A biography for John Hodgmanhasn’t been written yet.
“I think that obviously, there is a perverse attraction to a fundamentally changed world or the end of the world. There is a death wish, a perverse death wish. Not just for ourselves, not just for the movie 'Death Wish,' but for the end of all human life.”
“All books should be trilogies; I mean I think we all agree on that.”
“Well, I always had this desire to celebrate and somehow be a part of things that I thought were really great.”
“In the '80s and '90s, I was really interested in, moved by, exhilarated by, and troubled by rap in all the ways a white person from Brookline, Massachusetts should be. That was music that was making trouble, and it was interesting and provocative trouble.”
“More people have more access to more readers for less money than ever before in history. It means a lot of dross; but it means a lot of very talented people can find and nurture a readership in ways that were not possible twenty years ago. From a creative perspective, that is all that writing is about.”
“I feel that there is a decision people make to either engage in a legitimately ridiculous process to get your kid into school, or choose not to engage in that so much, and end up finding a nice local school that fits.”
“Most people presume my mustache is not real because it's much darker than my regular hair.”
“I would be good for maybe not the center square but an upper square on 'Hollywood Squares.'”
“A lot of my time is spent reading antique or out-of-print books of reference.”
“While I understand that all things must come to an end, whether it's a television advertisement or one's life or the world itself, it doesn't make it any easier to deal with.”
“Many people, many girls have tried to teach me the rules to football. And you would think that it would get in my head that way, but I just don't understand it.”
“First of all, I wish I could grow a beard.”
“It would be rather naive to imagine that Oprah doesn't have an Earth Evacuation Plan. You know Richard Branson does - his is in plain sight.”
“The few people who ask to have their photographs with me, I almost always say yes, except for a few circumstances, like when my family is around.”
“I know nothing about letting go.”
“As you know, the thing that I know the least about is the topic of sports.”
“It seems that every generation needs its public, tweedy, literary personality to sell its consumer electronics. To whatever degree I can live up to the Plimptonian legacy, I am humble and proud.”
“The villain of any story is often the most compelling character.”
“My biggest superhero of writing is Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentine fabulist. He's an amazingly perceptive writer, but also willing to make a joke.”
“My type of humor is me not caring whether people know what I'm talking about or not.”