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...
[Hitler] has grasped the falsity of the hedonistic attitude to life. Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all “progressive” thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security, and avoidance of ...
Sometimes I have the feeling that what takes place is identical to what doesn't take place, what we dismiss or allow to slip by us identical to what we accept and seize, what we experience identical to what we never try, and yet we spend our lives in...
I had been brought up to be something of an intellectual, but there seemed at the time no connection between my newly formed ideas and the world to which I had returned. Indeed, I did not even recognize my ideas as ideas at all: they seemed to be cul...
Just when it seemed my mother couldn’t bear one more needle, one more insane orange pill, my sister, in silence, stood at the end of the bed and slowly rubbed her feet, which were scratchy with hard, yellow skin, and dirt cramped beneath the broken...
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...
all bags are pack ready to go i am standing here outside your door i hate to wake you up to say goodbye dawn is braking its early morn the taxi waiting he blowing his horn already i am so lonesome i could die so kiss me and smile for me tell me that ...
[Jürgen Habermas' obituary to friend and philosopher, Richard Rorty] One small autobiographical piece by Rorty bears the title 'Wild Orchids and Trotsky.' In it, Rorty describes how as a youth he ambled around the blooming hillside in north-west New...
Sandy Carver: [Sandy needs help with homework] Hey Mikey? Mikey Carver: Yeah. Sandy Carver: Geometry? Mikey Carver: Sure, anything but this English. Sandy Carver: How come your so good at Math, but not at English? Mikey Carver: I'm not good at Math, ...
Benjy Benjamin: Look! We've figured it seventeen different ways, and every time we figured it, it was no good, because no matter how we figured it, somebody don't like the way we figured it! So now, there's only one way to figure it. And that is, eve...
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...
Preston: I believe you'll find everything ship-shape, Admiral. Kirk: Oh, do you? Do you have any idea, Midshipman Preston, how many times I have had to listen to Mr. Scott on the comm, telling me his trouble? Do you have any idea of the ribbing I've ...
Dr. Albert Hirsch: You haven't slept for a long time now. Have you made a decision? This can't go on. You have to decide. Jason Bourne: Who is he? Dr. Albert Hirsch: We've been through this. Jason Bourne: What did he do? Dr. Albert Hirsch: It doesn't...
Cindy: What did it feel like when you fell in love? Gramma: Oh... oh dear, I don't think I found it Cindy: Even with grandpa? Gramma: Maybe a little, in the beginning. He didn't really have any regard for me as a person. You gotta be careful with tha...
Anthony: You see any white people in there waiting an hour and thirty two minutes for a plate of spaghetti? Huh? And how many cups of coffee did we get? Peter: You don't drink coffee and I didn't want any. Anthony: That woman poured cup after cup to ...
Ralphie as Adult: Round One was over. heh heh. Parents one, kids, zip. I can feel the Christmas noose beginning to tighten. Maybe, what happened next, was inevitable. Mother: Ralphie, what would you like for Christmas? Ralphie as Adult: Horrified, I ...
Jasper Sitwell: Zola'a algorithm is a program for choosing Insight's targets. Steve Rogers: What targets? Jasper Sitwell: You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Stran...
Gru: We have located a shrink ray in a secret lab. And once we take this shrink ray, we will have the capability to pull off the TRUE crime of the century! [in a sinister tone] Gru: We... are going to steal... [the minions pull out their weapons] Gru...
[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...
Uther: Where have you been? Merlin: I have walked my way since the beginning of time. Sometimes I give, sometimes I take, it is mine to know which and when! Uther: You must help me, Merlin! Merlin: Must I? Uther: I am your King! Merlin: So! You need ...
Narrator: Tyler was a night person. While the rest of us were sleeping, he worked. He had one part time job as a projectionist. See, a movie doesn't come all on one big reel. It comes on a few. So someone has to be there to switch the projectors at t...