Isak Dinesen Quotes

Everything that's said against me offends me, whether it's true or not.

I'm honestly offended whenever someone says I'm being harsh.

And please, don't take offense. It's not an insult if it's true. - Devyn

I'm an extremist? I don't think so. I think people that call me an extremist are extremely brain dead and soulless.

People don't like when you point out to them and remind them that they're not very smart.

People will come up and say - and it is insulting - 'Do you ever want to do anything else? Like some real acting? Or a real show?' Here's the thing: You can either get upset about that, or you can realize that that person isn't trying to offend you. They're literally interested, and they're asking you a question.

I have a hard time with any sort of criticism; not because I have some huge ego or anything like that.

If you feel compelled to respond every time you're criticized it reveals just how much you've built your identity on being right.

I think that sometimes people [who overreact or lash out] will hang on to their point just because they're so embarrassed that they made it. They won't set it down because they are the authors of these [disproportionate responses] and they have a lot to be embarrassed about.

You take insult where none is intended, but if you will find insult where none is meant, then perhaps I should try harder to insult on purpose.

Please feel free to take this personally.

People say bad things about me. I've had people tell me, "You know, Rush, I've been telling people to listen to you and listen to you, and I finally get 'em to do it, and then you say something so offensive, and they look me, 'You listen to this?' And I'm tired of defending you, Rush. Why do you say stupid things?" I know what this is like.

I take that as an insult, even at 36.

A lot of people expend great time and effort explaining why they don't like me, but none of them ever try to explain why their opinion should matter to me. I think most of them sense, but would never be brave enough to admit, their subordinate role in the food chain relative to me.

People think that they see, but they don't.

The deafest man can hear praise, and is slow to think any an excess.

I say what's in my head, and I'm on honest ground. That is worth so much, and I think it does make my job, as a writer, easier. It makes it possible for me to give people stuff that they like.

Self-importance requires spending most of one's life offended by something or someone.

Someone asked me the other day, 'Do you get upset when people say you are the young Frank Sinatra?' It doesn't upset me. It is a huge compliment, but it is false.

I think if he [Donald Trump] goes to the super bowl, he thinks the guys in the huddle are talking about him.

People think I'm smarter than I am.

You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.

There will always be people who think that you have ambitions.

As a comedian, I think we all look for those areas where the truth diverts from what people are saying. That's why politics is such a rich area for us, because politicians make promises, and they don't keep them, and when we point out the difference, we get the laugh.

It's always interesting to me to see people projecting things, like people would say, "This record is much more mature than your other record" and I would think, "Well, this record has more songs from when I was 18 on it than the other one."