Laura Linney Quotes

I'm very good at blocking out noise.

I'm much calmer when there's no TV or music playing in the background.

When I'm working, I always listen to music to zone everyone else out.

I find it easier to work when it's quiet.

The outside noise is something I try not to listen to.

I tune everything out.

I don't actually listen to much music since I need quiet to work.

I can't write if someone else is in the house, not even the cleaning woman.

I can't listen to anything when I write, not even the TV. I do have to listen to music when I drive, though.

I write in a noisy, distracting world so the books can be read there.

My house in Connecticut is very quiet, and when I'm trying to concentrate, I don't even allow the cat inside my second-floor study.

I don't listen to anything when I'm writing. I need total quiet, which is astounding, given that I spent years working for a newspaper and having to write features surrounded by ringing phones and people shouting.

For that reason you can't write with music playing, and anyone who says he can is either writing badly, or not listening to the music, or lying. You need to hear what you're writing, and for that you need silence.

Some writers like to work in other places like coffee shops, but I can't - I'd end up people-watching. And if I were at a bookstore, I'd be reading. Sometimes I have some music on, but usually I like it quiet.

I need an office and a place I can sit down to get away from television and just write.

I need quiet and solitude to work. Darkness is best. If I am wide awake, I can't write.

When you are listening to music it is better to cover your eyes than your ears.

Going to any loud place is terrible for me. I'm bad at loud restaurants.

Working in an office with an array of electronic devices is like trying to get something done at home with half a dozen small children around. The calls for attention are constant.

I don't like to listen to music while I'm working.

While you're writing, you can't concentrate nearly as well on what the speaker is saying.

When I was younger, I was able to write with music playing in the background, but these days, I can't. I find it distracting. Even when the music is just instrumental or has lyrics in a language I don't understand, the clash between the voices in my head and the song can be very disorienting.

I don't listen to music when I write. I need silence.

I can write pretty much anywhere if you give me time and some quiet. The home is not usually the best place because I have four children. It's usually pandemonium around here!

I grew up in a house with a lot of kids, brothers and sisters. So I don't mind a lot of talking, yelling, playing. I can tune most of that out.