Many years ago I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jo...
Harry dreamed he was back in the DA room. Cho was accusing him of luring her there under false pretences; she said he had promised her a hundred and fifty Chocolate Frog Cards if she showed up. Harry protested... Cho shouted, 'Cedric gave me loads of...
Clark: Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people a...
Because . . . most of us think that the point is something to do with work, or kids, or family, or whatever. But you don't have any of that. There's nothing between you and despair, and you don't seem a very desperate person.' 'Too stupid.' 'You're n...
Music has become more pervasive and portable than ever. But it feels less previous in the bargain. I don't want to confuse artistic and commercial value, but it's just a fact that some kid who rips an album for free isn't going to give it the same at...
Patrick Bateman: Did you know that Whitney Houston's debut LP, called simply Whitney Houston had 4 number one singles on it? Did you know that, Christie? Elizabeth: [laughing] You actually listen to Whitney Houston? You own a Whitney Houston CD? More...
So, Mr. Digence, home to visit the family?" "That's right. My mother's folks are from Killarney." "Oh, really?" "O'Reilly, actually. But what's a vowel between friends?" "Very good. You should be on the stage." "It's funny you should mention that." T...
[M]y mother read a horror novel every night. She had read every one in the library. When birthdays and Christmas would come, I would consider buying her a new one, the latest Dean R. Koontz or Stephen King or whatever, but I couldn't. I didn't want t...
Hermione had taken his hand again and was gripping it tightly. He could not look at her, but returned the pressure, now taking deep, sharp gulps of the night air, trying to steady himself, trying to regain control. He should have brought something to...
But old Christmas smiled as he laid this cruel-seeming spell on the out-door world, for he meant to light up the home with new brightness, to deepen all the richness of in-door colour, and give a keener edge of delight to the warm fragrance of food: ...
I am a bomb but I mean you no harm. That I still am here to tell this, is a miracle: I was deployed on May 15, 1957, but I didn’t go off because a British nuclear engineer, a young father, developed qualms after seeing pictures of native children m...
I took ten days off and by 11 o’clock on the first morning I had drunk fourteen cups of coffee, read all the newspapers and the Guardian and then… and then what? By lunchtime I was so bored that I decided to hang a few pictures. So I found a hamm...
GOD. Sometimes I think there might be a god out there, and that every once in a while he tunes in to see what we're up to, and have a good laugh at how we like to dress him up in various costume. Robes, thorny crowns, yarmulkes and curls, saris and b...
[the 54th has just been attached to Col. Montgomery's regiment in the hope of seeing combat. The troops are marching through the regiment's camp] Cpl. Thomas Searles: Who are these ragamuffins? John Rawlins: Contraband soldiers, straight from the fie...
[as the team prepares to leave, Miller comes stomping in] Corporal Miller: Everybody stay exactly where you are! The party's over. Somebody stepped on the cake! [opens his case] Corporal Miller: Exhibit A: a clockwork fuse. Elementary and archaic, bu...
Sally: Lunch! Dr. Finkelstein: Mm, what's this? [sniffs] Dr. Finkelstein: Wormswort! Mmm... [prepares to take a bite but then sniffs suspiciously] Dr. Finkelstein: ...And frog's breath? Sally: [innocently] What's wrong? I thought you *liked* frog's b...
Jack Skellington: [sung] Well, what the heck, I really did my best/And by God I really tasted something swell, that's right/And for a moment, why, I even touched the sky/And at least I left some stories they can tell, I did/And for the first time sin...
Rupert Pupkin: [arguing with Masha] What about things that I did for you that no money can buy, no money can buy? What about the time I gave you my spot! You came over there, I gave you my spot! You stood there and I let you get right next to Jerry. ...
John McClane: [Getting out a pack of cigarettes] Do you smoke? Hans Gruber: [while mimicing a hostage] Yeah. [McClane hands him the pack of cigarettes] Hans Gruber: Thanks. Now, you don't work for Nakatomi, and you're not one of them. John McClane: I...
Harry: Tell me, exactly, how long it is that you've been working here? Sarah: Two years, seven months, three days and, I suppose, what... two hours? Harry: And how long have you been in love with Karl, our enigmatic chief designer? Sarah: Ahm, two ye...
Police Officer: [cops drive up after the drug dealer shoot-out] Whaddaya got, Riggs? Martin Riggs: There's three down, and one loose in here, he's got black hair and a red shirt... Police Officer: Okay, let's go! I'm coverin' the left side... [Riggs ...
