As is perhaps obvious, Morris Zapp had no great esteem for his fellow-labourers in the vineyards of literature. They seemed to him vague, fickle, irresponsible creatures, who wallowed in relativism like hippopotami in mud, with their nostrils barely ...
n our perfection-obsessed, air-brushed society, it can be tempting to measure our self-worth against its set of impossible standards. However, organic beauty is in the flaws that make us vulnerable, human and fallible. We are here to learn, evolve an...
Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity. Spi...
We didn’t see anyone that day. We had no expectations. Everything was spontaneous. There wasn’t a single moment of stress. We laughed like crazy all afternoon – though I couldn’t tell you what about. And there was definitely something in the ...
[Ralphie is visiting Santa at the department store, only he can't remember what he wanted] Santa Claus: How about a nice football? Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'footb...
James Farmer Jr.: [opening package] Five dollars? Lowe, I got five dollars! Henry Lowe: Yeah, I did too. It's called per diem. Want me to hold it for you? James Farmer Jr.: No, not MY five dollars. Samantha: [walks into the room waving her money in t...
Radagast: The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf. A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows anymore, at least nothing good. The air is fouled decay, but worst are the webs. Gandalf: Webs? What do you mean? Radagast: Spiders, Gandalf. Giant ones. Some kind...
Smaug: You seem familiar with my name, but I don't remember smelling your kind before. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask? Bilbo Baggins: I come from under the hill... Smaug: Underhill? Bilbo Baggins: ...and under hills and over hills ...
Howard Beale: [on the air] I just ran out of bullshit. Harry Hunter: [picks up ringing phone in editing room] Mr. Schumacher's right here, do you want to talk to him? Howard Beale: Bullshit is all the reasons we give for living. If we can't think up ...
M: Regret is not part of our profession. Raoul Silva: They kept me for five months in a room with no air. They tortured me, and I protected your secrets. I protected you. But they made me suffer. And suffer. And suffer. Until I realized, it was you w...
[Natalie, on her first outing, walks into the Omaha Airport terminal dragging her slow-moving luggage; Ryan, offended by this, looks at her in frustration] Natalie Keener: What? Ryan Bingham: Follow me. [later at a store in the terminal, Ryan grabs a...
[as Ryan and Natalie enter the Hilton Miami Airport Hotel] Natalie Keener: How about just not dying alone? Ryan Bingham: Starting when I was 12, we moved each one of my grandparents into a nursing facility. My parents went the same way. Make no mista...
Carl Fredricksen: [Carl, with his house high in the air, opens his door to see who knocked on it. Looking around, he spots Russell] Whaa! Russell: Hi, Mr. Fredricksen! It's me, Russell! Carl Fredricksen: What are you doing out here, kid? Russell: I f...
[last lines] Withnail: I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth. And indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy, the air, look you, ...
Jon Osterman: Will you smile? If I admit I was wrong? Laurie Juspeczyk: About what? Jon Osterman: Miracles. Events with astronomical odds of occurring, like oxygen turning into gold. I've longed to witness such an event, and yet I neglect that in hum...
["Snake" Jafar has Aladdin in a tight squeeze] Jafar: You little fool. You thought you could defeat the most powerful being on Earth. Iago: Squeeze him, Jafar. Squeeze him like a- Awk! [Genie elbows Iago and knocks him into the air] Jafar: Without th...
Happy the man, whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him with attire; Whose trees in summer yield him shade, In winter ...
As I looked down at him, as I saw his yellow hair pressed against my coat, I had a vision of him from long ago, that tall, stately gentleman in the swirling black cape, with his head thrown back, his rich, flawless voice singing the lilting air of th...
You know the real reason we celebrate Christmas, don't you? I mean, beyond Santa Claus and jungle bells and Christmas trees? You mean because Jesus was born? she asked. Yes... but did you ever think how Jesus was born? I mean, have you considered how...
...if we seek the permanence of an object as something existing from its own side, we discover something inexpressible. If we take three sticks and place them together in a certain way, they will all stand up. If each of the sticks could stand under ...
In our modern world, this elemental quality of storytelling is denied. We live today in a world in which everything has its place and function and nothing is left out of place. Storytelling is thus at a discount and like everything else in a world ru...
