Kendall
Hailey: The Day I Became an Autodidact
and the Advice, Adventures, and Acrimonies that Befell Me Thereafter, Dell
Publishing, New York, 1988. Quotes
selected and review by Alan Nicoll.
"The
world has become my teacher and I can never accept a go-between
again." p. 129
"What
I hope to Do: Love so much today I
don't need tomorrow." p. 133
"When
I was in school, my life was what was due next week, and that's not enough of a
life." p. 142
"I
got the most heartbreaking letter from a college friend today. Ever since I had known her she wanted to be
an actress, and so after graduation, when I was afraid I would not see her
again, I wrote to tell her what a wonderful actress I thought she was.
"She wrote today that she did not get
into the acting school she wanted to, so she is giving up her dream of being an
actress. It takes so little to destroy
a dream.
"I sometimes look at adult people and
wonder how they could have ended up so sad, and yet here I am at the formation
of what may be some very sad lives. We
are changed people once we let go of what we hope for.
"Most of my dreams are pretty silly,
but I will not let go of one of them, no matter how much of what is laughingly
referred to as 'real life' gets in the way.
As Ruth Gordon said, the key to success is: Don't Face Facts."
p. 144
"Last
night I wanted to punch the audience after I came off [stage]. Tonight I decided to punch them before I
went on, and it worked wonders."
p. 266
Quoting
Melville, apparently from Moby Dick:
"But I now leave my Cetological System standing thus unfinished,
even as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the crane still standing
upon the top of the uncompleted tower.
For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand
ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me from ever completing
anything. This whole book is but a
draught---nay, but the draught of a draught.
Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!" p. 277
Book
review: Simply delightful---quotable,
funny, dear---but also a bit trivial.
Not really that much here of advice for an aspiring autodidact, though
it could be very encouraging. One of
the healthiest personalities you can imagine.
She writes simply, but the people in her life live here, vibrantly and
memorably. Reread this for fun and
refreshment. 4/5/03
Book review by Andrew Smallman at Puget Sound Community School
Home You'll find a lot more of my writing here.