Jonathan Raban Quotes

I'm an Obama chick.

I love the novels of Didion and Bret Ellis and consider them L.A. writers because they write about L.A.

I think that winning the White House is about more than just entertaining a large audience.

Maya Angelou was the voice of three generations. Her poetry spanned our journey, chronicled our hearts and documented our struggles as we moved from the orations of Martin Luther King to the presidency of Barack Obama.

The reason that I like to use classical myths as models is because African American writers and African American stories are usually understood as occurring in some kind of vacuum - because of slavery.

In September 2008 - as Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and AIG, the world's biggest insurance company, accepted a federal bailout - Senator John McCain of Arizona, in what was widely viewed as a political move, suspended his presidential campaign and called on Obama to rush back to Washington for a bipartisan meeting at the White House.

In their day, no man worthy of the presidency would ever stoop to campaigning for it. George Washington was asked to serve. Decades later, his successors were also expected to sit by the phone.

Barack Obama's journey to the White House has impressed and inspired the entire world.

I was the first Latino member of Congress to support Senator Obama's candidacy. For quite a while, I was the only one.

There's something about a new family moving into the White House that's kind of interesting, even if you didn't vote for them.

I wrote 'Little Fires Everywhere' and sold the book in 2015, still the Obama years. The possibility of a Trump presidency was not on my radar.

As an undergraduate, I took two writing workshops taught by Elizabeth Hardwick. She was certainly a major influence, though more as a writer I greatly admired than as a teacher. As for other writers, I think it's safe to say that my work has been and continues to be influenced to one degree or another by every writer whose work I love and admire.

I've been influenced by so many different writers along the way - from Charles Dickens, Roger Zelazny, Michael Moorcock, John D. McDonald, and so many others - that it would take a page or two to list them all.

What's the best way to ensure a supply of good books in the future? Support up-and-coming writers now.

Most people in Washington assumed if Obama made it to the White House he would appoint Biden as his secretary of state, a position Biden openly admitted he wanted.

Fidesz's different air and its own culture must be preserved.

People who are desperate for Barack Obama to win the presidency are capable of practically anything.

I wanted to be Langston Hughes.

I think there is a chance that Indian writers in America will start producing very interesting books in the years to come.

Yes, Barack Obama could easily be cast as an American president in a movie or TV show.

You will never - and I mean never - be able to figure out if I was an Obama guy or a Hillary guy.

When your Dad was the creator of 'Moby Dick' you kind of steer clear of getting compared in a solo-ing aspect.

The first thing you see in my hallway is a large 18th-century bust of Milton, who stares at me as I watch TV and reminds me of the grave and committed role of the poet. Although he was blind, Milton had one of the most unswerving gazes of all English poets.

I never thought I'd be covering the White House. I never thought I'd be covering the White House for CNN. And I never thought I'd be covering the White House for CNN while Donald Trump was president.

Be there for Barack Obama, because our country needs him.