Ian Frazier
I don't have a disregard for my reader in humor pieces.Collection: Humor
I think what is important for things to be funny is if you the listener, or the reader, get a chance to supply the humor of it yourself.Collection: Humor
America to me is so varied and exciting. I always feel nostalgia for the place I'm not in, and then I get there and find myself in a traffic jam going into the Lincoln Tunnel, and I think, 'God, why was I romanticizing this part of the country?' I think it has to do with the romantic, unrealistic temperament.Collection: Romantic
Writing humor for me is more like a watchful-ness. You have to watch. When you say something funny, or someone else does, it's more like you wait for the piece.Collection: Humor
With reporting, if you work hard, you can usually pull something out. But writing humor doesn't respond to working hard, necessarily. I mean, you could just sit there and look at the page all day and maybe something will come.Collection: Humor
Russian humor is to adapt or make some sense or nonsense out of the insanity of their lives.Collection: Humor
People in Russia adapt to misery by a deep, deep humor.Collection: Humor
Siberia is so big, it’s almost more an idea than a placeCollection: Ideas
Every once in a while, people need to be in the presence of things that are really far away.Collection: People
There's an idea of the Plains as the middle of nowhere, something to be contemptuous of. But it's really a heroic place.Collection: Ideas
Words are charms. It's like a song you didn't even know you knew.Collection: Song
Cursing dads are terrifying, you know? Cursing dads are - I don't know why, but no. It just doesn't seem to me that that would be funny. I mean it might be - you could try it and see. I suppose anybody just losing it and sputtering curses is pretty funny. But I think it would be more of a challenge, much more of a challenge, to make a cursing dad funny.Collection: Dad
America can enjoy a vital, fully functioning government, with all the benefits provided by Texas, while reducing Texas at the same time.Collection: Government
When I needed to think or was really upset, generally I climbed a tree.Collection: Thinking
Human connection is the way things work. It's like a patronage system. You know somebody, and he knows somebody, and he knows somebody, and he knows the district governor, and it's okay.Collection: Connections
I only saw one English-speaking person all the way across Siberia.Collection: Way
When the days start to get shorter, I want to be in some nice brick building on the East Coast with the lights glowing in the windows. When the daylight starts changing, I want to be out West.Collection: Nice
Everything in Russia is made of cement - phone booths, fence posts and light bulbs.Collection: Russia
I don't want to collect Indian art, though pots and beadwork and blankets made by Indians remain the most beautiful art objects in the American West, in my opinion.Collection: Beautiful
I don't want to participate in traditional Indian religious ceremonies - dance in a sun dance or pray in a sweat lodge or go on a vision quest with the help of a medicine man. The power of these ceremonies has an appeal, but I'm content with what little religion I already have.Collection: Religious
Russians don't complain, usually.Collection: Complaining
I am an author, and like many in my profession, I am also a traveling salesman, going all over in an attempt to persuade people to spend twenty-five dollars on a hardcover book by me.Collection: Book
Leading economists have shown that by shrinking Texas, we can actually create more income for Texas in the long run.Collection: Running
Despite the obvious benefits, many Americans do not like Texas. Some even say they despise Texas, and make no secret of their feelings.Collection: Texas
A book tour is not a good opportunity to let your mind wander. You have to pay attention, remember salespeople's and interviewers' names, succinctly summarize your book in a 'selling' way, and so on.Collection: Book
Sometimes travel is merely an opportunity taken when you can.Collection: Taken