I've always been a quitter. I quit the Boy Scouts, the glee club, the marching band. Gave up my paper route, turned my back on the church, stuffed the basketball team. I dropped out of college, sidestepped the army with a 4-F on the grounds of mental...
I wrought me a lyric of fire and fear, And called on the world to heed — Till strong men blenched at my haggard face And shuddered, but would not read. So I stole me the gold of the mines of Joy And fashioned a conscious lie — And they gave me th...
I leaned down and looked at his handsome face. I wanted to kiss him in a way that would remain soft and true on his lips, all the while help him from escaping the overwhelming sense of sadnes that he felt. I pressed forward and kissed him, tasting th...
If Mom is convinced that ballet lessons are a must, she should take them. Although it may look odd to see a thirty-year old woman hang- ing onto a bar and flinging a slightly plump leg in the air, the sight is not as pathetic as seeing her seven-year...
There are a lot of ways for a novelist to create suspense, but also really only two: one a trick, one an art. The trick is to keep a secret. Or many secrets, even. In Lee Child’s books, Jack Reacher always has a big mystery to crack, but there are ...
Commenting acidly on a writer whom I perhaps too naively admired, my old classics teacher put on his best sneer to ask: 'Wouldn't you say, Hitchens, that his writing was somewhat ?' This lofty schoolmaster employed my name sarcastically, and stressed...
Tommy: This is amazing! John Reilly: Hello! It's been a long time! Nokes: Who the fuck are you guys? [John and Tommy each pull up a chair and sit down at Nokes' table] Nokes: Hey, who the fuck asked you to sit down? Tommy: I thought you'd be happy to...
Gordie: Fuck writing, I don't want to be a writer. It's stupid. It's a stupid waste of time. Chris: That's your dad talking. Gordie: Bullshit. Chris: Bull true. Chris: I know how your dad feels about you. He doesn't give a shit about you. Denny was t...
Raymond: Yo, uncle! Dexter: Come look at this! Zeus: [looks at watch] It's ten after nine. Why aren't you in school? Raymond: Tony wants to sell you this. Zeus: Tony? That no-neck dude they call "Bad T"? Dexter: He says he found it in a dumpster. Zeu...
Erin Gruwell: The evaluation assignment was to grade yourself on the work you're doing. You gave yourself an F. What's that about? Andre: It's what I feel I deserve, that's all. Erin Gruwell: Oh really? [pause] Erin Gruwell: You know what this is? Th...
Maximus: Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe that they fought and died for nothing. Marcus Aurelius: And what would y...
Harry: Hagrid, who gave you the Dragon Egg? What did he look like? Hagrid: I don't know. I never saw his face. He kept his hood up. Harry: This stranger, though, you and he must've talked. Hagrid: Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I look...
Johnny Rocco: There's only one Johnny Rocco. James Temple: How do you account for it? Frank McCloud: He knows what he wants. Don't you, Rocco? Johnny Rocco: Sure. James Temple: What's that? Frank McCloud: Tell him, Rocco. Johnny Rocco: Well, I want u...
Brandon Shaw: Determined to get drunk, aren't you? Phillip Morgan: I am drunk. Brandon Shaw: And just as childish as you were before when you called me a liar. Phillip Morgan: You had no business telling that story. Brandon Shaw: Why did you lie anyw...
[In the last scene, The Foxes are driving down FDR Drive towards the U.S. Court House downtown] Carl Fox: You told the truth and gave the money back. All things considered in this cockamamie world, you're shooting par. Mrs. Fox: You helped saved the ...
[first lines] Terry Fields: Hey, what do you say, Curt? Last night in town... you guys gonna have a little bash before you leave? Steve Bolander: The Moose have been looking for you all day. [hands a check to Curt] Steve Bolander: They got worried......
Dr. Jonathan Crane: [the lights have shut off] He's here. Arkham Thug #1: Who? Dr. Jonathan Crane: The Batman. Arkham Thug #1: What do we do? Dr. Jonathan Crane: What anyone does when a prowler comes around... call the police. Arkham Thug #1: You wan...
Walter Sobchak: Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors... and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and... up to... Pismo. He die...
You will need to stay calm as you witness the candy floss in your daughter’s smile harden into brittle bitchiness. You will need to muster a new resolve as your son’s fascination with Pokémon shifts to porn. You will have to recalibrate your mot...
And the next day the gondolier came with a train of other gondoliers, all decked in their holiday garb, and on his gondola sat Angela, happy, and blushing at her happiness. Then he and she entered the house in which I dwelt, and came into my room (an...
I went to a foot specialist recently and she said: "You've broken a bone, it's healed funny." "What can you do?" "Not much." She strapped me up though and that's the reason my foot is hurting, because the strapping gave me cramp. When I'm about to di...
