A Quote by Colin Wilson

Isaiah Berlin once said that there are two kinds of writers, hedgehogs and foxes. He said the fox knows many things, the hedgehog knows just one thing. So Shakespeare is a typical fox; Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are typical hedgehogs. Now, I'm a typical hedgehog. I know just one thing, and I repeat it over and over again. I try to approach it from different angles to make it look different, but it's the same thing.

Colin Wilson

Quote Topics

Again Angles Approach Berlin Different Different Angles Dostoyevsky Fox Foxes Hedgehog Hedgehogs Just Just One Just One Thing Kinds Know Knows Look Make Many Now Once One Thing Over Repeat Said Same Same Thing Shakespeare Thing Things Tolstoy Try Two Typical Writers

Quote Author

Colin Wilson
English - Novelist
June 26, 1931 - December 5, 2013

The Fox knows many things-the hedgehog one big one.

Archilochus

Fox hunting, there's big fox hunting thing, there's arguments in Britain about fox hunting. And they go around. They obviously hunt foxes because the foxes, they attack chickens. And posh people have an alliance with chickens just like in the First World War.

Eddie Izzard

If somebody thinks they're a hedgehog, presumably you just give 'em a mirror and a few pictures of hedgehogs and tell them to sort it out for themselves.

Douglas Adams

If I'm really considering doing film from now on then that is the smart thing to do, or you can go either way. You can just do the same character over and over again and make a different comedy like over and over again.

Ray Romano

I'm probably most proud of the fact that we are bootstrapped and that we are able to do not just the typical Silicon Valley startup thing. We are basically throwing away all the typical conventions of other startups.

Alan Schaaf

There are two kinds of typical days. There's the typical day when I'm writing a novel, and there's the typical day when I'm not.

Paul Auster

Unfortunately, Susan didn't remember what Jane Fulton once said, 'Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.

Rita Mae Brown

Ever since I was like 13 and 14 writing music, I said, I have to be able to do different types. Because if you just keep doing the same thing over and over again, it will just get boring.

Masked Wolf

Many actors will try something different once, but if it isn't a box office success they'll never do it again. In my opinion, there's no point in going on with this job if you do the same thing over and over again.

Jack Nicholson

So many people want to have this typical look and this typical everything and it's all the same everywhere.

Bria Vinaite

I know that the way to be a really successful writer is to write the same kind of book over and over again. Find the kind of thing that people like and just write one of those over and over again. I don't do that. I just keep doing different things.

Neil Gaiman

I'm always looking for a chance to do something different. I don't necessarily want to repeat myself, at any time, and I don't want to just do the same guy, over and over and over again. I want to be able to do different things and to evolve and constantly try to find those roles.

Colin Hanks

A hedgehog? And just how does a hedgehog make love?" he demanded. No, I thought. I won't. I will not. But I did. "Very carefully," I replied, giggling helplessly. So now we know just how old that one is, I thought.

Diana Gabaldon

Senator Rand Paul reflected on Mitt Romney's potential 2016 campaign and said, 'It's sort of what Einstein said, that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.' When someone told him Einstein didn't actually say that, he said, 'In the words of Gandhi, 'My bad.''