I was not trying to write some sort of serious meditation on war and peace. ‘The Grace of Kings’ is meant to be a fun book. It’s meant to be an epic fantasy.
I had soaked up all of these ideas about what it meant to be a creative person from media and culture. And I had this idea in my head that if this was your calling it was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to feel good to wrestle with a blank page. And imagine my surprise when it wasn’t fun at all.
Challenge yourself, grow, blossom, and become who you were meant to be. Don’t ever stay at a job solely out of convenience or comfort. Aim higher, even if that means pursuing another job that’s just one step closer to your ultimate goal.
Having spent all that time getting away from South Africa, running away from the army, I wanted very much to believe that America and England were actually as free as they were meant to be, not slipping rapidly into becoming police states like the one I’d just left.
Generally speaking, when Australian winemakers try to make delicate, European-styled wines of finesse and lightness, the wines often come across as pale imitations of the originals. One exception is Australian Riesling, delicious, dry wines meant to be consumed in their first two years of life.
Poker is meant to be enjoyed.
I was not naturally meant to be on stage. I hated being in the spotlight; I was scared.
I don’t think I was ever meant to be tied down to one band for the rest of my life, playing one style of music.
There was a period of time when I first moved to Nashville, like the first couple of years, that I was just simply lost. I didn’t know who I was; I didn’t know really what I was doing here. I was meant to be a singer, but I just felt lost. That’s when I went on the search for my birth family.
It’s called ‘The Outlaw Album,’ not ‘The Ozarks Album.’ These are stories that delve into different kinds of outlawry, from criminal acts to interior, or psychological, outlawry. The book is not meant to be a tapestry of the Ozarks.
All government is a mess. Democracy is always messy. It’s meant to be messy because smooth, thoughtful, precise, effective government leads to dictatorship. Don’t get me wrong, dictatorship is fine – as long as I’m the dictator. But if you’re not the dictator, not so good.
I wasn’t meant to be an attorney, but I was meant to go to law school.
On my sets, everybody seems very relaxed. I always try to avoid any tension before it even begins. A shooting has to be like a party. The creative process must be joyful, even if the final result is meant to be sad or scary.
I never meant to be in romantic comedies; it’s just what ended up happening. But they are tricky, in a post-1960s sexual revolution way. It was easier when you couldn’t have sex scenes: everything crackled very nicely. They’re not easy.
For me, I start at the place that my characters are human. I start at the place that they are onions that are layered and meant to be peeled, just as we as human beings are.
‘Leverage’ is meant to be based in Boston. But in one episode we’re in New York, then another in Chicago, Florida, and Eastern Europe.
Sometimes I think some things just happen and are meant to be.
I have a few theories and trains of thought that I wouldn’t expose because they are not anyone’s business. I hold them sacred, it’s how I feel, it’s my opinion, not up for debate, and not meant to be shared.
What we are is what we were always meant to be, and that’s writers.
I will always, forever, write songs, and wherever they’re meant to be is where they’ll be.
Hollywood never suited me, I didn’t ever feel comfortable with it, it took me a couple of years but I found where I was always meant to be… Chiswick!
When relationships don’t work out, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, it just means you weren’t meant to be together.
I suppose that if I could have quit, I would have, because in those days I never wanted to be an actress, the acting was something to do while I waited for a chance to study writing and directing. But I guess I was just meant to be an actress. Because, here I am.
I’ve always been the Rodney Dangerfield of this game. Maybe it was meant to be that way, but that always drove me.
Males and females are unique and different, because their brains are different. There’s not a limitation on girls. My grandmother was very strong, and so was my mother. She also knew what it meant to be a woman and wife and was very successful at it.
I’m destiny’s child. I wasn’t meant to be born: my mother bled for four months when she was pregnant, and then she fell down the stairs in her eighth month of pregnancy. She nearly died; I believe I came into this world for a reason.
When I created ‘Taskmaster,’ it was never meant to be suitable for family Christmases. The host, Greg Davies, is a sweary giant, the comedians are often uncouth and the show was on late-night TV.
Fantasy is fantasy. It’s fiction. It’s not meant to be a textbook. I don’t believe in letting research overwhelm the fiction. That’s a danger of science fiction in particular, as opposed to fantasy. A lot of writers forget that what they’re doing is supposed to be art.
I think that ‘The Outsiders’ was meant to be written, and I was just picked to write it.
Any Arthurian enthusiast who has watched ‘Merlin’ has probably concluded that it’s not accurate whatsoever – but, it’s not meant to be. It’s not meant to be a true telling. It’s in a fantasy setting, it’s really concentrating on the fantasy element.
What Shakespeare and the Greeks were able to do was radically question what it meant to be a human being.
It took me eight books to finally be at a point in my career where I could come out with a book and say, ‘This is meant to be a funny book,’ and we didn’t have to make any bones about it.
The dog lasted. The marriage didn’t. So it shows which relationship was meant to be.
And I went through a lot of detours and I took a lot of roads and things so yes, that’s all there, but it’s not meant to be shocking or telltale.
Look, it’s a mainstream animated movie, and how often are those considered thought provoking? It’s meant to be a great time at the theater, but it’s also designed to work on more than one level.
In my head, I could never imagine that I could be an actress. I always thought actresses were meant to be perfect and that they would have perfect bodies with all the nakhras.
Everyone thinks these are self-portraits but they aren’t meant to be. I just use myself as a model because I know I can push myself to extremes, make each shot as ugly or goofy or silly as possible.
What’s meant to be will always find a way.
We’re supposed to be an entrepreneurial company; we’re meant to be expanding and looking for opportunities – but the minute you do it, you get your head bashed in.
My grandfather was raising me, and in many respects, I was trying to understand what it meant to be a man. He was my role model.
There’s always that element in the back of my head, thinking if it’s meant to be I’ll play for Celtic one day.
In some strange way, this was meant to be.
I try to maintain the perspective that life is meant to be laughed at.
What is scary to me is silly to somebody else. CG isn’t scary to me. It’s like comedy – comedy and horror are quite similar, in that there’ll always be somebody who’ll say, ‘I don’t think that was funny.’ And it’s the same with things that are meant to be scary.
I don’t think I would have made for a good doctor. It was not meant to be, and it took me a long time to realize that.
I guess the men who are meant to be a part of my life won’t be intimidated by me and will be stronger. There’s a specific breed that won’t be afraid.
I guess it’s a lovely thought, isn’t it, that the person you’re meant to be with was one of your first loves all along. That whole destiny thing.
Supreme wasn’t meant to be a brand… It’s a good name, but it’s a difficult one to trademark.
Although music comes from a very personal place, talent is meant to be shared.
Of course drums weren’t meant to be played other than sitting on the ground. When you’re upside-down, your feet don’t want to sit on the pedals.
I don’t believe I was meant to be a professional quarterback. I was meant to have these life experiences and be an impact on others who’ve struggled. That’s what I’m meant to do.
The title ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ is meant to be a deconstruction of a stereotype, and the whole show is about deconstructing the boxes that we’re supposed to be put into. We like taking apart the tropes and the stereotypes and explore the nuances, so ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ is a label that we go deep underneath to explore.
In its original version, the FTAA was meant to be a special carve-out for Washington and Wall Street as global ‘free trade’ advanced under the umbrella of the Doha round of the WTO.
My father always taught by telling stories about his experiences. His lessons were about morality and art and what insects and birds and human beings had in common. He told me what it meant to be a man and to be a Black man. He taught me about love and responsibility, about beauty, and how to make gumbo.
I didn’t feel like I was meant to be a nurse or a secretary.
If you are watching a fairy tale, that’s why you go to fairy tales: you want these uncomplicated stories and uncomplicated characters. But if it’s meant to be real life, you want there to be some reflection of your experience and have something you can hook into.
