When you grow up in a family of languages, you develop a kind of casual fluency, so that languages, though differently colored, all seem transparent to experience.

Quote by David Antin

Topics: David Antin Quotes

I hardly remember how I started to write poetry. It's hard to imagine what I...

I hardly remember how I started to write poetry. It's hard to imagine what I...

I learned enough Hebrew to stagger through a meaningless ceremony that I scarcely remember.

I learned enough Hebrew to stagger through a meaningless ceremony that I scarcely remember.

While I don't script and I don't use other performers, I think my taste for...

While I don't script and I don't use other performers, I think my taste for...

I was trying to find out what it was that everybody else understood without giving...

I was trying to find out what it was that everybody else understood without giving...

I am quite unsatisfied by the distinctions between the oral and literate.

I am quite unsatisfied by the distinctions between the oral and literate.

Stories are different every time you tell them - they allow so many possible narratives.

Stories are different every time you tell them - they allow so many possible narratives.

There is probably no oral society that fails to mark the spatial distinction of left...

There is probably no oral society that fails to mark the spatial distinction of left...

There are editing procedures for talks just as there are editing procedures in jazz improvisation.

There are editing procedures for talks just as there are editing procedures in jazz improvisation.

The Sophists' paradoxical talk pieces and their public debates were entertainment in 5th century Greece....

The Sophists' paradoxical talk pieces and their public debates were entertainment in 5th century Greece....

I was very committed to the process of composing, working at poems, putting things together...

I was very committed to the process of composing, working at poems, putting things together...

My way of thinking is very particular and concrete. It doesn't follow a continuous path.

My way of thinking is very particular and concrete. It doesn't follow a continuous path.

I'm aware of my audience in a way, and I do try to engage with...

I'm aware of my audience in a way, and I do try to engage with...

You pay your money, you take your choice. I get the audience my language attracts...

You pay your money, you take your choice. I get the audience my language attracts...

I can manage a prose format as long as I keep closer to Laurence Sterne...

I can manage a prose format as long as I keep closer to Laurence Sterne...

Children frequently sing meaningful phrases to themselves over and over again before they learn to...

Children frequently sing meaningful phrases to themselves over and over again before they learn to...

It's hard being a hostage in somebody else's mouth - or a character in somebody...

It's hard being a hostage in somebody else's mouth - or a character in somebody...

A myth is the name of a terrible lie told by a smelly little brown...

A myth is the name of a terrible lie told by a smelly little brown...

When my mother left her second husband, she wrote her autobiography and presented it to...

When my mother left her second husband, she wrote her autobiography and presented it to...

My rejection of the idea of entertainment in its current form is based on the...

My rejection of the idea of entertainment in its current form is based on the...

When I got to the reading all the work, I was reduced to being an...

When I got to the reading all the work, I was reduced to being an...