Daniel Keyes Quotes

If you judge me only by my profession, you don't know me at all. Those people who do that? They'll never know me.

People can portray me anyway they want because I don’t give a damn… But don’t you analyze me and don’t you tell me what I am until you get close enough to understand what I am. Then you can make an analysis of me. But don’t you dare do it until then.

If we were to lose the ability to be emotional, if we were to lose the ability to be angry, to be outraged, we would be robots. And I refuse that.

It's always easier to dismiss other people than to go through the awkward and time consuming process of understanding them.

Never assume you know where someone else is coming from.

I don't want to spend my life explaining myself. You either get it, or you don't.

Make clear that people understand what your circumstances are. And looking for pity - that's a mistake.

People always want to think that because you're not from a certain circumstance, you can't relate. That's ridiculous.

People make judgments about Scientology, but often they don't know what they're talking about.

Marlon was so sensitive, you thought the poor guy just had a bad education.

Seeing things from a different point of view can help us understand why other people act the way they do. We too often judge people without having all the facts.

You have to figure out who the right person is to tell the story. And often, people who are very self-aware will only sound as if they are pontificating if they tell the story.

If you understood everything I say, you'd be me!

Being understood is not the most essential thing in life.

It's difficult to love someone you don't respect, which is hard to remember when you're having an argument.

Speak to men according to their mental capacities, for if you speak all things to all men, some cannot understand you and so fall into errors.

Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there would be no end of divine things.

Ignorance is the parent of fear.

Rod Carew told me once that for those that know you, no explanation is necessary, and for those that don't know you, none is possible. That's the philosophy I live by.

Over the years, I just started paying a lot more attention not to whether I was right or wrong, but just to how I make people feel.

Humans are fascinated with communication. I was always drawn to words and stories, staying in touch with your feelings and being open to what's around you.

I'm interested in roles that are human, that have some sort of empathic quality.

I know what it is to be misunderstood.

Really, it's not people who don't understand us who drive us nuts—it's when those who shouldn't, do.

I cannot articulate enough to express my dislike to people who think that understanding spoils your experience... How would they know?