I turn back to see that he is holding out the book, offering it to me. My eyes make contact with the book at first and then travel up his very muscular, very athletic arm, coming to rest on the utterly beautiful tattoo that is wrapped around it. I ca...
Elizabeth disliked the tragic, martyred image of Virginia Woolf which grew up after her death. When she read the first volume of William Plomer's autobiography, At Home, in 1958, she told him that ‘only you seem to bring back Virginia's laughter - ...
Personally, I prefer Stevie Wonder," confessed the Chink, "but what the hell. Those cowgirls are always bitching because the only radio station in the area plays nothing but polkas, but I say you can dance to if you really feel like dancing." To prov...
Nicholas: I know you, brother. You've been threatened with matrimonial pursuits before. Why are you really here? William: I received an invitation. Nicholas: Not from me you didn't. William: Of course not from you, brother. Parliament would go up in ...
You may have an overall target to achieve with each prospect, but if you are going to have an ideal outcome for each call, should you not also have a tolerable outcome to fall back on? Something you are willing to put up with if things don't go compl...
That was horrible. Horrible. That poor little guy." Pex was unrepentant. "Yeah, well, he asked for it. Calling us ... all those things." But---buried alive! That's like in that horror movie. Y'know -- the one with all the horror." I think I saw that ...
Man is always inclined to regard the small circle in which he lives as the center of the world and to make his particular, private life the standard of the universe and to make his particular, private life the standard of the universe. But he must gi...
Caroline leaned forward. “Now explain to me why this is perfectly normal and dressing up in Regency gear is not.” He blinked. “Finley, because the Civil War is history.” “So is Regency England.” She laughed, eyes bright. “Just because w...
But you must still know to respect other people's faith.' 'Why? We don't respect any other delusion. We lock up people who believe they're Christ, yet we're supposed to humour those who believe in him.' 'By definition, faith is irrational: a belief y...
I met my girlfriend at a bar. But I broke up with her because she was already there, hitting on another guy.
I used to be a bumper sticker kind of writer. Now I’m more developed, and my writing often takes up whole bumpers.
When I got married, I could not have chosen a more gorgeous, loving, or perfect woman to crush than the one I broke up with to be with my wife.
There are many men who deserve to die. The most deserving are those that claim to serve the public, but only serve up the public as dinner to the wolves.
I find politicians’ speeches moving. Sometimes I don’t even pack up before forever leaving their vicinity.
Simon stood up and said the first thing that popped into his mind. "I just wanted to tell you that we all really enjoyed that beef stew they saved for dinner. You should serve that again." Dean Penhallow gave him an odd look. " those weren't beets, S...
In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sinc...
She cleared her throat. “Bryan, I know you’ve interviewed a lot of caregivers—” “Too many,” Bryan shot back. She inched her chin up a notch. “I’m not your typical caregiver. I’m different.” Bryan laughed with no humor. “Yeah, I�...
She saw each of the men enter the room and look her up and down. One by one their eyes followed her, watching her every move. Suddenly she ripped the covers off the bed and laid down on it, turned and looked back at them longingly, silently communica...
Not a day went by that he didn't think of that moment of impact, and when he watched, helplessly, as his son died in his arms. For all intents and purposes, he died too. Jeb Richardson sealed his heart that day; he closed his mind. He cursed god, gav...
If you believe that you can use sex to shore up your fragile self-esteem by stealing someone else's, we feel sorry for you, because this will never work to build a solid sense of self worth, and you will have to go on stealing more and more and never...
Sometimes I hear the world discussed as the realm of men. This is not my experience. I have watched men fall to the ground like leaves. They were swept up as memories, and burned. History owns them. These men were petrified in both senses of the word...
