A Quote by John O'Hara

They say great themes make great novels

John O'Hara

Quote Topics

Great Great Novels Make Novels Say Themes They Say

Quote Author

John O'Hara
American - Novelist
January 31, 1905 - April 11, 1970

They say great themes make great novels. but what these young writers don't understand is that there is no greater theme than men and women.

John O'Hara

Not only do you need great lyrics, a great message, a great story, great vocals, great chords... you also need great instrumentation, great editing, great sonics, great mixing, and great mastering. It all comes together to make something truly great, and I think each element combines together to create a powerful impact on the consumer.

Joey Sturgis

One of the things that I love about writing novels is that it really doesn't matter what next step you take as long as you're pursuing some intuition or instinct. Of course, then, intuitions or instincts don't make for great novels, but they often make for good first drafts.

Jonathan Safran Foer

The 1930s birthed two great agrarian novels: 'Gone with the Wind' from the viewpoint of the ruling class, 'The Grapes of Wrath' for the underclass. And both were turned into movies that dared to be true to the books' controversial themes.

Richard Corliss

Blue Ivy can say she knows who her great-great-great-great-grandfather is. How many people can say that?

Mathew Knowles

I'm interested in working with great people and exploring great themes in different mediums.

O. T. Fagbenle

All the great novels, all the great films, all the great dramas are fictions that actually tell us the truth about us or about human nature or about human situations without being tied into the minutia of documentary events. Otherwise we might as well just make documentaries.

Jeremy Northam

I am against great themes and great subjects... You can't film an idea. The camera is an instrument for recording physical impact.

Jean Renoir

Movies are about people; there're not about ideas. It's like great novels. Great novels are not about ideas. There's never been a great novel about ideas.

Michael Cimino

I have a vision of artists putting into film, drama, literature, music, and paintings great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon.

Ezra Taft Benson

They say great times make great men. I don't buy it. I saw a lot of weakness, a lot of filth. People who should have risen to the challenge and either couldn't or wouldn't. Greed, fear, stupidity and hate. I saw it before the war, I see it today. [...] I don't know if great times make great men, but I know they can kill them.

Max Brooks

The great European novel started out as entertainment, and every true novelist is nostalgic for it. In fact, the themes of those great entertainments are terribly serious-think of Cervantes!

Milan Kundera

There are loads of novels that I really love, like Haruki Murakami's books, and when I read them, I do think about how they would work as an anime. But I do believe that those are great books because they work best as novels, or great manga work best in that form.

Makoto Shinkai

They're classic themes, which is why I think it's such a great story to look at again. The concept of being loyal to your friends, to the point where you'd even die for them, is a great subject.