Escapism sold books, to be sure, but not nearly as many as were sold by exposing America’s flaws and making the average American reader (and book club member) look closely at his or her most cherished social assumptions. Americans might not be eage...
Joe knew that for some, really for most, the derivations of belladonna that blurred their vision and caused their hearts to race would, as well, hasten their forgetting of detail. They would not recall, not readily, any sense of pain or shame or doub...
In the year 3,000,002,012 the Andromeda Galaxy may collide with our Milky Way. At first this sounds miserable, like a collision of two bird flocks. But galaxy members fly farly, not tip to tip. In a galactic collision the stars do not actually collid...
Not all Muslims become involved in acts of violence. Yet all might be held culpable. THis is because that section of Muslim--in fact, the majority--who are not personally involved, neither disown those members of their community who are engaged in vi...
The generation that followed did not have the same concerns; none of its members attempted to follow the example of the past generation. There was no longer anyone with the noble determination to get to know the great men of the world, or if there we...
There are two things a combat deployment offers which all of us strongly desire. The first, being purpose. Every morning we woke up and knew why we were there. It is immediate and unavoidable. Although, it is extreme and unpleasant, there is a comfor...
Things began to go wrong when I was seventeen. My band’s twenty-year-old lead guitarist earned seven years in jail for a drug-fuelled spree of violence. The other band members were quick to let go of their musical dreams, but I never did. They did ...
Perhaps the most powerful cause of the breakdown of the closed society was the development of sea-communications and commerce. Close contact with other tribes is liable to undermine the feeling of necessity with which tribal institutions are viewed; ...
One of the hardest things you will ever have to go through is the death of a child. The second hardest thing you will ever have to go through is having a child die at Christmas time. The third hardest thing you will ever have to go through is telling...
All kinds of mysterious phenomena exist in this world, but answers to most of them have come with advances in scientific knowledge. Love is the sole holdout-nothing can explain it. A Chinese writer by the name of Ah Cheng wrote that love is just a ch...
Lebel: Excuse me, but it has just occurred to me that we have forty-eight hours in which to find this Jackal [There is a chorus of "What?" and "How do you know?" from the committee members] Lebel: Am I right in assuming that the President has no enga...
Mrs. Iselin: [at meal time] I'm sorry, hon'. Would it really make it easier for you if we settled on just one number? Sen. John Yerkes Iselin: Yeah. Just one, real, simple number that'd be easy for me to remember. [Mrs. Iselin watches her husband thu...
Election Council President: [at the territorial statehood convention] The chair recognizes its old friend; that distinguished member of the Fourth Estate, founder, owner, publisher and editor of the Shinbone Star, Mr. Dutton Peabody, Esquire! Dutton ...
Peter Gibbons: [about the plan to steal from Initech] Before we go any further, all right, we have to swear to God, Allah, that nobody knows about this but us, all right? No family members, no girlfriends, nobody. Samir: Of course. Michael Bolton: Ag...
Supreme Chancellor: I hope you trust me, Anakin. Anakin Skywalker: Of course. Supreme Chancellor: I need your help, son. I want you to be the eyes, ears, and voice of the Republic. Anakin, I'm appointing you to be my personal representative on the Je...
Spock: Acting Captain's Log, Stardate 2258.42. We have had no word from Captain Pike. I've therefore classified him a hostage of the war criminal known as Nero. Nero, who has destroyed my home planet and most of its six billion inhabitants. While the...
William Miller: [on meeting Stillwater] Russell. Jeff. Ed. Larry. I really love your band. I think the song "Fever Dog" is a big step forward for you guys. I think you guys producing it yourselves, instead of Glyn Johns, was the right thing to do. An...
Jack: What's going on? We have a right to know the truth! Rumack: [to the passengers] All right, I'm going to level with you all. But what's most important now is that you remain calm. There is no reason to panic. [Rumack's nose grows an inch long] R...
Col. Mathieu: The word "torture" doesn't appear in our orders. We've always spoken of interrogation as the only valid method in a police operation directed against unknown enemies. As for the NLF, they request that their members, in the event of capt...
[In his second college-age timeline, Evan realizes that he has to be unkind to the fraternity pledges, because other fraternity members are watching them] Evan: Give me the Greek alphabet. Give it to me! "Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh?" Alpha, beta, gamma, ...
Jason Bourne: You sent me to kill Wombosi. Conklin: Kill Wombosi? We can do that any time we want. I can send Nikki to do that, for Chrissakes. Mr. Wombosi was supposed to be dead three weeks ago. He was supposed to have died in a way where the only ...
