David Nicholls Quotes

I have always felt sorry for people afraid of feeling, of sentimentality, who are unable to weep with their whole heart. Because those who do not know how to weep do not know how to laugh either.

I'm a little hesitant to make my characters sentimental or to risk having the work labeled sentimental. It's something that I resist as a reader, and I don't resist it in life. I'm not an unmoved person by any stretch, but I think I don't want, I guess, to indulge those kinds of things sometimes in fiction. I can't tell you why exactly.

I mean, I think I'm pretty sentimental.

I'm a sentimental guy.

Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don't worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about being absent or fraudulent.

For you know that it's a fool who plays it cool, by making his world a little colder.

I'm a sap, I'll cry at anything. But I don't cry when I feel manipulated, or when there's a music cue telling me to.

My own terror of appearing sentimental is so strong that I’ve decided to fight against it, some; but the terror is still there. . . . Do you identify with a distaste/fear about sentimentality? Do you agree that, past a certain line, such distaste can turn everything arch and sneering and too ironic? Or do you have your own set of abstract questions to drive yourself nuts with?

I don't have a great intellect, and I can't compete with people who do. I feel certain things. And all I know, and all I can do, is what I feel.

When I see sentimental scenes, I get emotional and tears start flowing from my eyes.

I don't think you can cry if the script is rubbish. I have to feel it; it's as simple as that. It's just like if you're watching something moving, and you feel yourself welling up. It's the same thing. You're just being carried along with the story. There's nothing magical about it. I think I'm in touch with my emotions, and I can't help it.

I've always been a very sensitive person, and people tell me that if I'm in a certain mood, and I go into a room, my mood will permeate the room. It's not on purpose - I'd rather be invisible in those moments - but I'm really bad at faking how I feel.

My face moves, unlike some actors' do. I guess it's kind of a response to what's happening internally.

It's fun playing a more feminine part. I can identify more with a woman of passion and emotion than with a cartoon character. Who knows what a cartoon feels?

I have to say that I am embarrassed about how emotional I am.

The things I tend to do best are the things that are the most overtly emotional, whether it's sentimental or whether it's celebratory or whether it's conflicted.

People say, 'Oh Mark, you're a big softie, and you burst into tears so easily.'

I sort of thought acting was just about arranging your face into emotions. I didn't realise it was about actually allowing yourself to feel the feelings, then letting your face follow. That was a big learning curve.

I don't cry unless it's personal.

I get very tired of books that feel emotionally empty. I would much rather have writers err on the side of being overly sentimental than not. I think that the perfect balance is a story that moves you without being maudlin, but I don't enjoy books that are empty of emotion and there's no connection to the characters.

I'm not cynical. I cry at 'ET.' And 'Kung Fu Panda!'

Certainly, different people show their emotions in different ways. Unfortunately for me, mine has never been very gracious and I don't know that it ever will be.

It's easy for me to cry. I'm just emotionally tuned in to stuff. It probably helps with my songwriting.

I'm an emotional gangster. I cry once every month.

I know very well that to admit to loving Bright Eyes is to admit to having an overgrown brain region devoted to self-pity, sentimentality, regret, and a handful of other not very appealing emotional states.