Reading off a page is like looking down at a landscape from a balloon – your eye "sees" the story as well as reads it, its layout, its paragraphs and structure, and "remembers" what it just read because it's still there, on the page, simultaneously...
To take, for example, my own death: what I consider most likely to be true is that death will be the complete and utter end of my existence, with no successor existence of any kind that can be related to me as I now am. And if that is not the case, t...
Before the nineteen-seventies, most Republicans in Washington accepted the institutions of the welfare state, and most Democrats agreed with the logic of the Cold War. Despite the passions over various issues, government functioned pretty well. Legis...
Ghosts! […] I almost think we are all of us ghosts. It is not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that ‘walks’ in us. It is all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they clin...
The master in us all lives behind the masks and roles and wounds and beliefs. It calls us to live deep, full, radical lives. It asks us not to wait until we are told by anyone that we have arrived. It invites us forward, across the line of fear and u...
Paul Hood: I've been thinking, Francis. You are one drug-addled, elitist freak. And when the revolution comes I do not want to be lined up with you and shot because you're fucking ripe for political reeducation. You know, like in the fields. Francis ...
[first lines] Zachry: [shivering beside the fire] Oh, lonesome night. And babbits bawling, the wind biting the bone. Wind like this... full of voices. Ancestry howling at you, yibbering stories, all voices tied up into one. One voice differing. One v...
[first lines] [subtitled version] Christian Klingenfeldt: [on his cellphone] Christian speaking... Hi, I'm here now. I landed this morning. What? Er... Washed? I shaved at the airport if you must know. I shaved at the airport if you must know! I'm fi...
[first lines] Passerby: Well, I want to go over to my place and start, you know, getting it on... Ann: Oh, that's terrible. Mark: Yeah. Do you ever, uh... ballet? Ann: Be thankful. Do you have a quarter for them? Mark: Yes, I do. Ann: [gives it to st...
[last lines] James Gordon Jr.: Batman? Batman! Why's he running dad? Lt. James Gordon: Because we have to chase him. Cop: Okay we're going in! Go, go! Move! James Gordon Jr.: He didn't do anything wrong. Lt. James Gordon: Because he's the hero Gotham...
[first lines] Grandfather: [whispering to boy aiming rifle] I am a stone. I do not move. Very slowly, I put snow in my mouth. Then he won't see my breath. I take my time. I let him come closer. I have only one bullet. I aim at his eye. Very gently, m...
Criswell: [First lines] Greetings, my friends! You are interested in the unknown. The mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing you the full story of what happened. We are giving you all the...
[last lines] Nachrichtensprecher: [voiceover - spoiler] The tragic outcome: two dead, three injured, among them project leader Professor Klaus Thon. Clearly, the experiment went out of control after two days. The district attorney is investigating tw...
[last lines] [the President is talking with Korben's mother on the phone] President Lindberg: Mrs. Dallas, this is the President. On behalf of the federation, I would like to thank you... Korben's Mother: Oh, please. That doesn't even sound like him!...
[first lines] Bill: The following is my explanation. Well, more of an account of what happened. I'd been on my own for a while and getting kind of lonely... and bored... nothing to do all day. And that's when I started shadowing. The Policeman: Shado...
[last lines] Monco: [counting reward sums of outlaws he just killed] Ten thousand... twelve thousand... fifteen... sixteen... seventeen... twenty-two. Twenty-two? [a wounded Groggy comes from behind and raises his gun; Monco whirls and shoots him dea...
[first lines] Jerry Lundegaard: I'm, uh, Jerry Lundegaard. Carl Showalter: You're Jerry Lundegaard? Jerry Lundegaard: Ya. Shep Proudfoot said... Carl Showalter: Shep said you'd be here at 7:30. What gives, man? Jerry Lundegaard: Shep said 8:30. Carl ...
[first lines] Tevye: A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. ...
[last lines] Dominic Toretto: [remembering the time he had with Brian] I used to say I live my life a quarter mile at a time and I think that's why we were brothers - because you did too. No matter where you are, whether it's a quarter mile away or h...
[last lines] Michael: All right. This one time I'll let you ask me about my affairs. Kay Adams: Is it true? Is it? Michael: No. [Kay smiles and walks into his arms] Kay Adams: I guess we both need a drink, huh? [Kay goes to the kitchen to fix a drink...
[first lines] Phil: Somebody asked me today, "Phil, if you could be anywhere in the world, where would you like to be?" And I said to him, "Prob'ly right here - Elko, Nevada, our nation's high at 79 today." Out in California, they're gonna have some ...
