It seemed to me then - and to be honest, sir, seems to me still - that America was engaged only in posturing. As a society, you were unwilling to reflect upon the shared pain that united you with those who attacked you. You retreated into myths of yo...
We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears ...
Beyond the wall of the unreal city … there is another world waiting for you. It is the old true world of the deserts, the mountains, the forests, the islands, the shores, the open plains. Go there. Be there. Walk gently and quietly deep within it. ...
He was filled with loss and an off-brand of nostalgia for events that were supposed to become part of his past but now wouldn't at all. In the mind's special processes, a ten-mile run takes far longer than the minutes reported by a grandfather clock....
Just supposing," he said, "just supposing" --he didn't know what was coming next, so he thought he'd just sit back and listen--"that there was some extraordinary way in which you were very important to me, and that, though you didn't know it, I was v...
Dante Hicks: What time do you get to work today? Randal Graves: I dunno. Like... ten, or ten after. Dante Hicks: Wrong! You were over a half an hour late! And then all you do is come in here! Randal Graves: Yeah, to talk to you. Dante Hicks: Which me...
Harry Ellis: [watching the terrorists in deep discussion] What do you think? Holly Gennero McClane: Something's wrong. Harry Ellis: Cops? Holly Gennero McClane: [pauses] John. Harry Ellis: John? Aw, Christ, he can fuck this whole thing up! What does ...
Arlen Bitterbuck: Do you believe that if a man repents enough for what he done wrong, than he'll get to go back to the time that was happiest for him and live there forever? Could that be what heaven's like? Paul Edgecomb: I just about believe that v...
Melinda Moores: I dreamed of you. I dreamed you were wandering in the dark. And so was I. And we found each other. We found each other in the dark. [reaches out her necklace to him] Paul Edgecomb: Take it, John. It's a present. Melinda Moores: It's S...
Paul Edgecomb: Men under strain can snap; hurt themselves, hurt others. That's why our job is talking, not yelling. You'll do better to think of this place like an intensive care ward in a hospital. Percy Wetmore: I think of it as a bucket of piss to...
Harry Terwilliger: Paul, we're not gonna have some Cherokee medicine man in here whoopin', hollerin' and shaking his dick are we? Paul Edgecomb: Well actually... Toot-Toot: Still prayin'! Still prayin'! Gettin' right with Jesus! Harry Terwilliger: Do...
Percy Wetmore: Well, well, well, looks like you've got yourself a new friend there, Del. Eduard Delacroix: Don't hurt him! Percy Wetmore: [to the guards] That the one I chased? Paul Edgecomb: Yeah, that's the one. Del's been asking for a box' might k...
Shifu: [sitting down to eat] After you, Panda. Po: What? Just like that? No sit-ups? No ten-mile hike? Shifu: I vowed to train you, and you have been trained. You are free to eat. [Po sits and picks up his chopsticks] Shifu: Enjoy. [Po lifts a dumpli...
Curmudgeon: That's two thousand miles from here. How do you expect us to get it there? Drag it? Pappagallo: If we have to, yes. There's always a way. But the first step... defend the fuel. Big Rebecca: Words, just words. You'll die for a pipe dream. ...
[Johnny holds up a cross-shaped wreath Barbara bought for their father's grave] Johnny: Look at this thing. "We still remember"? I don't! You know, I don't even remember what the man looks like! Barbara: Johnny, it takes you five minutes. Johnny: Yea...
Plainview: What's this? Why don't I own this? Why don't I own this? Al Rose: That's the Bandy tract. He was the holdout, when we were doing the buying? He had hoped to speak with you. Can't you just build the pipeline around this tract? Plainview: Ca...
Cowboy: Okay, what are we gonna do now? Swan: We're going back. Vermin: You mind tellin' me how? Fuckin' Coney Island must be 50 to 100 miles from here! Swan: It's the only choice we got. Cochise: Yeah, real simple. Except that every cop in this city...
I'm stuck in the middle Of the dream and the reality Not able to tell the difference Not able to wake up Did I dream you into my life Or were you always real And were you always present Within the endlessness of time Something tells me, we came toget...
When the last autumn of Dickens's life was over, he continued to work through his final winter and into spring. This is how all of us writers give away the days and years and decades of our lives in exchange for stacks of paper with scratches and squ...
Contentment has learned how to find out what she needs to know. Last year she went on a major housecleaning spree. First she stood on her head until all the extra facts fell out. Then she discarded about half her house. Now she knows where every thin...
In the very act of writing I felt pleased with what I did. There was the pleasure of having words come to me, and the pleasure of ordering them, re-ordering them, weighing one against another. Pleasure also in the imagination of the story, the feelin...
