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People always write on my Facebook that they've seen somebody they thought was me on the subway, and I was cursing badly.

Gary Shteyngart

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Gary Shteyngart
Age: 52
Born: 1972
Born: July 5
Journalist
Novelist
Writer
St. Petersburg
Writing
Always
Cursing
People
Subway
Badly
Somebody
Seen
Write
Thought

More quotes by Gary Shteyngart

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The best thing about the iPhone is this that tells me where I am all the time. Theres never a need to feel lost anymore.
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By reading this message you are denying its existence and implying consent.
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You could drown a kitten in her blue eyes.
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American fiction is good. It would be nice if somebody read it.
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My parents were kind enough to spend hours talking to me.
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I was a jackass in many ways. I projected that cruelty towards others, that kid whose hand I was wringing. If I could have hurt a hundred weaklings - weaker than me, and I was already very weak - I would. I was dying to hurt somebody, to pay it forward.
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In contravention of my belief that any life ending in death is essentially pointless, I needed my friends to open up that plastic bag and take one last look at me. Someone had to remember me, if only for a few more minutes in the vast silent waiting room of time.
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One should learn from a book. Books have a lot to teach us. They have a lot of empathy to impart to us, but they should also be fun. This stuff is fun! You shouldn't pick up a book and say, Oh my god, I'm gonna better myself by reading this. You may better yourself by reading this, but who cares? Just have fun.
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It is a capital insult in this country not to make love to a naked woman, even if she is related to you.
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You can't have a Russian household without vodka. It's just something to wash everything down with. I can't remember a time when I didn't drink vodka, either in Russia or here. I don't think there's ever a wrong time to start drinking it. My ancestors drank it, and if I ever have any children, they'll be drinking it.
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I have my own dying empire to contend with, and I do not wish for any other.
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That's what tyrants do, I guess. They make you covet their attention they make you confuse attention for mercy.
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Don't be pretentious is my first advice to young writers. This is the big problem - just because you're getting an MFA doesn't mean you have to write for the Academy. Be true to your personality. Don't temper your personality down with words. Don't build defensive fortresses around yourself with words - words are your friends.
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Forget the fountain of youth, pal of mine. You can live to be a thousand, and it won't matter. Mediocrities like you deserve immortality.
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I don't have many possessions, apart from my books.
Gary Shteyngart
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Alcohol causes a lot of problems, and then to solve these problems, you drink more.
Gary Shteyngart
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Every returning New Yorker asks the question: Is this still my city? I have a ready answer, cloaked in obstinate despair: It is. And if it's not, I will love it all the more. I will love it to the point where it becomes mine again.
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I write almost entirely in bed or on a couch with my feet up on the coffee table. I feel most creative when Im looking out the window, and my bed and couch have nice views of the New York skyline.
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I always think that good writers should be growing up on the brink of death - it really lets them see mortality very clearly.
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Michigan, with its delicious American name. How lucky one must be to live there.
Gary Shteyngart