A Quote by John Ralston Saul

It's quite humbling when you see the list of writers who have been president of PEN and you know some of the things they've done. — © John Ralston Saul
It's quite humbling when you see the list of writers who have been president of PEN and you know some of the things they've done.
Geraldo has been in Lebanon. He has done some excellent reporting out of there, and of course, we now know by virtue of the president's speech on Tuesday night that the terrorist organizations that operate in that area are now on the list.
Every President I think I've ever known, except Truman, has thought they didn't quite get done what they wanted done. And toward the end of their Administrations, they were disappointed and wished they had done some things differently.
The joke of being a showrunner is that people ask how you get it all done, and you don't. The list of things I don't get done in a given day is longer than the list of things I do. And one of the things that's first to go is watching dailies.
You know and I know that as soon as it's done, you have to get it out there. You want what's best for it. And especially in owning a label, which some days is the greatest thing for me and in some days is my demise because you see the truth and the work that goes into things and you see things happen and you see things not happen, and all you want in this world of currency right now is popularity, that's it!
Like a lot of people, I have been a leader in some things, and I've been a follower in some things. I know how to work on a team. And most of life, frankly, to get things done you have to get done, you've got to work as a team.
There may be a long list of things to do, but really, there is just one thing on the list at any time. If you think of it like that, the whole world looks different and you can stay quite calm. Maybe everything will get done eventually and maybe not. You can always have hope.
I made a list of things I have to remember and a list of things I want to forget, but I see they are the same list.
I do have to say when we read certain words being used to describe President Trump - it's never been done. It wasn't done about President Obama. It wasn't done about either President Bush, President Clinton, because people have a certain respect for and recognition of the dignity for the office of the president. And so I am beseeching everybody to cool it down a little bit.
I feel a responsibility, as I get older, to be responsible to what I've experienced, to what I've lived and been in a position to witness. I realize now that as a consequence of having lived the life I have, quite apart from the one, as I understand it, lived by most American writers, maybe I now know some things and have some stories to tell that others don't know about or wouldn't be able to tell. Maybe there's an intrinsic value in that lived experience and knowledge, though of course what you do with it is everything.
I want to do some stuff in America, see things here. Maybe rent a driver and an RV. I want to see the redwoods. Bucket list. Something that's been there forever, one of the wonders of the world.
And it's a little - very humbling to think that running for president of the United States is - for a kid from Brooklyn, it's quite a step.
I've a long list of things I don't know how I've done, but I've done them. In the end, it's always about perseverance.
Do one thing at a time. Start the day with a list of things you have to do, and do the most important things first. Even if you don't get the list done, you've gotten the most important things done. So many people spend so much time on things that aren't important.
You can look at the New York Times Bestseller List and you can be pretty sure that the writers on that list don't know each other very well.
I see my self-identity in the same way I see most things: a list, in greatest to least importance. I've found I can't use the multitude of hats analogy or some kind of flow chart where circles are connected by lines and entwined in Venn diagrams. I need a list. I need a top shelf.
I've apparently been the victim of growing up, which apparently happens to all of us at one point or another. It's been going on for quite some time now, without me knowing it. I've found that growing up can mean a lot of things. For me, it doesn't mean I should become somebody completely new and stop loving the things I used to love. It means I've just added more things to my list.
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