110+ James Frey Quotes On Education, Oprah And Dramatic

James Frey is an American writer and the author of the memoir A Million Little Pieces. He is also the founder of the media company Full Fathom Five and the creator of the television series “Lucky Man”. His other works include the novel Bright Shiny Morning, and the young adult series The Lorien Legacies. Following is our collection on famous quotes by James Frey on education, life, love.

Top 10 James Frey Quotes

1. Sometimes skulls are thick. Sometimes hearts are vacant. Sometimes words don't work.
2. When I started writing 'A Million Little Pieces,' I felt like it was the right story with the style I had been looking for, and I just kept going.
3. The wounds that never heal can only be mourned alone.
4. Be strong. Live honorably and with dignity. When you don't think you can, hold on.
5. Let things be, let yourself be, let everything be and accept it as it is. Nothing more. Nothing less.
6. The greatest rules of dramatic writing are conflict, conflict, conflict.
7. Part of me still loves. More of me doesn't.
8. Live and let live, do not judge, take life as it comes and deal with it, everything will be okay.
9. I'm tired of making people sad and I'm tired of disappointing them and I'm tired of seeing them break. I have seen this too many times. He will be the last.
10. When I was a screenwriter, I was doing it for mercenary reasons.

James Frey Short Quotes

• ...if you can accept the truth and live with it your heart will be at peace.
• Its not just a smile of momentary happiness. When it disappears from my face, it will stay with me.
• Even a second of freedom is worth more than a lifetime of bondage.
• There are places from which you cannot return. There is damage that can be irreparable.
• I think of how and why and what happened and the thoughts come easily, but the answers don't.
• For the worst things of our lives, it is sometimes the best way, to never speak of them again.
• Most books aren't pure nonfiction or fiction.
• People call me all sorts of things. I don't even care what they call me.
• Most of the time, it's not the concept, but the execution of craft that counts.
• You don't have to follow anybody's conventions.

James Frey Quotes About Life

Some people think memoirs should be held to a perfect journalistic standard. Some people don't. Obviously I don't. My goal was never to create or to write a perfect journalistic standard of my life. It was always to be as literature. — James Frey

I have a great amount of confidence and faith in my abilities to write. There are other areas of my life where I'm not as confident, and have not as much faith, but when it comes down to writing and working, I don't worry about it. I trust myself to get it right. — James Frey

Leonard asks me if there's anything I need to know before he dies, I think about it for a minute, turn to him, say what's the meaning of life, Leonard? He laughs, says that's an easy one, my son, it's whatever you want it to be. — James Frey

There is, though, nothing that prepares us for the worst things in our life. There is nothing you can do to stop the shock, or buffer the pain. — James Frey

For years I supported capital punishment, but I have come to believe that our criminal justice system is incapable of adequately distinguishing between the innocent and guilty. It is reprehensible and immoral to gamble with life and death. — James Frey

...we got this gift of life and we got it one time and we gonna get hurt in it and be hurt going through it and the only thing that'll make that hurt better or hurt less is love. — James Frey

I am essentially optimistic. Being alive is incredible. Life is extraordinary and beautiful. It can be hard and sad and terrifying, but it's all we've got. — James Frey

I wanted to be a writer that had an impact. I wanted, and still I say the same thing, I want to write books that change people's lives, change how we think and live and read and write. I wanna write books that are read in 50 or 100 years. — James Frey

The way America works, and the way L.A. works, is a very small percentage of people get what they want out of life, and a much greater percentage try very very hard and they don't. That's just the way it is. — James Frey

The promise of eternal life makes people forsake the life they're given. — James Frey

James Frey Quotes About Love

Love is love. It doesn't matter how or who you love. I don't believe the messiah would condemn gay men and women. — James Frey

Words can't say this. The one word love means too little for what it is. It means everything and that is still not enough. — James Frey

But all good things come to an end, often a sad angry miserable end. The cause for such an end can usually be whittled down to one of three things: money, sickness, love lost. — James Frey

I love the process of being alone in a room. — James Frey

In Lilly's eyes her beautiful clear water eyes there is what I have sought and never found, wanted and never had, hoped for and never discovered. Love. — James Frey

Love only brought me lonliness and horror. — James Frey

The one word love means too little for what it is. It doesn't communicate even a fraction of the feelings involved. Love. The word is not enough for what it is. Love. Love. — James Frey

The feeling of arms around me, of love in my heart, it was more powerful than any of the negativity I knew was existing in the world for me. That feeling of love killed it all. — James Frey

But love is different for every person. For some it's hate, for some it's joy, for some it's fear, for some it's jealousy, for some it's torture, for some it's peace. For some it's everything. — James Frey

Laughing and Love. They are both drugs. — James Frey

James Frey Famous Quotes And Sayings

The Young Man came to the Old Man seeking counsel. I broke something, Old Man. How badly is it broken? It's in a million little pieces. I'm afraid I can't help you. Why? There's nothing you can do. Why? It can't be fixed. Why? It's broken beyond repair. It's in a million little pieces. — James Frey

I close my eyes and I take a deep breath and I think about my life and how I ended up this way. I think about the ruin, devastation and wreckage I have caused to myself and to others. I think about self-hatred and self-loathing. I think about how and why and what happened and the thoughts come easily, but the answers don't. — James Frey

When I see you, the World stops. It stops and all that exists for me is you and my eyes staring at you. There's nothing else. No noise, no other people, no thoughts or worries, no yesterday, no tomorrow. The World just stops, and it is a beautiful place, and there is only you. — James Frey

When I go to an art gallery and stand in front of a painting, I don't want someone telling me what I should be seeing or thinking; I want to feel whatever I feel, see whatever I see, and figure out what I figure out. — James Frey

I meet a third man he's an old man he trips in the street he falls and I help him up, walk him to the curb. He shakes my hand says keep the faith, young man. I ask him what he means, he says keep running and don't let them catch you. — James Frey

I would like to be soft and warm. I would be terrified to be that way. I could be hurt if I were soft and warm. I could be hurt by something other than myself. It is harder to be soft than it is to be hard. I could be hurt by something other than myself. — James Frey

It's the third book of the Bible, called The Final Testament of the Holy Bible.My idea of what the Messiah would be like if he were walking the streets of New York today. What would he believe? What would he preach? How would he live? With who? — James Frey

I felt like I had lost something. But not something silly, like my keys or my gum; more like my arm or my foot, something that really mattered. Like something that I could live without, but would make life much harder if it were missing. And life is hard enough. Life is hard enough with everything we're given. — James Frey

I turn and I slowly walk away and I don't look back. It has always been a fault of mine, but it is the way I am. I never look back. Never. — James Frey

Not everyone who works hard makes their dream come true. You need luck and hard work and being in the right place at the right time but I still very much believe it's possible. — James Frey

I'm trying to influence the next generation or two generations or three generations behind me. That's a big ambition of mine. — James Frey

On the other couch a women sits with a young boy looking through a picture book about Babar the Elephant. When I find a magazine and I lean back to start reading it, I can see the women watching me out of the corner of her eye. She moves closer to the child and she leans over and kisses his forehead. I know why she does it and i don't blame her. — James Frey

I am aware that the battle I am fighting is a petty one, but I am also aware that in order to win that which is great, you must first win that which is small. — James Frey

All of us started normal. All of us started out as functioning human beings with the potential to do almost anything we wanted, but somewhere along the paths of our lives, we got lost. — James Frey

On my first day in jail, a three hundred pound man named Porterhouse hit me in the back of the head with a metal tray. I was standing in line for lunch and I didn't see it coming. I went down. When I got up, I turned around and started throwing punches." (James Frey, pg.1) — James Frey

I hadn't learned yet that everybody's locked up some way or other. That's how life is we're all imprisoned by something. — James Frey

I say to myself if you believe deeply in your heart you must defy, and if you are willing to pay for your defiance, you must always do it, even though the pain may be much. Too many times in our lives we do not do it, and we pay even more. — James Frey

This moment and this chance, they are the same, and they are mine if I choose them,and I do. I want them. Now and as long as I can have them they are both precious and fleeting and gone in the blink of an eye, don't waste them. A moment and an opportunity and a life, all in the unseen tick of a clock holding me nowhere. My heart is beating. The walls are pale and quiet. I am surviving. — James Frey

America was first colonized by Puritans. Most of our earliest immigrants, and many since, have come here in order to practice their religious beliefs as they please. Our culture has always been, and will most likely always be, profoundly influenced by religion. — James Frey

That's what ever great writer, I believe, has done over the course of time - is they've figured out new ways of telling the same stories. — James Frey

I turn and I look back across the lake. The mist is gone and the ice diminished, the drip of the icicles quick and heavy. The sun is up and the sky is blue empty blue light blue clear blue. I would drink the sky if I could drink it, drink it and celebrate it and let it fill me and become me. I am getting better. Empty and clear and light and blue. I am getting better. — James Frey

Dreams can come true there [Los Angeles]in ways impossible anywhere else, and they can get destroyed as well. — James Frey

She made me feel better than I have ever felt, better than I imagined I could feel, and it scared me, it scared me to the point of paralysis. — James Frey

I've been alone my whole life, I can't do it anymore. — James Frey

But that's part of faith. Believing and knowing despite what other people say, and despite what the world might think of your beliefs. — James Frey

I look at pastries and cakes, tarts and pies. My body craves sugar, always craves sugar. Years of alcohalism and the high level of sugar in alcohal created the craving, which I feed with candy and soda. — James Frey

The best stories are universal stories that have been told for as long as humanity has existed it's just figuring out new ways to do it, with language, with structure. And so I'm always trying to do that. — James Frey

I often think of death. True. Suicide is a reasonable option. True. My sins are unpardonable. I stare at the question. My sins are unpardonable. I stare at the question. My sins are unpardonable. I leave it blank. — James Frey

I go to my Room and I drink and I smoke some cigarettes and I think about her. I drink and I smoke and I think about her and at a certain point blackness comes and my memory fails me. — James Frey

Practice not wanting, desiring, judging, doing, fighting, knowing. Practice just being. Everything will fall into place. — James Frey

I've always said I'm more influenced in what I do by artists, and how they work, how they think, and the freedom they're given to work and think, than I really am by other writers. — James Frey

Light streamed through one of the windows and across her face and I have never seen anything or anyone so beautiful in my life. If my heart had stopped at that moment I would have fallen happy and fallen full and I would have seen in life all that I had wanted to see and all that I needed to see. Fall. Let me fall. — James Frey

I think as an artist or a writer it's OK to want to control your own work. — James Frey

People don't want to accept the responsibility for their own weakness, so they place the blame on something that they're not responsible for, like disease or genetics. — James Frey

Lying became part of my life. I lied if I needed to lie to get something or get out of something — James Frey

I don't write with an outline. I don't often know what I'm going to do as I'm writing. And I do everything by feel and by instinct. — James Frey

When I was a little boy, Marvin Hagler was my idol. He got no respect for most of his career. His fighting style was straight ahead. He took every shot thrown at him, and he kept punching back 'til he won. I honestly feel that's how I am. I take big shots from people. But I keep going. — James Frey

Are we biology or God or something higher? I know my heart beats and I listen to it. The beat is biology, but what is the song? — James Frey

What's crazy is living your life according to some book written by someone who couldn't imagine what your life would be like. — James Frey

I always wanted to write a book about LA, a big ambitious book. Nobody had ever really done it with LA- treating the city seriously as a major economic and cultural power, as the embodiment of 21st century America. — James Frey

When something is staring you in the face in your life and you see it with your own two eyes and feel it within your heart only a fool doesn't believe it to be true. — James Frey

There is emotion in the hug, and there is respect and a form of love. Emotion that comes from honesty, respect that comes from challenge, and the form of love that exists between people whose minds have touched, whose hearts have touched, whose souls have touched. Our minds touched. Our hearts touched. Our souls touched. We separate. — James Frey

There is no fear. Absolutely no fear. When one lives without fear, one cannot be broken. When one lives with fear one is broken before one begins to live. — James Frey

Faith is the fool's excuse. — James Frey

Whatever hardships there have been in my life I still live in a very privileged position. Fear is not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Fear is seeing a child get hurt. Fear is watching someone you love waste away. Fear is knowing you are going to die yourself. But there's no fear in what I do. I write books. — James Frey

I'm writing books. They're still a mix of fact and fiction and will continue to be. I think it's an interesting place to work. — James Frey

More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to be close to someone. More than anything, all I have ever wanted is to feel as if i wasn't alone. — James Frey

One of the beautiful and terrible things about America is you can go there and still be whatever you want, if you bust your ass and you have some luck. — James Frey

It's cold and it's winter and the world has gone to sleep — James Frey

I regretted making a comment about Dave Eggers. I’ve never said anything about McSweeneys except that I admire what it is, and I think it’s great that they keep people interested in literature. — James Frey

To say that you can't see echoes of the past in what I do would be absurd. Everything that has preceded me has affected me. — James Frey

I skip the introduction. If the book goes in the trash, I want it to go because of my thoughts on it, not because of some Asshole's thoughts who wrote the introduction. — James Frey

There are no categories in contemporary art. There are no rules. Artists are given the freedom to make and create whatever they please and call it whatever they please. I identify with that system, or lack of system, much more than I do the landscape of contemporary publishing. — James Frey

It started when she passed me a note in English class. The note said you don't seem as awful as I hear you are. I passed one back that read: beware I am as awful as people say and worse. She laughed and I had a friend. She didn't become my Ally and I didn't ask her to or want her to but she became my friend and that was more than anyone else was willing to do. — James Frey

You should at all times be showing a well-motivated character overcoming obstacles in pursuit of a goal. — James Frey

About life: "It is not complicated unless I make it so. It is not difficult unless I allow it to be. A second is no more than a second, a minute no more than a minute, a day no more than a day. They pass. All things and all time will pass. Don't force or fear, don't control or lose control. Don't fight and don't stop fighting. Embrace and endure. If you embrace, you will endure. — James Frey

There is no such things as God's word on earth. Or if there is it is not to be found in books. -Then where is it to be found?- In love. In the laughter of children. In a gift given. In a life saved. In the quiet of morning. In the dead of night. In the sound of the ocean, or the sound of a car. It can be found in anything, anywhere. It is the fabric of our lives, our feelings, the people we live with, things we know to be real. — James Frey

I stand, walk over to him, sit down on his bed, put my arms around him, hug him. He hugs me back strong and I can feel the shame coming through his arms. I am a Criminal and he is a Judge and I am white and he is black, but at this moment none of that matters. He is a man who needs a friends and I can be his friend. — James Frey

We know have the power of God in many ways: the atomic bomb, the ability to create life in a test tube, cloning, artificial intelligence. — James Frey

You don't have to follow anybody's rules. — James Frey

We stare into each other's eyes and softly kiss speaking and saying more with the movement of our lips and the tips of our fingers than words will allow us to say. Words can't say this. The one word love means too little for what it is. It means everything and that is still not enough. It doesn't communicate even a fraction of the feelings involved. Love. The word is not enough for what it is. Love. Love. — James Frey

Be patient and wait. Your mud will settle. Your water will be clear. — James Frey

We did what our people do all the time, we told ourselves something we did was right and we found a way to justify it, even though we knew it was wrong. — James Frey

Writing's not precious to me. It's not a thing that requires specific environment. You know, it's my job. Just like anybody with a job, you have to do your job when you don't feel like it, regardless of how good or bad the conditions are, regardless of how good or bad you might feel on any particular day. — James Frey

I don't want to walk in the middle. I want people to read what I write and feel strongly about it. If, at some point, whatever I am doing is failing to elicit a response, whether it's very positive or very negative, then I am going to stop doing it. — James Frey

I don't speak with proper grammar. I don't speak with dialogue attribution. I don't speak with quotation. I don't care about any of that stuff. It's about rhythm, and it's about what's in their [the character's] head, and what feels more natural. And it's about speed. I want things to move. — James Frey

And as ridiculous as it may sound, sometimes all any of us needs in life is for someone to hold our hand and walk next to us. — James Frey

Ive never had any interest at all in being a journalist or writing some sort of historically accurate autobiography. — James Frey

A contest was held in 1994 to rename the Los Angeles Convention and Exhibition Center after an extensive renovation and expansion. The winning name, chosen from over ten thousand entries, was the Los Angeles Convention Center. — James Frey

A miracle is changing someone's life. Freeing them from whatever bonds them. Giving them the gift of being able to live the way they dream of living. — James Frey

In my mind my obituary is done.It is done and it is right. It tells the truth and as awful as it can be, the truth is what matters. It is what I should be remembered by, if I'm remembered at all. Remember the truth. that is all that matters — James Frey

To live with angels and chase their dreams. — James Frey

Addicts, as a group, generally score far above average o intelligence tests. Why? You tell me. I guess maybe we're smart enough to have figured out how shitty things are and we decide addiction is the only way to deal with it. — James Frey

The point of what I do is that it doesn't really matter what a book or a story is as long it moves you, informs you, challenges you, entertains you, or changes you. — James Frey

I'm a writer. I never expected to be recognised on the street. I never expected to get that kind of coverage, good or bad. I never expected to sell as many books as I have. — James Frey

L.A is a huge place, literally and metaphorically. Its beauty and horror. Its unconventional history. Its draw and allure. Its diversity and segregation. — James Frey

My life has been like all the lives, long and hard and full of sadness and confusion and horror, a frightening, difficult dream punctuated by brief moments of joy. And as is the case with all people's lives, the moments of joy are never often enough and never long enough. — James Frey

Being an unpublished novelist has about as much social acceptability as being a shopping bag lady. — James Frey

Life Lessons by James Frey

1. James Frey teaches us the importance of perseverance and dedication to our craft. He overcame numerous obstacles to become a successful writer, showing us that hard work and dedication can pay off.
2. He also emphasizes the importance of honesty and authenticity in our work. He encourages us to be true to ourselves and our stories, and to be honest with our readers.
3. Through his work, James Frey reminds us to never give up on our dreams, no matter how difficult the journey may be. He shows us that with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.