Clive Thompson Quotes

I was primarily interested in people, and people in action, so that I did nothing photographically in the sense of doing buildings for their own sake or a still life or anything like that.

I don't know if people have gotten ruder or if my tolerance level has declined.

Not greeting people isn't enough. One also doesn't greet people one doesn't know.

Many species reciprocate, but only humans gossip, and much of what we gossip about is the vale of other people as partners for reciprocal relationships.

What now on the other hand makes people sociable is their incapacity to endure solitude and thus themselves.

Talk often, but never long; in that case, if you do not please, at least you are sure not to tire your hearers. Pay your own reckoning, but do not treat the whole company; this being one of the few cases in which people do not care to be treated, every one being fully convinced that he has wherewithal to pay.

There would be no sunshine in society if the born flatterers, I mean the so-called amiable people, did not bring it in with them.

I like to see how people interact with each other and I draw from that. I'm inspired by that.

I'm an affectionate person I'm a person who hugs, hugs people and I shake hands.

I'm a big fan of human dynamics. Nothing fascinates me more than really interesting people and human dynamics.

Humans are pack animals. In Biblical times, the great market cities in Europe or the United States, people want to be with other people. And in a way, the more that we're isolated, whether we're living on farms and we're only talking to our cell phone, the greater the need we have for group experience. So while people are saying that no one is going to go shopping because it's just inconvenient, and it's not as easy as buying online, why are people going to concerts? Why are people going to museums? Why are they going to sporting events?

But whereas a puppy will cringe away or roll on its back, groveling, a little boy may cover his shyness with nonchalance, with bravado, or with secrecy. And once a boy has suffered rejection, he will find rejection even where it does not exist-or, worse, will draw it forth from people simply by expecting it.

My generation was secretive, brooding, ambitious, show-offy, and this generation is congenial. Totally. I imagine them walking around with GPS chips that notify them when a friend is in the vicinity, and their GPSes guide them to each other in clipped electronic lady voices and they sit down side by side in a coffee shop and text-message each other while checking their e-mail and hopping and skipping around Facebook to see who has posted pictures of their weekend.

On the other hand, the Internet is there to fill needs that people have for information and socialization. We get this sort of identification thing going on nowadays because it's a very fractious time. We live in a time of troubles.

People who stare deserve the looks they get.

I think that when people start hanging around each other, they start to pick on on each other's quirks and taste in music, apparently.

If your only nice to the people that are nice to you, big deal; what do you want, a gist certificate? Everyone does that. And if you only say "hi" in the hall to the people that say hi to you, what are doing more than anyone else? Maybe you know people who are different when they're alone than when they're with their friends. they might say "hi" to you if your alone, but with a group they act like they've never seen you.

I am a stickler for good manners, and I believe that treating other people well is a lost art. In the workplace, at the dinner table, and walking down the street--we are confronted with choices on how to treat people nearly every waking moment. Over time these choices define who we are and whether we have a lot of friends and allies or none.

Most people, I've noticed, are instinctively harsh to strangers. They expect every approach to be an attack, every question to be an interruption.

The beauty of Twitter is that more and more people are flocking to it because it's shrinking their world.

I both didn't know Owen [Suskind] beforehand and didn't have any connection to the autistic community. But Owen wasn't really a problem, because he participated in the writing of the book and wanted people to see him as he truly is. As far as the cameras, Owen lives in the moment and the cameras really didn't distract him.

People give out compliments because it's polite.

If I'm engrossed in a book, I have to rearrange my thoughts before I can mingle with other people, because otherwise they might think I was strange.

I guess they say that you can find out if you're an extravert or an introvert by how you recharge yourself and I guess I'm more of an introvert in that way because I like to be by myself to recharge, but I'm definitely a people person. I love socializing and being around people and having good conversations.

Alone, lonely people talk to themselves. In company, they often continue.