Secularism drew a radical distinction between public and private life, in which religion, in any traditional sense, was relegated to the private sphere with no hold over public life. There are many charms in secularism, in particular the freedom to b...
A victim evokes sympathy, right? Victims are not responsible, right? Victims have the moral high ground… someone else is causing the misery, right? Victims can easily justify why they are right. Victims allow themselves to be stuck in the status qu...
Some people you don't give up on. Not because you can tell what they'll be or what will happen. Not because of that. It's because something inside you insists that you shouldn't---something knows more or knows better, stubbornly holds its ground, eve...
... Up telephone poles, Which rear, half out of leavage As though they would shriek Like things smothered by their own Green, mindless, unkillable ghosts. In Georgia, the legend says That you must close your windows At night to keep it out of the hou...
Oskar Schindler: Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't. Amon Goeth: You think that's power? Oskar Schindler: That's what the Emperor said. A man steals something, he's brought in before the Emperor, he throws himself down on...
Lorenzo: [Coming to Calogero's defense against the angry gangsters] Calogero! Calogero! [to Sonny] Lorenzo: What happened to my son? Sonny: Drive your bus and get the fuck out of here! Lorenzo: I'll get my fucking bus! [Tries to hit Sonny, but the ga...
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and ...
Dory: Have you seen a clown fish swim by? It looks just like him. [points to Marlin] Nemo: But bigger. Crab: Yeah, I saw him, Bluey, but I'm not telling you where he went, and there's no way you're gonna make me. [Dory holds Crab out of water for the...
Dr. Edward Morbius: In times long past, this planet was the home of a mighty, noble race of beings who called themselves the Krell. Ethically and technologically they were a million years ahead of humankind, for in unlocking the mysteries of nature t...
George Bailey: Now, you listen to me! I don't want any plastics, and I don't want any ground floors, and I don't want to get married - ever - to anyone! You understand that? I want to do what I want to do. And you're... and you're... [runs out of wor...
[deleted scene; Daniel and Sam are discussing Sam's true love] Daniel: Option One: ask her out. Sam: Impossible. Daniel: Fair enough. Option Two: become her friend. Sam: She's the most popular girl in school and she hates boys. Daniel: Okay. Option T...
Oskar: How old are you? Eli: Twelve... more or less. Eli: What about you? Oskar: Twelve years, eight months and nine days. What do you mean, "more or less"? Oskar: When's your birthday? Eli: I don't know. Oskar: Don't you celebrate your birthday? You...
H.I.: What are you talkin' about, Glen? Glen: What am I talkin' about? I'm talkin' about sex, boy, what the hell you talkin' about? I'm talkin' about l'amour! I'm talkin' that me and Dot are swingers, as in "to swing." I'm talkin' about wife swappin'...
Mateus: [at practice, Rudy remains on the ground after being pummeled on a block by Mateus] Hey, little buddy, you all right? Coach Yonto: Ruettiger, get out! Rudy: [springs up, refusing to be taken out] I can do it, coach! Rudy: [play is run again, ...
Jeff: Those two yellow zinnias at the end, they're shorter now. Now since when do flowers grow shorter over the course of two weeks? Something's buried there. Lisa: Mrs. Thorwald! Stella: You haven't spent much time around cemeteries, have you? Mr. T...
Cyrus: The problem in the past has been the man turning us against one another. We have been unable to see the truth, because we have fighting for ten square feet of ground, our turf, our little piece of turf. That's crap, brothers! The turf is ours ...
Officer Reese: Hilldale, nothing but a breeding ground for tranks, lobos and zipheads. Officer Foley: Yeah, they outta tear this whole place down. House Computer: [they use Jennifer's thumbprint to open the door] Welcome home, Jennifer. Officer Reese...
Great travel writing consists of equal parts curiosity, vulnerability and vocabulary. It is not a terrain for know-it-alls or the indecisive. The best of the genre can simply be an elegant natural history essay, a nicely writ sports piece, or a well-...
If one morning in the Spring, a stranger came and said to me, Your mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, lover, friend, is dead. From a b-52, napalm bombing, search and destroy mission, air attack, Tet offensive, My Lai massacre, failed escape, I w...
Let's say you're walking around and you find a watch on the ground. As you examine it, you marvel at the intricately complex interweaving of its parts, a means to an end. Surely you wouldn't think this marvel would have come about by itself. The watc...
Human beings remember "firsts"- the first time something happens, or the begining of an experience- and we tend to remember "lasts" as well. So when you are about to make a critical/negative delivery , start your criticism with a positive begining, i...
