...no matter how rhapsodic one waxes about the process of wresting edible plants and tamed animals from the sprawling vagaries of nature, there's a timeless, unwavering truth espoused by those who worked the land for ages: no matter how responsible a...
One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer r...
Many lessons can be learned from the history of Western civilization, but one of them is especially clear. Lack of involvement in the affairs of one's society can lead to a sense of powerlessness. In an age that is often crisis-laden and chaotic, an ...
Except for the field organizers of strikes, who were pretty tough monkeys and devoted, most of the so-called Communists I met were middle-class, middle-aged people playing a game of dreams. I remember a woman in easy circumstances saying to another e...
Dinner is the most like jazz of all the meals, in that jazz is part form and part improvisation. You decide what you’re going to have, and then while you’re preparing it – because it’s the end of the day and you have the time – you have the...
Wouldn't the world be a much better place if we didn't make it past the age of maybe 10? Think back to when we were younger, before we were so easily influenced by adults. We rebelled against everything that we now believe is impossible. Super Heroes...
[first lines] Lorenzo: This is a true story about friendship that runs deeper than blood. This is my story and that of the only three friends in my life that truely mattered. Two of them were killers who never made it past the age of 30. The other's ...
[about his wife] Frank Alexander: She was very badly raped, you see! We were assaulted by a gang of vicious, young, hoodlums in this house! In this very room you are sitting in now! I was left a helpless cripple, but for her the agony was too great! ...
[to Altaira] Commander John J. Adams: I'm in command of 18 competitively selected super-perfect physical specimens with an average age of 24.6 who have been locked up in hyperspace for 378 days. It would have served you right if I hadn't... and he......
Mikael Blomkvist: [about Martin Vanger] For fuck's sake, Lisbeth. His father trained him to murder at age sixteen. Anyone would be sick in the head with that kind of upbringing. Lisbeth Salander: Shut up about the victimizisation! He almost killed yo...
Sid: So she picks this hair off my shoulder, and says, "If you're gonna have a second mating dance, at least pick a sloth with the same color pelt." And I'm thinkin', "Whoa! She's gonna go praying-mantis on me." Know what I'm saying? Manny: Hey, if y...
Sid: Hey, what's your problem? Manny: *You* are my problem. Sid: Well, I think you're stressed, and that's why you eat so much. I mean, it's hard to get fat on a vegan diet. Manny: I'm not fat. It's all this fur. It makes me look... poofy. Sid: Fine....
Zeke: Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo. I can't wait to get my paws on that mammoth. Soto: Nobody touches the mammoth until I get the baby. Zeke: ...First I'm gonna slice its hindquarters in sections. I'll put the white meat in one pile, and the dark meat in another....
[George has discovered his brother Harry's tombstone] Clarence: [explaining] Your brother, Harry Bailey, broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine. George Bailey: That's a lie! Harry Bailey went to war! He got the Congressional Medal o...
Nemo age 9: I can remember a long time ago. Long before my birth. I was waiting with those who were not yet born. When we're not born yet, we know everything. Everything that will happen. When it's your turn, the Angels of Oblivion place a finger on ...
Captain Frye: You changed the coordinates, didn't you, General? General Hummel: That's affirmative, Captain. Sergeant Crisp: So now they think we're gutless, the feds? They think we won't actually do it? Captain Frye: They're going to come at us with...
Queen: Now, a formula to transform my beauty into ugliness. Change my queenly raiment to a peddler's cloak. Mummy dust, to make me old. To shroud my clothes, the black of night. To age my voice, an old hag's cackle. To whiten my hair, a scream of fri...
Alvin Straight: There's no one knows your life better than a brother that's near your age. He knows who you are and what you are better than anyone on earth. My brother and I said some unforgivable things the last time we met, but, I'm trying to put ...
Marianne: When is a man to be safe from such wit if age and infirmity do not protect him? Elinor Dashwood: Infirmity? Mrs. Dashwood: If Colonel Brandon is infirm then I am at death's door. Elinor Dashwood: It is a miracle your life has extended this ...
Mattie Ross: I hope you don't think I'm going to keep you in whiskey? Rooster Cogburn: I don't buy that, I confiscate it. And a touch of it wouldn't do you any harm against the night air! Mattie Ross: I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my b...
