Richard Rodriguez Quotes

And as a writer, one of the things that I've always been interested in doing is actually invading your comfort space. Because that's what we're supposed to do. Get under your skin, and make you react.

That's the real power of art, I think. Not to chide but to provoke challenge. Otherwise why bother?

I love discordancy. It makes people ill at ease and wakes up a part of their brain that's normally asleep.

It's what I do well - I write about things that make people uncomfortable. That's probably the only thing I do better than my peers.

Satire is, by definition, offensive. It is meant to make us feel uncomfortable. It is meant to make us scratch our heads, think, do a double-take, and then think again.

I am not afraid that the book will be controversial, I'm afraid it will not be controversial.

I never deliberately set out to shock, but when people don't walk out of my plays I think there is something wrong.

I admired anyone who could unsettle people.

I like people who shake other people up and make them feel uncomfortable.

The purpose of making people feel uncomfortable is to play with their preconceptions.

How do you fight an idea—especially a new idea?

The best cartoons work by making fun of sacred cows, in trying to inflict the uncomfortable.

Movies should make people uncomfortable sometimes.

I really appreciate Barry Jenkins as a filmmaker and the fact that he's always wanting to push the envelope and challenge perspective and make people uncomfortable in a way that doesn't seem like it's allowed anymore.

I like to challenge the audience. I want people to feel discomfort.

I prefer to create friction. Because if you're not pushing buttons, you're just making something pleasant; it's probably been done before, and it's not making anyone feel anything.

Big ideas come from forward thinking people who challenge the norm, think outside the box, and invent the world they see inside rather than submitting to the limitations of current dilemmas

I think writers are excited by stupidity and bad behavior, generally.

I like to make people a little uncomfortable. It encourages them to examine who they are and why they think the way they do.

Basically it's the idea of celebrities being in the spotlight and just because you think that they should be perfect, that they're still human and they still have flaws just like everyone else. So that was the real meaning behind "Dollhouse", at least how it related to me because it's something I was annoyed with at the time.

I love to disturb people, because only by disturbing them you can make them think. They have stopped thinking for centuries. Nobody has been there to disturb them. People have been consoling them. I am not going to console anybody... Because the more you console them, the more retarded they remain. Shog them, hit them hard, give them challenge. That challenge will bring their full capacities to the climax.

If you're also in the arena and you're putting your ideas out and you're owning them and you're saying "I disagree with you about this and that, I think you've got this wrong" - then not only do I invite that, I freaking love that. I love that. I'm an academic. I'm hardwired for a good debate.

You're abandoning a lot of ideas when you are too into comfort. 'Comfy'-that's one of the worst words!

Writers don't give prescriptions. They give headaches!

Whenever I hear anything described as a heartless assault on our children, I tend to think it’s a good idea.