David Simon famous quotes

I come from a country that is now utterly schizophrenic when it comes to its society, its economy, its politics. There are definitely two Americas. I live in one, on one block in Baltimore that is part of the viable America, the America that is connected to its own economy, where there is a plausible future for the people born into it.
-- David Simon

#Country #Block #Two

I don't consider myself to be a crusader of any sort. I was bystander to a certain number of newspaper crusades. They end badly, in terms of being either fraudulent or by inspiring legislations that makes things worse. So, I regard myself as someone coming to the campfire with the truest possible narrative he can acquire.
-- David Simon

#Bystanders #Numbers #Narrative

Awakening into love is a lifelong path.
-- David Simon

#Life #Love Is #Awakening

You can't make a good show based on pure verisimilitude, pure anti-drama. But you have to acknowledge a lot of ordinary life. Most TV doesn't do that.
-- David Simon

#Drama #Ordinary #Tvs

Authenticity is an alignment between your beliefs, your desires and your choices in the world. Desires that are in alignment with core beliefs generate powerful actions. Like a wave that draws from the depths of the ocean, actions connected to your authentic self are more likely to manifest your intentions.
-- David Simon

#Powerful #Ocean #Self

The beauty of love is that in giving it away, you are left with more than you had before.
-- David Simon

#Love Is #Giving

Awakening to who we really are is at the heart of yoga. . . .Yoga offers a path to this underlying field of being, which is the source of creativity, fulfillment, and abundance.
-- David Simon

#Yoga #Heart #Creativity

You are worthy of love and you deserve to be happy. You have these beautiful qualities and many more because you are living the gift of a human incarnation. My hope is that you will embrace these truths and your birthright to live a life abundant in love, joy, and celebration.
-- David Simon

#Beautiful #Joy #Quality

It is your birthright to have a life of meaning and purpose. Whether or not the people in your life have consistently celebrated your incarnation, you deserve to celebrate your existence.
-- David Simon

#Life #People #Purpose

The best #‎ gift we can give in any interaction is to leave people feeling lighter, #‎ happier , and more at #‎ peace .
-- David Simon

#People #Giving #Feelings

Only the human heart can live in present moment awareness. The human mind cannot, because its essential nature is to ponder the past and plan the future. This is why all wise beings encourage us to go beyond the mind into the timeless, boundless transcendence of heart-centered awareness.
-- David Simon

#Wise #Heart #Past

The greatest contribution we can make to the wellbeing of those in our lives is to have peace in our own hearts.
-- David Simon

#Heart #Life Is #Contribution

Unless you loosen the hold that your past has on you, your future will unfold in much the same way . . . it is time to begin writing a new script that accurately reflects the beautiful, powerful, and worthy being you are.
-- David Simon

#Beautiful #Powerful #Writing

What drugs haven't destroyed, the war against them has
-- David Simon

#War #Drug

If I had to guess and put a name on it, I'd say that at some point, the drug war was as much a function of class and social control as it was of racism.
-- David Simon

#War #Class #Names

If I were a person of color in Florida, I would pick up a brick and start walking toward that courthouse in Sanford. Those that do not, those that hold the pain and betrayal inside and somehow manage to resist violence - these citizens are testament to a stoic tolerance that is more than the rest of us deserve. I confess, their patience and patriotism is well beyond my own.
-- David Simon

#Pain #Betrayal #Color

Homicide is the major leagues, the center ring, the show. It always has been ... It goes beyond academic degrees, specialized training or book learning, because all the theory in the world means nothing if you can't read the street.
-- David Simon

#Book #Mean #League

It's been said that no man is a hero to a newspaperman, and I spent too many years as an ink-stained wretch.
-- David Simon

#Hero #Men #Years

The why is what makes journalism an adult game. The why is what makes policy coherent and useful. The why is what transforms bureaucrats and foot soldiers and political leaders into viable instruments of rational and affirmative change. The why is everything and without it, the very suggestion of human progress becomes a cosmic joke.
-- David Simon

#Games #Feet #Leader

The trick to making a story matter is that every now and then, somebody you care about has to go. If it's somebody that you don't care about, then it doesn't really have - the stakes aren't there. But if you do that every now and then, then the story matters to people. And there are actual stakes involved, emotional stakes.
-- David Simon

#Emotional #People #Stories

Albert Camus, a great humanist and existentialist voice, pointed out that to commit to a just cause with no hope of success is absurd. But then, he also noted that not committing to a just cause is equally absurd. But only one choice offers the possibility for dignity. And dignity matters. Dignity matters.
-- David Simon

#Voice #Choices #Matter

It seems that in Baltimore, one of the most violent cities in America, jurors are far more reluctant to convict criminal defendants than in the suburban enclaves that ring the city.
-- David Simon

#Cities #America #Criminals

A little anger is a good thing if it isn't on your own behalf, if it's for others deserving of your anger, your empathy.
-- David Simon

#Empathy #Littles #Good Things

Authenticity is an alignment between your beliefs, your desires and your choices in the world. Desires change throughout the course of a life, but agreement between ideals, aspirations and deeds is key to a life of peace, happiness and success.
-- David Simon

#Keys #Agreement #Choices

On a practical level I'm a TV producer and storyteller who's gone about as long as you can go without achieving a mass audience.
-- David Simon

#Long #Gone #Levels

Boiled down to its core, the truth is always a simple, solid thing
-- David Simon

#Simple #Truth Is

From a spiritual perspective, freedom from attachment to a particular outcome is the ultimate expression of liberation. We can choose the actions we take, but we cannot control the consequences of our choices.
-- David Simon

#Spiritual #Attachment #Expression

There are two Americas - separate, unequal, and no longer even acknowledging each other except on the barest cultural terms. In the one nation, new millionaires are minted every day. In the other, human beings no longer necessary to our economy, to our society, are being devalued and destroyed.
-- David Simon

#Two #Our Society #Economy

For a detective or street police, the only real satisfaction is the work itself; when a cop spends more and more time getting aggravated with the details, he's finished. The attitude of co-workers, the indifference of superiors, the poor quality of the equipment - all of it pales if you still love the job; all of it matters if you don't.
-- David Simon

#Jobs #Attitude #Real

The drug war is a holocaust in slow motion.
-- David Simon

#War #Holocaust #Drug

Healing is the process of reestablishing the integration between body, mind, and spirit, creating opportunities for the return of the memory of wholeness.
-- David Simon

#Memories #Healing #Opportunity

Acceptance means focusing on the present while assessing the choices available to you in this moment. If there are many possibilities, make the choice that is likely to bring the most evolutionary results. If there is only one choice, take it. If there are no obvious choices, relax and accept the fact that for now, you cannot do anything.
-- David Simon

#Mean #Acceptance #Choices

Genuine inner freedom is the ultimate aim of life. It is the unspoken goal of every thought you have and every action you take.
-- David Simon

#Goal #Aim Of Life #Action

You have the capacity to change the plotline of your life, even if you've been acting from the same script since before you can remember.
-- David Simon

#Acting #Scripts #Remember

Eventually, someone is going to pick up a brick.
-- David Simon

#Bricks

I've never met anyone with a perfect upbringing. It seems to me that life on planet Earth just doesn't work that way. The basic challenges of getting our needs met and managing boundaries are inherent in growing up human.
-- David Simon

#Growing Up #Perfect #Challenges

To be told you've won a MacArthur fellowship is very flattering and gratifying personally.
-- David Simon

#Fellowship #Macarthur #Flattering

I had a great editor, Rebecca Corbett, from the time I was a city reporter right through to the years I worked on the 'Sun's' enterprise reporting team.
-- David Simon

#Team #Years #Editors

One of the sad things about contemporary journalism is that it actually matters very little. The world now is almost inured to the power of journalism. The best journalism would manage to outrage people. And people are less and less inclined to outrage.
-- David Simon

#People #World #Littles

We are innately creative beings capable of writing a love story worth living, and we cannot afford to miss out on the opportunity to experience nourishing relationships.
-- David Simon

#Writing #Opportunity #Creative

What we were trying to do was take the notion of Greek tragedy, of fated and doomed people, and instead of these Olympian gods, indifferent, venal, selfish, hurling lightning bolts and hitting people in the ***** for no reason—instead of those guys whipping it on Oedipus or Achilles, it’s the postmodern institutions . . . those are the indifferent gods.
-- David Simon

#Selfish #Oedipus #People

The greatest contribution we can make to the wellbeing of those in our lives is to have peace in our own hearts. When our hearts are filled with gratitude and our minds are brimming with enthusiasm, everyone we encounter leaves our space feeling a little bit lighter than when they entered it.
-- David Simon

#Gratitude #Heart #Space

There came this point where I sat down with all my notebooks and I had to start to write, when I thought: this whole notion of writing for the person who understands nothing, the average reader... He has to die! I can't have him in my head. And so the person I started writing for was the homicide detective.
-- David Simon

#Notebook #Writing #Average

Transitions are a part of life, allowing for perpetual renewal. When you experience the end of one chapter, allow yourself to feel the emotions of loss and rebirth. A bud gives way to a new flower, which surrenders to the fruit, which gives rise to a seed, which yields a new sprout. Even as you ride the roller coaster, embrace the centered internal reference of the ever-present witness.
-- David Simon

#Flower #Loss #Yield

All stress is ultimately related to loss or the fear of loss.
-- David Simon

#Stress #Loss

Healing from our past is an essential aspect of expanding our sense of self and awakening our capacity to love. This shift often manifests as a change in the questions we've been asking ourselves. Instead of What do I need? we ask, How can I serve? Instead of What am I getting out of this? we start to ask, What can I bring to this situation to promote the highest possible outcome for everyone involved?
-- David Simon

#Healing #Past #Self

What drugs have not destroyed, the war on them has
-- David Simon

#War #Drug

You have the capacity to change the plot line of your life, even if you've been acting from the same script since before you can remember. No matter what has happened up to this point, you have the right and the capacity to be happy. You are an innately creative being, capable of writing a love story worth living.
-- David Simon

#Writing #Creative #Acting

Life is too short to carry the burden of a heavy heart. It does not serve you or anyone else. Free yourself through the power of forgiveness and compassion.
-- David Simon

#Life Is Too Short #Heart #Compassion

I encourage you from the depths of my heart and being to know that you have the full capacity and the right to make changes that will enliven your awareness, raise the succulent joy in your heart, and experience the vitality that comes from living in balance.
-- David Simon

#Heart #Joy #Balance

Meditation is like a bath for the mind; it clears and refreshes our windows of perception, allowing more light, love, and happiness to flow into lives.
-- David Simon

#Light #Meditation #Perception

Reality is ultimately a selective act of perception and interpretation. A shift in our perception and interpretation enables us to break old habits and awaken new possibilities for balance, healing, and transformation.
-- David Simon

#Healing #Reality #Old Habits

The same creative force that generated the universe created your body. It is vibrating with intelligence and spirit. It is ultimately sacred and worthy of your love, respect and intention. Take good care of it and nourish it with the most healing, life-sustaining foods, experiences, and sensory impressions.
-- David Simon

#Healing #Creative #Sacred

I would be lying if I said the journalism doesn't reflect my own choices as a reporter and a writer: what to say, what to emphasize, how to say it, what is true or untrue.
-- David Simon

#Lying #Choices #Would Be

When we spend time in silence, we can hear the voice of our soul whispering its sacred message and encouraging us to make choices that bring us more happiness, health, love, meaning, and peace.
-- David Simon

#Voice #Choices #Silence

How do we allow God into our minds, bodies, relationships, and life? We stop squeezing the divine out through our preconceived notions of what is sacred and what is profane. When we assume the mind-set that everything is ultimately divine, though sometimes more disguised than others, then we can see that all of our thoughts, impulses, and desires arise from and can bring us back to awareness of the sacred.
-- David Simon

#Mind #Desire #Body

Laughter is a symptom of spirituality. Laughter is the flow of love coursing through your body. Laughter is the nectar of present moment awareness. Invite more laughter into your life and relish the magic in every moment.
-- David Simon

#Laughter #Magic #Flow

While I think storytelling is a meaningful way to spend your life... it does feel a little bit secondary or off-point.
-- David Simon

#Meaningful #Thinking #Doe

Eating a meal with full awareness can be a powerful, enlightening, and healing experience.
-- David Simon

#Powerful #Food #Healing

It is your birthright to live a life abundant in love. Make the commitment today to open your heart and let your love flow.
-- David Simon

#Heart #Commitment #Today

Any music can be healing if it inspires, relaxes, encourages or creates enthusiasm for life in you.
-- David Simon

#Healing #Inspire #Relax

The mismanagement of American newspapering is quite remarkable. But all of the fellows responsible are now on a golf course in Hilton Head or some such (place), having secured their bonuses and golden-parachute buyouts.
-- David Simon

#Golf #Bonus #Golden

You shoot another guy—well, okay, this is Baltimore. You shoot three guys, it’s time to admit you have a problem.
-- David Simon

#Guy #Three #Baltimore

There are a couple of ideas for features that I would love to do. They happen to be comedies.
-- David Simon

#Couple #Ideas #Comedy