Quotes About Reception

If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?

I invented the phrase: "Music not to be listened to." That was my commercial phrase with which I sold Muzak. It was the first music deliberately created to which people were not supposed to listen. It was a new kind of background music. That's why my mother, who was a fine musician, held it in contempt. She wouldn't have it in her apartment. Anybody who knows anything about music holds Muzak in contempt.

The first thing that a new migrant sends to his family back home isn't money; it's a story. Of the arduous journey here, the snow on the streets, the rude immigration agent or the kindly social worker; the lights of the Eiffel Tower or the cold reception from the cousins with whom he's staying.

When you're writing a blog post, you can take solace in knowing that you will immediately know how people will respond to it, and if the criticism is bad, then that's fine because you can work on that and fix it, and if it's good, then that's great because you know what to do in the future. It gets pushed down so quickly.

The reception on 'P2' has been crazy. Every show on the tour has been sold-out. I didn't think people were gonna catch on to it that quick because I started the tour the same day it came out.

Mainly, I'm doing my thing, and I hope people like it. I don't say, 'I'm going to write something radical and hope it reverberates throughout society.' The goal is to write a solid, entertaining, engaging show.

When 'Lost' was over, we expected that there'd be some people who'd really like it and other people who wouldn't. The Emmy nominations are an indication to us that there were a fair number of people who did like the way we concluded our story.

One of the best things a child can do for an adult is to draw them down, closer to the ground, for clearer reception to the voices of the earth.

You cannot talk when you first arrive. It helps you to listen.

You cannot talk when you first arrive. He smiled. It helps you listen.

The mistake here is to suppose that receiving communication is like receiving a blow or a legacy or a judgment from the court. On the contrary, the reader or listener is much more like the catcher in a game of baseball.

He had never heard of smiling.

A film doesn't exist until it meets its audience.

I actually think I have an audience member's sensibility about going to the movies.

I don't really think much of any songs I put out like I know... I think they're good, that's why I'm putting them out. But like I don't ever try to expect anything, so even with 'Caroline' or 'Red Mercedes,' I just put them out and hope for the best and people kind of gravitate towards them and I guess that's pretty cool and that's a blessing.

Very few teachers or leaders in my small Michigan community ever discussed the issue of 'The Catcher in the Rye,' and certainly no one came to the 1951 Novel's defense.

My first novel - the novel I wrote before 'Midnight's Children' - feels, to me, now, very - I mean, I get embarrassed when I see people reading it. You know, there are some people who, bizarrely, like it. Which I'm, you know, I'm happy for.

The hard thing about the book world is that you never know whether 10 people or a million people will find it interesting.

You could be in a room with somebody you don't realize you're in a room with and that first impression or something that you give off might be appreciated by someone or it might not. I'm always just being mindful of you never know who's watching.

When the first 'Hellboy' series came out, in the same batch of fan mail I got a letter from somebody from the Church of Satan, and I got a letter from a minister, and they both liked it. And I thought, 'What am I doing that I'm making both these guys happy?'

Even the piquant can forfeit popularity if tied to something intellectual.

It is by desiring to grow in love that we receive the Holy Spirit, and the thirst for more charity is the effect of this more abundant reception.

My job as a writer is simple. Write a book I'm proud of, and present it as a gift to the world. Some will love it. Some will hate it. That's the nature of art.

1. Say it. 2. Do it. 3. Receive it. 4. Tell it.