A Quote by Norman Davies
I always needle a bit when people say I'm a champion of the Poles, because I've always had a very multinational view of Poland.
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Poland, of course, was the key country. I remember Stalin telling me that the plains of Poland were the invasion route of Europe to Russia and always had been, and therefore he had to control Poland.
But the fact is we did have colonies in the east of Poland, we did have a slave economy there. But this is not common knowledge - or part of our national myth. It goes against the current romanticised view of the government, and much of the country, that Poles have always been victims, never oppressors.
When I was growing up, all the women in my house were using needles. I've always had a fascination with the needle, the magic power of the needle. The needle is used to repair damage. It's a claim to forgiveness. It is never aggressive, it's not a pin.
Everybody is grappling with their own moral compass, and that needle, like any needle, can't just stick. It's always floating a little bit, and depending on where you're standing, it's hard to read.
There are Jews who were born in Poland before World War II and survived the Holocaust, who think Poland and the Poles deserve an apology.
I'm very blessed, mainly because even though my family is mostly in show business, it's really centered around music. My parents were very successful in many ways, but they weren't necessarily top of the charts. We were never wealthy because of music. We always had to work and we always had to struggle a little bit, and I think at the end of the day that's been very good for me, because I have a sense of it being very ephemeral.
Poland is a wildly dramatic and tragic story. It's just unbelievable what went on with those people. How they survive, I don't really know. The Germans had a particular hatred for the Poles; they really considered them subhuman Slavs, and they were very brutal to them.
I grew up in Manhattan, and I've always had all kinds of people around me. I've always had a very 'live and let live' point of view.
I reckon there's always a bit of pressure. We put it on ourselves, I think we always feel a bit of pressure because people around us and our manager and stuff call us perfectionists, which I find very hard to take because nothing that we do is perfect.
I think you're always subjective because you always have a point of view, but I'm always sort of curious about what is the point of view I don't agree with. There is a truth in that because there always is.
To me, the fun part of both jobs is to always try to push the discussion and debate forward in some way. The most fun part of being a theater critic for the Times was always to try and champion something that maybe other people didn't like, or that was produced under obscure circumstances or had to fight for its life. And I would say in the column what I try to do is in some ways related in that I'm trying to fight for a point of view. I'm not trying to be a kingmaker in either job, and don't want to be, and shouldn't be.
In that memorable year, 1822: Oersted, a Danish physicist, held in his hands a piece of copper wire, joined by its extremities to the two poles of a Volta pile. On his table was a magnetized needle on its pivot, and he suddenly saw (by chance you will say, but chance only favours the mind which is prepared) the needle move and take up a position quite different from the one assigned to it by terrestrial magnetism. A wire carrying an electric current deviates a magnetized needle from its position. That, gentlemen, was the birth of the modern telegraph.
I always say that when I see that needle start to go in the other direction, when people have had enough of me, I'm going to be smart enough to say goodbye. It's such a joyous ride to be on top, and it takes away from that ride if you sort of ride it down.
I've had the same friends I've always had. I mean, I've lost a few over the years. Hate to use the word "success," but I don't know what else to say, but some people are more affected by that than others. I've had the same core group of friends that I've always had. We're surfing, so that definitely keeps you grounded. Just when I think I'm cool because we're playing these massive shows or having some sort of commercial success, I can always be reminded how small I am when I try to surf a wave that's a little bit out of my league, and I just get pummeled.
Peter Sellers was great to work with. A lovely man. A little bit crazy in that he - you know, as I say, it was hard. It was sort of balancing a very delicate spirit on a needle. You know, because you never know where he was going.
Peter Sellers was great to work with. A lovely man. A little bit crazy in that he - you know, as I say, it was hard. It was sort of balancing a very delicate spirit on a needle. You know, because you never know where he was going
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