Quotes About Understanding

Sometimes I feel like I must be hinting at this deep well of knowledge when, really, I just skim off the surface.

Once you learn to 'speak' money - which is what I felt I did through the research that led me to write 'Whoops!' - you start to see it at work all around you. It's like a language, a code written on the surface of things; it's in flow all around us, all the time.

This sense in which so much of who we are doesn't break the surface - our knowability to one another is always something I like to explore.

Be able to see people's humanity. I think the way that you do that and see people for more than their surface value is, say, you're reading something in the news: the gender pay gap, or gay adoption, anything that involves a group of people being marginalized.

You can't just skim the surface of any role. You have to find the depths, because any other way would be dishonest.

There was so much about my dad that wasn't on the surface.

I don't have to talk to a surgeon to play a surgeon, you know what I mean?

A well-off plastic surgeon can suffer just as much as an Irish lad who has been abused or whatever.

You need a place to work that works for you, and you need people to understand that when you are writing, you are doing a rarefied type of brain surgery and therefore should not be subject to a million random interruptions.

I was an only child and grew up in York where my parents ran a surgical supplies shop. When I say I wish I had brothers and sisters, friends say it's not what it's cracked up to be, but I think it must be good to have someone who knew you from the beginning.

There are very few things that surprise me.

Chance leads to discoveries, and mutagenesis is a way to enhance one's chances of finding a surprise. Often it is the exceptional observations that lead to advances; once you understand exceptions, you understand the whole picture.

It's no surprise that White people say things when they are together about Black people.

I love it when I surprise photographers that, despite the fact that I am deaf, I am capable of meeting their vision. I love it that I can read their body language and know what they do not like and what they do like.

It's much easier for me to do an impression of someone real, because you and the audience begin with a baseline understanding of this person's life. And then if you subvert that in any way, it's a little comedy surprise.

I can't control everything that's said, but I've been around. Nothing will surprise me.

People like to know you're listening, and something as simple as a clarification question shows not only that you are listening but that you also care about what they're saying. You'll be surprised how much respect and appreciation you gain just by asking good questions.

I hope people listen to black people more. You'd be surprised how little people listen to black people when it comes to racial issues. It's weird.

Today, the people are governing the governments. And when they begin to talk to each other, they are surprised, they can be friends. Why should we hate each other?

I'm not surprised by hardly anything anymore.

I am astonished and surprised that someone could consider making a film about me without talking to me about it.

I'm not surprised that I tend to go for the dark side. I was a really scared kid, so I think I understand what scares people.

My dad didn't know that I had an eating disorder. He had no idea, so that was weird. I was in an interview and just said it accidentally. I called my dad because I remember thinking, 'My dad does not know that,' and he was surprised. I think he understood, though.

I've been out now for so many years that I am not surprised at what someone may occasionally say. It really doesn't faze me.