In order to write a memoir, I’ve sat still inside the swirling vortex of my own complicated history like a piece of old driftwood, battered by the sea. I’ve waited—sometimes patiently, sometimes in despair—for the story under pressure of conc...
They always loved my sense of humor. There used to be a light switch inside one of the nurseries that was a cutout of Jesus putting his arm around two children on each side of him as he towered above them. The switch was ironically located in the spo...
For instance, a fireman is a brave fellow! He fears nothing, least of all fire! Well, the fireman in question, who had gone to make a round of inspection in the cellars and who, it seems, had ventured a little farther than usual, suddenly reappeared ...
The attacks of 9/11 were the biggest surprise in American history, and for the past ten years we haven't stopped being surprised. The war on terror has had no discernible trajectory, and, unlike other military conflicts, it's almost impossible to def...
Decide. Take one of the most unsettling things you feel exist in your life and decide. Decide to meet it with love and understanding. Decide to meet it with a proactive spirit that believes that a solution, an ease, a peaceful resolve rests in the me...
How strange it is. We have these deep terrible lingering fears about ourselves and the people we love. Yet we walk around, talk to people, eat and drink. We manage to function. The feelings are deep and real. Shouldn't they paralyze us? How is it we ...
You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, so all the while that day whi...
My father is the most genial Midwestern guy imaginable, but for him, disaster lurks around every corner—financial ruin, squandered health, pyramid schemes, airbags failing to deploy—so he tends to use fear as a parenting tool to try to goad his d...
Much of the oxygen we breathe comes from plants that died long ago. We can give thanks to these ancestors of our present-pay foliage, but we can't give back to them. We can, however, give forward. When we are unable to return the favor, we can pay it...
Bryce Loski: They are all chickens. Chet Duncan: I'm proud of you Bryce, you overcame your fear, you talked to her Bryce Loski: Oh yeah... it's no big deal. Steven Loski: That's what she told you? They're all chickens? Bryce Loski: Yeah. Steven Loski...
Seth Brundle: [to Veronica] You're afraid to dive into the plasma pool, aren't you? You're afraid to be destroyed and recreated, aren't you? I'll bet you think that you woke me up about the flesh, don't you? But you only know society's straight line ...
Bruce: Today's meeting is Step 5: Bring a fish friend. Everyone brought a fish friend? Anchor: Got mine. [a small fish shivering with fear] Dory: Hi there! Bruce: What about you, Chum? Chum: Oh... um... I seem to have misplaced my, um... friend. [a f...
Raoul Duke: And that, I think, was the handle - that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. We had all the momentum; we were riding the cre...
Raoul Duke: Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. A normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop heart. Make the bastard chase you. He will follow...
Dr. Gonzo: Hey honkies. You folks wanna buy some heroin? Goddamnit, I'm serious. All I'm trying to sell you is some pure fucking smack! This is the real stuff! You won't get hooked. I just got back from Vietnam. Ahahaha... scag! Pbbbbbbb... I wanna s...
Raoul Duke: The decision to flee came suddenly. Or maybe not. Maybe I had planned it all along, subconsciously waiting for the right moment. The bill was a factor, I think because I had no money to pay for it. Our room service tabs had been running s...
Dr. Gonzo: The truth. Raoul Duke: Truth? Dr. Gonzo: We're going to Vegas... to croak a scag baron named Savage Henry. Raoul Duke: It's true. Dr. Gonzo: Why, because I've known him for years, but he ripped us off. Raoul Duke: And you know what that me...
Lacerda: Too bad you guys missed the bikes checking in, oh MAN what a sight! Husquavarnas, Yamahas, DMZs... [Duke watching war footage on acid sees Lacerda turn into a Vietnam commando] Lacerda: Kawasakis! Maicos! Pursangs! Swedish Fireballs! [Return...
Stoick: Well, I can show my face in public again! If someone told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from, well, being, uh... *Hiccup*, to placing first in dragon training? Well, I would have tied him to a mast and shipped him off, for fea...
Aragorn: Hold your ground, hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fel...
Ofelia: Many, many years ago in a sad, faraway land, there was an enormous mountain made of rough, black stone. At sunset, on top of that mountain, a magic rose blossomed every night that made whoever plucked it immortal. But no one dared go near it ...
