'm not sure that it's possible to write a novel about people who don't transgress or stumble, people who don't surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it's not possible for me to write that sort of novel."

It just took some people a little longer than others to realize how few words they needed to get by,...
TOM PERROTTA

No one knows what love is," he told me. "If someone says they do, they're full of shit.
TOM PERROTTA

If we'd been on speaking terms, I might've told her that I'd come to think of sex as this long dark ...
TOM PERROTTA

Diane used to joke that I was getting in touch with my own inner asshole, but all I was really doing...
TOM PERROTTA

I read 'The Great Gatsby' in high school and was hypnotized by the beauty of the sentences a...
TOM PERROTTA

Eve still marveled on a daily basis at the speed with which her own life had changed. A year ago, sh...
TOM PERROTTA

As far as I could tell, he earned his hundred thousand a year by wandering the hallway with a Styrof...
TOM PERROTTA

It's a bad dream: my English teacher is standing naked at the foot of this slightly lumpy bed, clutc...
TOM PERROTTA

These days he was like a zombie, all grim business, just another jerk with an erection.
TOM PERROTTA

Maybe that's what we look for in the people we love, the spark of unhappiness we think we know how t...
TOM PERROTTA

I’ve matured. I have a much higher tolerance for boredom.
TOM PERROTTA

Stan and Rudy are grown men. It's too late to shape their minds, to teach them values and a sense of...
TOM PERROTTA

What about Clinton?" I asked. "He's pretty interesting."

"Ugh." Dad looked disgusted. "That gu...
TOM PERROTTA

After all, what was adult life but one moment of weakness piled on top of another? Most people just ...
TOM PERROTTA

Some subjects mixed well with weed, but Chemistry wasn’t one of them.
TOM PERROTTA

There was no dignified way to answer a question about your underwear.
TOM PERROTTA

Nothing beats novel writing because it's complete expression of you. You just control everything...
TOM PERROTTA

I did a lot of reading of the Bible and became fascinated with the idea of the Rapture. It's pre...
TOM PERROTTA

I find that even small changes sometimes jog you out of a mental rut.
TOM PERROTTA

When I was writing 'The Abstinence Teacher,' I really tried to immerse myself in contemporar...
TOM PERROTTA

He'd never had to make the adjustments and compromises other people accepted early in their romantic...
TOM PERROTTA

During times of hardship people find happiness in simplest pleasures
TOM TOM

Both destiny and free will exist simultaneously. You are destined to be given some opportunities but...
TOM TOM

Am I good enough?
Trust.
TOM

There is no such thing as a weird human being, It's just that some people require more understanding...
TOM ROBBINS

Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise, and trading on your integrity and not h...
TOM COCHRANE

I'm a believer in fate and in fulfilling your destiny. I've always had a kind of inner voice...
TOM FORD

Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there i...
TOM HANKS

People say all kinds of things about the ingredients of songs. But you know they are a kind of magic...
TOM WAITS

Tolerance and celebration of individual differences is the fire that fuels lasting love.
TOM HANNAH

The once inviolate frame within which programs or commercials were displayed on television - always ...
TOM SHALES

The real test of an anchor is when there's a very big event. Sept. 11 is the quintessential exam...
TOM BROKAW

My grandmother was probably the first person who I thought was beautiful. She was incredibly stylish...
TOM FORD

I don't want to wake up and be bored. That's probably my greatest fear is to have nothing to...
TOM BRADY

When I decided to be a musician I reckoned that that was going to be the way of less profit, less mo...
TOM PETTY

I always liked the idea that America is a big facade. We are all insects crawling across on the shin...
TOM WAITS

We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is...
TOM WAITS

We live in a material world. I'm not saying that beautiful things don't enhance our lives. B...
TOM FORD

Celebrated in the Bob Dylan ballad 'Joey,' Crazy Joe Gallo was a charismatic beatnik gangste...
TOM FOLSOM

In the early Seventies, I had shoulder-length hair, bell-bottom pants, love beads and shirts that la...
TOM FORD

The skills you acquire can always be effectively redeployed. You will look back on setbacks and be g...
TOM FRESTON

There's always a part of my brain saying: 'Stop getting comfortable. Don't relax.' B...
TOM ODELL

We think we have to work because the advertising industry has elevated wants into needs. The newspap...
TOM HODGKINSON

I want to do the basic things, like putting my daughter to bed. It's the sweetest thing.
TOM DOUGLAS

I bark my voice out through a closed throat, pretty much. It's more, perhaps, like a dog in some...
TOM WAITS

I was in my bed scrolling through Instagram. It had been about a month since my audition. And Marvel...
TOM HOLLAND

There's a restaurant in Manhattan called Balthazar, and next to it is Balthazar Bakery. It's...
TOM DOUGLAS

Ninety percent of the coaches in the NBA are guards, and there aren't very many big men people c...
TOM HEINSOHN

'Life, Love & Hope' is... I'm thinking 'larger picture.' I'm not trying ...
TOM SCHOLZ

Once you have speech, you don't have to wait for natural selection! If you want more strength, y...
TOM WOLFE

In 'Thor,' that was my own hair. I grew it out. But I have naturally curly, blonde hair, so ...
TOM HIDDLESTON

In the U.S., the term 'general aviation' means its exact opposite, the way 'public schoo...
TOM WOLFE

If men have easy access to divorce, many will choose it thoughtlessly. They may not gain true happin...
TOM COTTON

Only true love can fuel the hard work that awaits you.
TOM FRESTON

We were empty nesters, our last-born child having departed for Duke. Meredith decided we needed a do...
TOM BROKAW

'The Secret Agent' remains the most brilliant novelistic study of terrorism as viewed from t...
TOM REISS

I was interested by the idea that artists working in a totalitarian dictatorship or tsarist autocrac...
TOM STOPPARD

I've had a lot of different companies. I've been in banking and automobiles and real estate ...
TOM BENSON

The Pentagon can't even audit its own books. It doesn't even know where its money is going. ...
TOM COBURN

I'm attracted to women who are smart and funny and ambitious and have lives of their own and gre...
TOM BRADY

You don't even wish for the success that I had, because you don't think it's attainable.
TOM DELONGE

It is easily and often overlooked that when Thomas Jefferson asserted that life, liberty and the pur...
TOM STOPPARD

The greatest promotion I ever had on a newspaper was when 'The Washington Post' suddenly pro...
TOM WOLFE

Catfish's mild taste adapts well to a wide array of flavors, especially strong assertive ones, w...
TOM DOUGLAS

Going online and asking questions is the best way to learn.
TOM FELTON

Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.
TOM PETERS

Because theatre is a story-telling art form, we feel entitled to assume that the playwright got ther...
TOM STOPPARD

I show up in my writing room at approximately 10 A.M. every morning without fail. Sometimes my muse ...
TOM ROBBINS

One month I'll be completely obsessed with Bob Dylan and the next Arcade Fire. I like early Elto...
TOM ODELL

The American people need to know that there are folks here fighting as hard as they can for individu...
TOM PRICE

Mittelstand companies are incredibly focused and almost always family-run. The young men and women g...
TOM PETERS

One of my books is a hallucinogen, an aphrodisiac, a mood elevator, an intellectual garage door open...
TOM ROBBINS

Yet, much of what lies beneath the ocean's surface remains a mystery, and our nation continues t...
TOM ALLEN

Technology has allowed us to have more drought-resistant crops. The spotty nature of drought, the sp...
TOM VILSACK

I'm living the exact life I planned on living when I was five. My life has taken some turns and ...
TOM FORD

As director of the CDC, one of the best parts of my job is announcing good news.
TOM FRIEDEN

I do like books on anatomy. I have to say I'm an amateur physician, I guess.
TOM WAITS

The French Revolution was a kind of 21st-century moment in the heart of the 18th century - and Alex ...
TOM REISS

Roadside bombs that Iran sent to Iraq to blow up over 500 American soldiers cost a lot less than $1....
TOM COTTON

1920 was an auspicious year for a young person to enter the world as an American citizen.
TOM BROKAW

Today, few terrorist organizations still employ the 'al-Qaeda model' in which individuals tr...
TOM COTTON

It's not like Alaska isn't wilderness - it mostly is. But most Alaskans don't live in th...
TOM BODETT

In 'The King's Speech,' patriotism is utterly contained within a historical moment, the ...
TOM HOOPER

It's fortunate that I am a writer, because that has helped me understand the properties of words...
TOM WOLFE

A movie camera is like having someone you have a crush on watching you from afar - you pretend it...
TOM STOPPARD

Communities across the nation play an important role in leading the way toward healthier families, a...
TOM FRIEDEN

Over and over, nature shows that it's a really tough adversary. That's why it's importan...
TOM FRIEDEN

Unlike President Obama, I would say that I support the long-standing bipartisan post-war belief that...
TOM COTTON

Adrenaline has always been my thing.
TOM HOLLAND

If you don't have the confidence in baking, commit to making the recipe three times. The first t...
TOM DOUGLAS

A 'human right' is, by definition, timeless. It cannot adhere to some societies and not othe...
TOM STOPPARD

Society is now less convinced of the absolute accuracy of the criminal justice system.
TOM PRICE

I learned early in sports that to be effective - for a player to play the best he can play - is a ma...
TOM LANDRY

I measure success in terms of the connection with the audience, which we've been able to do in s...
TOM FRESTON

Travel is the best and probably cheapest graduate school you can buy.
TOM FRESTON

I always hustled to make money and pay for school. I was never afraid of hard work.
TOM FRESTON

People often say that a bad event is a 'blessing in disguise.' Trust me, experience will tea...
TOM FRESTON

Remembering people is the most fundamental gesture of love and respect. For me, there are people in ...
TOM REISS

If you look at romantic comedies as pieces of commerce, the audience is looking for wish fulfillment...
TOM HANKS

Rock n' roll was one thing, and then they chopped off the 'roll' and called it 'rock...
TOM PETTY

When I met Elvis, we didn't really have a conversation. I was introduced by my uncle, and he sor...
TOM PETTY

I have turned down a lot of money for things that would have made me feel cheesy.
TOM PETTY

...disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business....
TOM ROBBINS

There are some who do not have the ability to hide. For our hearts will not fit under a rock.
TOM ALTHOUSE

Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.
TOM STOPPARD

They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, somethin...
TOM BODETT

Just because you're naked doesn't mean you're sexy. Just because you're cynical doesn't mean you're ...
TOM ROBBINS

We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our prog...
TOM STOPPARD

I never see failure as failure, but only as the game I must play and win.
TOM HOPKINS

When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn.
TOM LANDRY

...even after you've just won the Super Bowl -- especially after you've just won the Super Bowl -- t...
TOM LANDRY

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.
TOM CLANCY

I don't believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have th...
TOM LANDRY

Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying ...
TOM LANDRY

Never give up. Keep your thoughts and your mind always on the goal.
TOM BRADLEY

Nothing ends nicely, that's why it ends.
TOM CRUISE

The concentration and dedication- the intangibles are the deciding factors between who won and who l...
TOM SEAVER

A total commitment is paramount to reaching the ultimate in performance.
TOM FLORES

Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for g...
TOM BLANDI

It is better to be quotable than to be honest.
TOM STOPPARD

Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth.
TOM BARRETT

To treat a poor wretch with a bottle of Burgundy, and fill his snuff-box, is like giving a pair of ...
TOM BROWN

Some girls never know what they are going to do from one husband to another.
TOM MASSON

I am not my body. My body is nothing without me.
TOM STOPPARD

The Army has carried the American ... ideal to its logical conclusion. Not only do they prohibit dis...
TOM LEHRER

Eternity's a terrible thought. I mean, where's it all going to end?
TOM STOPPARD

I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
TOM STOPPARD

I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that!
TOM LEHRER

We cannot fail to win unless we fail to try.
TOM CLANCY

Eating everything you want is not that much fun. When you live a life with no boundaries, theres l...
TOM HANKS

These days an income is something you can't live without--or within.
TOM WILSON

It is a sobering thought, that when Mozart was my age he had been dead for two years.
TOM LEHRER

Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get.
TOM HANKS

When she was a small girl, Amanda hid a ticking clock in an old, rotten tree trunk. It drove woodpec...
TOM ROBBINS

Life isn't about living without problems.
Life is about solving problems.
TOM KRAUSE

Captive primates in pharmaceutical labs can signal their peers of the approach of a predator white c...
TOM FRIEND

Life in a box is better than no life at all ... I expect.
TOM STOPPARD

One of the first jobs I ever had was opening clams in a seafood restaurant, so I'm pretty quick ...
TOM COLICCHIO

Most cooks try to learn by making dishes. Doesn't mean you can cook. It means you can make that ...
TOM COLICCHIO

You hit a certain age and - especially because of TV - the young cooks coming up say, 'You'r...
TOM COLICCHIO

My son, before he went to school, he'd eat pretty much everything. Then as soon as he went to sc...
TOM COLICCHIO

In an ideal world for me, school lunch would be free for everybody.
TOM COLICCHIO

I call all chefs 'cooks.' They're all cooks. That's what we do, we cook. You're ...
TOM COLICCHIO

I think steak is the ultimate comfort food, and if you're going out for one, that isn't the ...
TOM COLICCHIO

Communication is everyone's panacea for everything.
TOM PETERS

For myself, for a long time... maybe I felt inauthentic or something, I felt like my voice wasn'...
TOM HIDDLESTON

In the spring of 1984, I went to the northwest of France, to Normandy, to prepare an NBC documentary...
TOM BROKAW

In the seasons of life, I have had more than my share of summers.
TOM BROKAW

Heroes are people who rise to the occasion and slip quietly away.
TOM BROKAW

I believe you make your own luck. My motto is 'It's always a mistake not to go.'
TOM BROKAW

While Pickstown may not be what it once was, it still is framed by the natural beauty of the ancient...
TOM BROKAW

It's not right to say that our loss in Vietnam turned out to be a gain. But lessons were learned...
TOM CLANCY

The only person who has artistic control is the director, and 'director' is how you spell Go...
TOM CLANCY

The reason laziness is rarely pushed as a lifestyle option is down to one simple reason: money. Ther...
TOM HODGKINSON

To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it's digging deep, it's doing whatever yo...
TOM BRADY

Love is the ultimate expression of the will to live.
TOM WOLFE

The secret to winning is constant, consistent management.
TOM LANDRY

Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.
TOM WILSON

There's no future in spending our present worrying about our past.
TOM WILSON

I wouldn't mind the rat race - if the rats would lose once in a while.
TOM WILSON

Never stop. Never stop fighting. Never stop dreaming.
TOM HIDDLESTON

I like to fish. Fishing is always a way of relaxing.
TOM FELTON

Really, coaching is simplicity. It's getting players to play better than they think that they ca...
TOM LANDRY

Be prepared, and be careful not to do your good deeds when there's no one watching you.
TOM LEHRER

From as long as, literally as far back as I can remember I've liked puns, word jokes, I can lite...
TOM STOPPARD

I think we're very uptight in America. You have to remember that we're descended from Purita...
TOM FORD

I just love working hard. I love being part of a team; I love working toward a common goal.
TOM BRADY

What the United States needs to do at this point is reaffirm our commitment that Assad must go and t...
TOM COTTON

I've spent many birthdays on a movie set, all great days.
TOM CRUISE

Whether it's making a film or raising my children, personally I'm striving to do the right t...
TOM CRUISE

The exciting part of acting, I don't know how else to explain it, are those moments when you sur...
TOM CRUISE

I didn't become an actor to have power, but it just happens that I have it and so I have a lot o...
TOM CRUISE

Do I make mistakes? Yeah.
TOM CRUISE

When you have to cope with a lot of problems, you're either going to sink or you're going to...
TOM CRUISE

Eighteenth-century doctors prescribed sugar pills for nearly everything: heart problems, headache, c...
TOM REISS

The thing that happens remarkably often is that the people who are writing a dissertation believe th...
TOM STOPPARD

Every exit is an entry somewhere else.
TOM STOPPARD

Procrastination is probably my worst habit out of many. Especially when it comes to paperwork.
TOM CONTI

Sometimes, getting up in the morning and brushing your teeth is the hardest part of the day - it all...
TOM BRADY

I don't think any country is perfect. It's our responsibility to do the best we can do to ch...
TOM BRADY

The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.
TOM BRADY

It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.
TOM BROKAW

I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person, and when I become interested in something, I give it my al...
TOM CRUISE

I would live with all of my sisters if I could. We've always been very close, my sisters and me.
TOM CRUISE

Belief is best when uncomplicated by reason.
JONATHAN TOM

The difference between an optimist and a pessimist? An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist fo...
TOM BODETT

The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In ...
TOM BODETT

If we're not supposed to eat animals, how come they're made out of meat?
TOM SNYDER

To be or not to be isn't the question. The question is how to prolong being.
TOM ROBBINS

If little else, the brain is an educational toy.
TOM ROBBINS

Internalization. This occurs when you've exploited impact, when you've molded the standard material ...
TOM HOPKINS

In the 1930s, all the novelists had seemed to be people who came blazing up into stardom from out of...
TOM WOLFE

My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind m...
TOM WAITS

The workplace revolution that transformed the lives of blue-collar workers in the 1970s and 1980s is...
TOM PETERS

Socrates had a student named Plato, Plato had a student named Aristotle, and Aristotle had a student...
TOM MORRIS

Truth like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold screenwriter of Dead Poets' Society.
TOM SCHULMAN

It's a frustrating game because the situations so drastically change at different times over the...
TOM BRADY

Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it.
TOM LEHRER

My work is magnified by the fact that the streets of heaven are too crowded with angels -- we know t...
TOM HANKS

I'm not sure that it's possible to write a novel about people who don't transgress or stumble, people who don't surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it's not possible for me to write that sort of novel.

Tom Perrotta

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