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The world has lost a unique and important voice in journalism: Writer and media critic for The New York Times David Carr died Thursday after he collapsed in the newsroom. He was just 58 and the cause of his death is still unknown. The Media Equation columnist famously battled an early drug addiction and came out on top as one of the most notable writers in his field. He leaves the world an amazing body of work and many inspirational, thoughtful quotes.
Carr was known for his witty, quick, and brutally honest quips about celebrities, news-worthy personalities, and just plain old life, all aspects of which he found fascinating. He also didn't think twice about criticizing journalism or other writers.
Here are 15 of his most memorable quotes:
About Journalism
"Being a journalist, I never feel bad talking to journalism students because it’s a grand, grand caper. You get to leave, go talk to strangers, ask them anything, come back, type up their stories, edit the tape. That’s not gonna retire your loans as quickly as it should, and it’s not going to turn you into a person who’s worried about what kind of car they should buy, but that’s kind of as it should be. I mean, it beats working."
"The dirty secret: journalism has always been horrible to get in; you always have to eat so much crap to find a place to stand. I waited tables for seven years, did writing on the side. If you're gonna get a job that's a little bit of a caper, that isn't really a job, that under ideal circumstances you get to at least leave the building and leave your desktop, go out, find people more interesting than you, learn about something, come back, and tell other people about it—that should be hard to get into. That should be hard to do. No wonder everybody's lined up, trying to get into it. It beats working."
"It wasn't that I wanted to be a writer; I just didn't want to be stupid."
About Not Fitting In
"I'm the kind of person who showers with his shirt on, so walking the beach at Southampton seemed vaguely mysterious—how could so many people have impossibly perfect tans one day into the season? And where did they all stay? Summer shares that cost $20,000 a month?"
"Coming from Minnesota, a land of white people who eat white food in a frequently white landscape, Chocolate City, with its black middle class, political leadership, and cultural legacy was a complete mystery to me."
About Success
"I now inhabit a life I don't deserve, but we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon."
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About Drugs
"As I sit today, I am a genuine, often pleasant person. I am able to imitate a human being for long spurts of time, do solid work for a reputable organization, and have, over the breadth of time, proven to be an attentive father and husband. So how to reconcile my past with my current circumstances? Drugs, it seems to me, do not conjure demons, they access them. Was I faking it then, or am I faking it now? Which, you might ask, of my two selves did I make up?"
"End-stage addiction is mostly about waiting for the police, or someone, to come and bury you in your shame."
"There is no such thing as a social crack user."
About Love
"If marriage is about deciding to love on a daily basis, I have woken up to a no-brainer every day since."
About Life
"The onset of adulthood is an organic, creeping process. No one wakes up one day and decides, 'Lo, on this day I shall forever put away childish things and begin clipping coupons to go to Wal-Mart.'"
"Necessity is a mother."
"Some of the burdens we carry include false weight, perhaps to make up for all the horrible stuff we actually did and forgot."
"When people fear for their futures, they like to gather in a dark room and stare at a screen, holding hands against the gloom."
"No one is going to give a damn about your résumé; they want to see what you have made with your own little fingers."
Which is your favorite Carr quote? Did you read his writing?
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