James A. Michener
James A. Michener
James Albert Michenerwas an American author of more than 40 books, the majority of which were fictional, lengthy family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history. Michener was known for the popularity of his works; he had numerous bestsellers and works selected for Book of the Month Club. He was also known for his meticulous research behind the books...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth3 February 1907
CountryUnited States of America
Never forget, son, when you represent Texas, always go first class.
Although most of us know Vincent van Gogh in Arles and Paul Gauguin in Tahiti as if they were neighbors -- somewhat disreputable but endlessly fascinating -- none of us can name two French generals or department store owners of that period. I take enormous pride in considering myself an artist, one of the necessaries.
The extreme geniality of San Francisco's economic, intellectual and political climate makes it the most varied and challenging city in the United States.
If a young aspirant had a modicum of skill and a busy typewriter she or he would sooner or later get a foothold in one of the magazines and a leaping start on the ladder upward.
I feel myself the inheritor of a great background of people. Just who, precisely, they were, I have never known. I might be part Negro, might be part Jew, part Muslim, part Irish. So I can't afford to be supercilious about any group of people because I may be that people.
organizations like the church or General Motors promote a man up and up until he reaches a spot which he is obviously incapable of filling, and there they lay him to rest.
Religious hatreds ought not to be propagated at all, but certainly not on a tax-exempt basis.
I do believe that everyone growing up faces differential opportunities. With me, it was books and travel and some good teachers.
Many people who want to be writers don't really want to be writers. They want to have been writers. They wish they had a book in print.
For this is the journey that men and women make, to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn't matter much else what they find.
Animals form an inalienable fragment of nature, and if we hasten the disappearance of even one species, we diminish our world and our place in it.
It heartens me to think of Verdi who composed thundering operas in his eighties; Michelangelo who did fine work in his ninetieth year, and Titian, who painted better than ever in his one hundredth.
They were a group of two dozen nurses completely surrounded by 100,000 unattached American men.
We risk great peril if we kill off this spirit of adventure, for we cannot predict how and in what seemingly unrelated fields it will manifest itself. A nation that loses its forward thrust is in danger, and one of the most effective ways to retain that thrust is to keep exploring possibilities. The sense of exploration is intimately bound up with human resolve, and for a nation to believe that it is still committed to a forward motion is to ensure its continuance.