TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will det...
individuals are concerned not with the moral issue of realizing these standards, but with the amoral issue of engineering a convincing impression that these standards are being realized. Our activity, then, is largely concerned with moral matters, bu...
A mistake is the name we give to any action in which we perceive a difference between what we intended and what has occurred. Intention fuels every dramatic action, including the writing of dramatic stories, which involves a series of dramatic action...
Moreover, it is not just that the early documents are silent about so much of Jesus that came to be recorded in the gospels, but that they view him in a substantially different way -- as a basically supernatural personage only obscurely on Earth as a...
Tolerance, which is one form of love of neighbor, must manifest itself not only in our personal relations, but also in the arena of society as well. In the world of opinion and politics, tolerance is that virtue by which liberated minds conquer the e...
Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8 color boxes, but what you're really looking for are the 64 color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64 color box, though I've got a few missing. It's okay though, because...
If you describe yourself as "Atheist," some people will say, "Don't you mean 'Agnostic'?" I have to reply that I really do mean Atheist. I really do not believe that there is a god - in fact I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference...
Imagine if all the car makers in the world were to sit down together to design one extremely simple, embellishment-free, functional car that was made from the most environmentally-sustainable materials, how cheap to buy and humanity-and-Earth-conside...
Dean: I don't know, I just feel like I should just stop thinking about it, you know, but I can't. Maybe I've seen too many movies, you know, love at first sight. What do you think about love at first sight? You think you can love somebody just by loo...
Benjamin Button: [Voice over; letter to his daughter] For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules ...
Bobby Benson: [indicating grave marker during a visit to Arlington] That's my father. He was killed at Anzio. Klaatu: Did all those people die in wars? Bobby Benson: Most of 'em. Didn't you ever hear of the Arlington Cemetery? Klaatu: No, I'm afraid ...
Draco Malfoy: [looking at Harry's broken nose] Nice face, Potter! [Harry nods disdainfully; Luna pulls out her wand] Luna Lovegood: Would you like me to fix it for you? Personally, I think you look a little more devil-may-care this way, but it's up t...
Louis: 1791 was the year it happened. I was 24, younger than you are now. But times were different then, I was a man at that age: the master of a large plantation just south of New Orleans. I had lost my wife in childbirth, and she and the infant had...
Herb Brooks: Come on in boys. John 'Bah' Harrington: You wanted to see us, Coach. Herb Brooks: I'm thinking about keeping the three of you together on the same line. Everyone ok with that? Buzz Schneider: Yeah. John 'Bah' Harrington: Sure. Mark Pavel...
Capt. Jack Aubrey: Do you see those two weevils Doctor? Dr. Stephen Maturin: I do. Capt. Jack Aubrey: Which would you choose? Dr. Stephen Maturin: Neither. There is not a scrape of difference between them they are the same species of curculio. Capt. ...
Peter Gibbons: It's not just about me and my dream of doing nothing. It's about all of us. I don't know what happened to me at that hypnotherapist and, I don't know, maybe it was just shock and it's wearing off now, but when I saw that fat man keel o...
Charles Van Doren: They gave me the answers. Mark Van Doren: They gave you the answers... they gave YOU the answers? Charles Van Doren: Well, no... no, at first they'd ask me questions they already knew I knew the answers to. We ran through those, an...
Alain van Versch: [after having sex with Stéphanie for the first time] Was it good? It still works? Stéphanie: Yes. No... I don't know... It's different. It's hard to say after just one... Alain van Versch: Yeah but I can't now. I have to go. Stép...
[first lines] Niki Lauda: Twenty five drivers start every season in Formula One, and each year two of us die. What kind of person does a job like this? Not normal men, for sure. Rebels, lunatics, dreamers. People who are that desperate to make a mark...
[Three seperate situations happening at the same time] Coach Boone: [Talking to official] Ref! He's lining up offsides! Look, he's *lining* up offsides! Official: [ignoring Coach Boone] Coach Ed Henry: [talking to player] Twins right, 99 Z. Go! Coach...
Mrs. Lovett: Mr. T, you didn't! [looks into the chest, sees Pirelli's dead body and gasps. Shuts it] Mrs. Lovett: You're barking mad! Killing a man what done ya no harm! Sweeney Todd: [polishing his razor] He recognized me from the old days. Tried to...
