A Quote by Jonathan Franzen

's one of the perversities of the age: I'm embarrassed by its success, but I'm happy it's selling. — © Jonathan Franzen
's one of the perversities of the age: I'm embarrassed by its success, but I'm happy it's selling.
I'm always happy when I hear about people selling records or selling books or selling movies. It makes me proud of them.
If success in selling is my primary interest, I am not primarily a writer, but a salesperson. If I teach success in selling as the writer's primary objective, I am not teaching writing; I'm teaching, or pretending to teach, the production and marketing of a commodity.
My whole success is I've always been designing for people, first because I wanted to sell them merchandise. Then when I got into hotels, I had to rethink, what am I selling now? You're selling a good time.
Success isn't what makes you happy. It really isn't. Success is doing what makes you happy and doing good work and hopefully having a fruitful life. If I've felt like I've done good work, that makes me happy. The success part of it is all gravy.
Every age, race, socio-economic background of men are 'johns.' It's a little more complicated who's doing the selling. The truth is that the average street pimp selling American girls is often a man of color, however, Mexican pimps are selling Mexican girls, Russian men are selling Russian girls etc. Those who profit off the sex industry overall are not the ones who are standing out on the street. They're the owners of massage parlors, escort agencies, strip clubs, and brothels.
My definition of success is to be happy in what you like to do best. It's not a monetary value; it's an internal value in itself. If you're happy from the inside-out, thats what is important. Success comes as a day to day value or reaching a goal that you have, and you've got to prepare yourself for what's to come when success is there.
I always assume that nothing that I make is going to be a success, that everything I make is going to be a failure - not a failure but not some huge box- office success. If something is an artistic success, I'll be happy, but I'll maybe be the only person that's happy.
I was selling bric-a-brac in Portobello and Camden Market. I love objects. But I was embarrassed by the idea of collecting, so I began using these things in my art.
I can say with full sincerity that I am happy. I'm happy because I'm doing what I love and I'm not selling out.
No age or time of life, no position or circumstance, has a monopoly on success. Any age is the right age to start doing!
If you live in a world where the population is separating itself from science and entering an age of superstition, as a marketer, selling to people who will believe anything, it is a golden age.
That's what I tried to share in this book, Back From The Dead, the ability to learn, to dream, to hope. In a world that is far too often selling fear and death, I'm selling hope and life and success and that's why I chose to be part of the Grateful Dead.
The more transparent you are about, you know, the not so happy times, or the happy times, or the things that you're embarrassed or ashamed of or proud of, it's all in Kicker, and all in my music. I'm just inspired by life in general and what it's bringing to me.
Success? I don't know what that word means. I'm happy. But success, that goes back to what in somebody's eyes success means. For me, success is inner peace. That's a good day for me.
I do voiceovers, but being on-camera and selling something? I wasn't really interested. And then I thought, well, wait a minute. Everybody's selling something. When you turn on the tube... And then if you go to Europe or Asia, everyone is selling something. All the guys that don't want to be seen selling something here are selling something there. So I thought what the hell?
Men have their virtues and their vices, their heroisms and their perversities; men are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but possess and practice all that there is of good and bad here below. Such is the general rule. Temperament, education, the accidents of life, are modifying factors. Outside of this, everything is ordered arrangement, everything is chance. Such has been my rule of expectation and it has usually brought me success.
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