You might think that, by now, people would have become accustomed to the idea of natural catastrophes. We live on a planet that is still cooling and which has fissures and faults in its crust; this much is accepted even by those who think that the gl...
1) Work on one thing at a time until finished. 2) Start no more new books, add no more new material to "Black Spring." 3) Don't be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand. 4) Work according to Program and not according to mo...
{ } I realised as if for the first time, the menace of these queer shaven men in lace and petticoats who had been intoning, responding, and going through ritual gestures at me. I realised something dreadful about them. They were thrusting an incredib...
You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She's not perfect—you aren't either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, ...
I often said that writers are of two types. There is the architect, which is one type. The architect, as if designing a building, lays out the entire novel at a time. He knows how many rooms there will be or what a roof will be made of or how high it...
Making a record is a lot like surgery without an anesthetic. You first have to cut yourself up the middle. Then you have to rip out every single organ, every single part and lay them on a table. You then need to examine the parts, and the reality of ...
This time Elizabeth Ann didn't answer, because she herself didn't know what the matter was. But I do, and I'll tell you. The matter was that never before had she known what she was doing in school. She had always thought she was there to pass from on...
Normally, when you challenge the conventional wisdom—that the current economic and political system is the only possible one—the first reaction you are likely to get is a demand for a detailed architectural blueprint of how an alternative system ...
There is an old question, rarely voiced these days, but nevertheless running as an undercurrent beneath the squabbles and misunderstandings that occur in households, workplaces and universities on a daily basis. ‘What do women want?’ has been ask...
Going through the customs dampened them further. Customs inspectors must have a mental twist that makes them suspicious of innocence. Dewy-eyed honeymooners, red-cheeked provincials, and helpless little old ladies lash them into frenzied investigatio...
J. Russell Finch: I don't know, I must find my wife. I don't know what to do. J. Algernon Hawthorne: Look, wherever they are, surely the most sensible thing for the two of us to do is to press on. I mean for all we know, your brother-in-law may be ou...
Colonel Hathi: [Seeing Mowgli for the first time] Well, a new recruit, eh? Ha ha... uh say, what happened to your trunk? [Begins prodding Mowgli's nose with his twig] Mowgli: [Much annoyed] Hey, stop that! Colonel Hathi: [Surprised beyond belief] A m...
[first lines] Narrator: With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation point. But, not everybody could get to Lisbon di...
Minister: Commissioner Berthier, any suggestions? Berthier: We're in trouble on this one. Our agents inside the OAS can't pin him down, since not even the OAS knows who he is. Action Service can't destroy him; they don't know who to destroy. The gend...
Batman: Then why do you want to kill me? The Joker: [giggling] I don't, I don't want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, NO! No. You... you... complete me. Batman: You're garbage who kills for money. ...
Keys: Elliot, that machine, what does it do? Elliot: [in a sickly voice] The communicator? Is it still working? Keys: It's doing *something*. What? Elliot: I really shouldn't tell. He came to me, he came to me. Keys: Elliot, he came to me too. I've b...
[watching Tor Johnsson at his wrestling match] Bunny Breckinridge: Guess where I'm going next week. Edward D. Wood, Jr.: I don't know. Where? Bunny Breckinridge: Mexico. Guess what I'm doing when I get there. Edward D. Wood, Jr.: I don't know. Lie on...
Arthur: Rise, Father, please. I was your son before I became your king; if I am King. Sir Ector: You are king, Arthur; the more so because you are not my son, and I am not your father. Arthur: Not my father? Then Kay is not my brother? Sir Ector: Mer...
Crush: Dude? Dude? Focus dude... Dude? [Marlin wakes up] Crush: Oh, he lives. Hey, dude! Marlin: Oh... What happened? Crush: Saw the whole thing, dude. First you were all like "whoa", and we were like "whoa", and you were like "whoa..." Marlin: What ...
Marlin: [Surrounded by jellyfish] This is bad, Dory. Very bad. Dory: [Bouncing on top of a jellyfish] Hey, watch this. Boing! Boing!... Marlin: Dory! Dory: You can't catch me! Marlin: Dory, don't bounce on the tops! They will... not sting you. The to...
[longer introduction to "Night On Bald Mountain" and "Ave Maria"] Narrator: The last number in our Fantasia program is a combination of two pieces of music so utterly different in construction and mood that they set each other off perfectly. The firs...
