Bret Easton Ellis Quotes

I grew up in such a macho family. I had a former Green Beret for a dad, a mom who's really rough-and-tumble, and three very macho brothers.

Most of my characters are an amalgamation of people that I've met, my family, or myself. Being a writer, you can draw only from what you know. I am lucky to have really rich and interesting people in my family for, you know, interesting family nights and great characters.

My mom had a job, and she also took care of us, and she also took care of Dad - I always saw her pulling triple duty, doing more than I ever felt like she needed to. I made a promise to myself that it would be more of a team effort in my family someday. And because of that, I became more independent.

When I was young, I had two older sisters, and since I was the youngest in my family, my mom took me around with her all the time. I was forever with her when she was having coffee in the middle of the afternoon with her three sisters. And they would talk about men. I absorbed a lot of that.

Stories come to me and I don't know where they come from, but afterwards I can look back and say, 'Oh yes, that's got a little bit of me, or a little bit of my own son in it'. That's where ideas come from.

My dad is like a cactus - introverted and tough. I'm a people person, like my mom, but I got my competitiveness from my dad. He came to this country from Belarus with nothing and built a real business. He's my hero for giving me that need to run a business and for having enormous confidence in me.

My dad is a Jack Nicholson lookalike and a frustrated performer, my mother's into reading and poetry. I suppose the thing I owe them most is my confidence.

My mom and dad got divorced when I was very young, and growing up in a family where the head of the household wasn't a man made a big difference.

My mom played every sport possible. My dad is 'extremely' competitive. You can't even play Ping-Pong with him.

More of him came from my step-dad, who is now passed away. The initial creators of the show kind of based the character on their dads and then I added my dad.

They are imaginary characters. But perhaps not solely the products of my imagination, since there are some aspects of the characters that relate to my own experience of a wide variety of people.

I'm going to take care of the man I'm with. I grew up in a household where my mum takes care of my dad - she cooks, she does everything - and that's the kind of girl I am.

I feel like I've lived quite a sheltered life, like my mom and dad were quite protective of me.

You draw the best things from your parents and family. You're going to pick up some of the bad things as well - there's a temper that runs through my dad's side of the family that I'm not especially keen on picking up a giant block of.

I have no ties to my dad. I had no communications with him; it didn't shape who I am or anything like that. I'm actually a product of my mom.

My dad is a very quick-witted, sarcastic, dry, humorous guy, whereas my mom's very silly, and that side of the family is very musical.

My dad's been responsible for a lot of my issues.

I went to football training when I was five because I think my father thought he had two boys.

I never thought about the relationship of my mother, my family, to the content of my work.

My mom is very calm and quiet, so I think I got that from her. Because my dad is passionate and loud... It was always interesting, and I really enjoyed that my parents always included us in their lives.

My dad was a crazy person, but some of the best qualities about me came from him.

My father was a TV scriptwriter. He would perform his dialogue out loud, while my mum transcribed it at the typewriter. So I grew up thinking that plucking characters out of the air was an extremely normal way to behave.

I grew up thinking that it's okay to be sad, angry, and express your emotions. I have also banged doors and fought, as I have seen my mom do that when she would fight with my dad. Everything that I've learnt is from them, so I've never struggled to express myself.

Most of Charlotte's character is really who she is. A lot of who Ashley is is Charlotte and the same with my dad. It's not like I'm the Joker.

How my relationship with my parents influenced my writing, really not at all. My dad was a mechanic, my mom a nurse.