Ian Frazier Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“There's an idea of the Plains as the middle of nowhere, something to be contemptuous of. But it's really a heroic place.”

“When I needed to think or was really upset, generally I climbed a tree.”

“A book tour is not a good opportunity to let your mind wander. You have to pay attention, remember salespeople's and interviewers' names, succinctly summarize your book in a 'selling' way, and so on.”

“I'm one of those people who happen to like trees. I don't know why - I just do. As a kid, I loved to climb them. The distant, upper branches, especially, were celestial and alluring.”

“America to me is so varied and exciting. I always feel nostalgia for the place I'm not in, and then I get there and find myself in a traffic jam going into the Lincoln Tunnel, and I think, 'God, why was I romanticizing this part of the country?' I think it has to do with the romantic, unrealistic temperament.”

“Human connection is the way things work. It's like a patronage system. You know somebody, and he knows somebody, and he knows somebody, and he knows the district governor, and it's okay.”

“Russia has always had a global history. Global history is a bummer. You suffer invasions of all different kinds. And Russia was not defended against them.”

“To me, a bag in a tree is like a flag of chaos, and when I remove it, I'm capturing the flag of the other side. In the end, it doesn't matter how ironic or serious or even effective on a larger scale bag snagging may be.”

“You can find dozens of books about people taking the Trans-Siberian Railroad. I knew I had to do something different to cross Siberia. To drive and to talk with people along the way, that was how I wrote my book 'Great Plains'. I drove and camped in Siberia, but did not have a real program.”

“America can enjoy a vital, fully functioning government, with all the benefits provided by Texas, while reducing Texas at the same time.”