Guess quote

Jeff Lindsay [1952-0] American

Rank: 105
Playwright

Jeff Lindsay is the pen name of American playwright and crime novelist Jeffry P. Freundlich, best known for his novels about sociopathic vigilante Dexter Morgan. Many of his earlier published works include his wife Hilary Hemingway as a co-author. His wife is the niece of Ernest Hemingway and an author in her own right.

Death

Quote	Tags	Rank
Everybody believes that capital punishment is wrong, but when they look at certain cases, they're quick to say, 'Put them to death,' or scream 'capital punishment.'	Death	101
I need quiet and solitude to work. Darkness is best. If I am wide awake, I can't write.		102
We all pretend, we all hide things, so why not take the concept to an extreme? That is the basic idea for the character of Dexter. Pretend to be human, while quietly and carefully living out the life of a monster on the side.		103
I don't agree with capital punishment as it is now, because too often mistakes are made. But I think that if you eliminate the mistakes, then there are times when it is justified.		104
If you look at Victorian England, being a soldier was considered a noble profession.		105
My father was one of the first six guys ashore on Iwo Jima. He's 86 years old now, and every single night of his life, he has nightmares, and he wakes yelling.		106
I question every word; I write 'the' and immediately feel scorn. It's such an ordinary word - everybody uses it - why can't I come up with something original? In the sunlight, every single word seems hackneyed.		107
A single moment spent in a business meeting or at a pub is more than enough to reveal the basic human truth that we are all faking it most of the time.		108
We're predators; we don't eat meat because it's handy, we eat meat because we have a taste for blood.		109
A single moment spent in a business meeting or at a pub is more than enough to reveal the basic human truth that we are all faking it most of the time. We congratulate a rival on a triumph when actually we are choking on spite. We are cordial and attentive to crashing bores.		110
What my research told me is that a psychopath cannot change. You're born like that.		111
Sociopaths don't have feelings; they can't.		112
Someone who is not a killer is not going to watch a TV show and decide to be a killer.		113
Pretending is the basis of civilised society, and it is sometimes necessary for all of us. Without it we are nothing more than a pack of snarling dogs.		114
I know a lot of law officers, and every single one of them faces a moment - usually after about three hours on the job - when they realise that there's no connection between law and justice. The law, as an institution, avoids justice, subverts it, just as often as it sees it done.		115
I try to write as serious as possible, and then a joke slips in.		116
Life would certainly be easier if we all came equipped with our own personal FAQ lists. When we meet someone, we could pass them a business card with the list on the back, and then step back and let them read before we tried to talk.		117
If you look at the primitive societies that we know about, the worst thing that could have happened to you was to be captured and be turned over to the women.		118
I was expecting someone dark to play 'Dexter' - someone like Johnny Depp.		119
Later, in the afternoon, I read what I did that morning. It's almost always a surprise. But I can read it rationally; edit, polish, re-write, and think what I might do tomorrow in the early darkness.		120
In the afternoon, it's impossible to put down any new words. I don't even try.		121
My first true lesson in writing came from Mr. Bowden when I was 16. At my high school, he was the teacher known to be the very best at literature and writing.		122
I had been writing poems and stories since I learned to make letters. I had placed poems in a hardcover anthology at the age of 6. And I knew more big words than anyone else in the 10th grade.		123
Every writer must find a way of writing that tells the reader: This is me and no one else. The Voice can be idiosyncratic, but it cannot be obscure. It is a blend of style and content and intent and rhythm and pure personality.		124
Good writing does not come from verbiage but from words.		125
When I was a playwright earlier in my career - my senior project in high school was my first produced play - I used to put on the title page: 'A tragedy with laughs.'		126
It was a tremendous stroke of good luck that the show got Michael C. Hall to play the part. Everyone I've talked to thinks Michael is a perfect 'Dexter,' which never happens.		201
I do as much as I can. I even drive through the chase scenes several times to make sure the details are right.		202
Dexter-Land is a dark and scary place, and I couldn't live there permanently. To be honest, I don't think I even want to visit.		203
No TV show in history, no movie ever made - nothing you can imagine as being written or filmed or performed can turn a normal human being into a Dexter.		204
I certainly try to avoid getting bogged down in forensics. There is certainly a whole lot of other writers who know a lot more than me about it. I know enough about it to do a little bit of background on laboratory techniques and stuff. But it kind of bores me.		205
It's a mistake to think that Dexter is nice.		206
I didn't expect any success at all. I was rejected by every publisher in the world and every agent in town.		207
I wanted to show life and to see ourselves and our behaviour through an outsider's eye... from the point of view of someone who knows nothing about being a human being... He doesn't have the feelings that the rest of us do.		208
Marvel Comics has always been a place where I felt at home. It has been a very important part of my life and has always been a wellspring of creative and relevant ideas.		209
I wish to God I was organized enough to tell you that, 'Yes, there will be 14 books, and this one will go here, and that one will go there'... but to be honest, I hardly know what I'm going to do when I get up in the morning.		210
The first rejection that 'Dexter' got, I was like, 'OK. This hasn't worked. Let's try something else. I'll go get a teaching job or something.'		211
I know a lot of law officers, and every single one of them faces a moment - usually after about three hours on the job - when they realise that there's no connection between law and justice.		212
The law, as an institution, avoids justice, subverts it, just as often as it sees it done.		213
'Dexter' has been very, very good to me. I would rather stop doing it than cheapen it.		214
I don't have much time to sit and watch a lot of TV. And I can't really binge-watch.		215
I made a deliberate choice to write something people would enjoy, not knock people out with 'Boy, he can really put a clause together!'		216
I wanted Dexter to have a family that could love him and understand him.		217

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