Mark Shields Quotes

People like passion in politics.

Increased turnout at the polls produces two secondary benefits: more definitive election results and an election that costs less per vote.

It is a fine thing to see people in hot earnest about anything.

Now, the Clinton campaign, you must understand something about the Clintons, and it's true of [Barack] Obama, and it's true of most Democrats. They are always in campaign mode. Even after they win elections, they stay in campaign mode in terms of how they reach people.

I love people who have such passion for complete nonsense.

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved.

I never wanted to do away with my intensity because I felt it was a gift that helped put fuel in my engine, giving me exceptional drive and energy.

You don’t get it, do you?" I said. “It’s not a question of ‘what then’. Some people get a kick out of reading railroad timetables and that’s all they do all day. Some people make huge model boats out of matchsticks. So what’s wrong if there happens to be one guy in the world who enjoys trying to understand you?

I like the color red because it's a fire. And I see myself as always being on fire.

Whenever we do voter registration, we ask, 'Why haven't you voted before?' The response is often, 'No one's asked us.' It's not about telling people what to do - it's about sharing what they can do.

I want to make people feel intensely alive. I'd rather have them against me than indifferent.

It's so incredible when you meet somebody who comes up and passionately tells you how much they liked you in a movie, or how much they liked thamovie. That's a great thing, because I know what I get out of watching a great movie. So I love what I do, but it's more - I don't think there'd be anybody who would tell you that, even if it's something they love doing, they don't get stressed out by it. I'm a very intense person, so I go very intensely and passionately into what I do.

I really would not change anything. Have a passion for what you do, work hard, have great people with good personalities, enjoy the ride.

I've been driven all my life by a spirit of adventure and a criminal level of optimism. I believed in my dreams because they were my only option. The people who make it to the top are addicted to their calling. You have to honor the gift God has given you. The people who get the call are the ones who'd be doing whatever it is they love, even if they weren't being paid.

I bring excitement on the sets. I'm an exciting actor, overrated, exaggerated. But I'm not an unexciting actor. I excite people. I never lose hope. If I feel that a film is going wrong somewhere, I do even better.

isn't it funny how danger makes people passionate?

I'm definitely not a guy that comes in the dressing room saying, "Hey, everybody, what a wonderful life." I'm usually brooding about something I think is wrong. I care so much about getting the music right, and if I think someone's slacking I get very upset about that. I just can't go on stage and say, "Another day, another dollar," which I've heard a few people say: I can't go along with that at all. It's got to be as good as you can do - to my own detriment.

I think President Obama is going to be a one-term president.

Read the books you love, tell people about authors you like, and don’t worry about it.

He was born in fury and he lived in lightning. Tom came headlong into life. He was a giant in joy and enthusiasms. He didn't discover the world and its people, he created them. When he read his father's books, he was the first. He lived in a world shining and fresh and as uninspected as Eden on the sixth day. His mind plunged like a colt in a happy pasture, and when later the world put up fences, he plunged against the wire, and when the final stockade surrounded him, he plunged right through it and out. And as he was capable of giant joy, so did he harbor huge sorrow.

I went to London to do the stuff. I was like "What am I going to do? What's going to happen?" But then once you start working, you forget all that and you start enjoying what you're doing. Once you enjoy the process, you know that people are going to do the same thing. If you don't enjoy it and just do it like a job, then it's going to be feel that way. That's my theory of doing a movie.

It’s the same thing. Passion is passion. It’s the excitement between the tedious spaces, and it doesn’t matter where it’s directed.

Barack Obama got ten million more votes than John McCain. I'd like to believe that none of the millions of people laid off during Obama's time in office will vote for him again. If that happens, a conservative will be elected in 2012 and we can work to fix what Obama has broken.

...I mean, you don't just love people, you must LOVE them with exclamation points.

I get inspired with passion, I think. I get inspired by people who are just passionate, and it doesn't matter what they do or what they're passionate about.