I obviously identify with the anti-authority figure. I've pretty much always had problems with authority, ever since I was a kid. But, yeah, it's not identifying, I think it's more a part of my natural DNA that I question anybody who has a plan. Ever...
I think a writer's job is to provoke questions. I like to think that if someone's read a book of mine, they've had - I don't know what - the literary equivalent of a shower. Something that would start them thinking in a slightly different way, perhap...
My thing is every generation of Americans has to answer what we call the 'Superman Question.' Superman comes, lands in America. He's illegal. He's one of these kids. He's wrapped up in a red bullfighter's cape. And you've got to decide what we're gon...
I was enrolled in divinity school and thought I was going to become a minister - I'm Episcopalian - but I was disavowed of that notion pretty quickly while working at the hospital. I found myself really unfulfilled by the answers that are traditional...
There are very few works of fiction that take you inside the heads of all characters. I tell my writing students that one of the most important questions to ask yourself when you begin writing a story is this: Whose story is it? You need to make a co...
We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering th...
I think one of the main challenges that the World Bank faces is creating an organizational structure that doesn't get in the way of its staff. We have fantastic staff. People told me as I was coming into the organization that the greatest asset of th...
For the most part, if somebody approaches me and says, 'I'd like to interview you,' who am I to say no, when I spend all my days going, 'Hello, you don't know me. I'd like to ask you some questions. Do you have a little time?'
Tessa Quayle: Sorry, I've just got one question: Whose map is Britain using when it completely ignores the United Nations and decides to invade Iraq? Tessa Quayle: Or do you think it's more diplomatic to bend the will of a superpower and politely tak...
Roy Neary: [angrily] Who are you people? Claude Lacombe: Mr. Neary, please, one more question. David Laughlin: Have you recently had a close encounter... A close encounter with something very unusual? Roy Neary: [cautiously] Who are you people?
Alexander Pierce: Let me ask you a question. What if Pakistan marched into Mumbai tomorrow, and you knew they were going to drag your daughter into a soccer stadium for execution, and you could stop it with a flick of a switch... wouldn't you? Counci...
[first lines] Florida Prosecutor: Go on, Barbara. Barbara: We go back to our homeroom for dismissal. Unless you have a pass for sports or somethin'. Florida Prosecutor: And is that what you did on the day in question? Barbara: No. Mr. Gettys asked me...
Gandhi: Where there's injustice, I always believed in fighting. The question is, do you fight to change things or to punish? For myself, I've found we're all such sinners, we should leave punishment to God. And if we really want to change things, the...
Blake: And to answer you question, pal, why am I here? I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to. They asked me for a favor. I said the real favor, follow my advice and fire your fucking ass because a loser is a loser.
Gandalf: You'll never make it! Bilbo Baggins: Why not? Gandalf: Because they will see you coming, and kill you! Bilbo Baggins: No, they won't. They won't see me. Gandalf: It's out of the question! I won't allow it! Bilbo Baggins: I'm not asking you t...
Alan Garner: Can I ask you another question? Lisa: Sure. Alan Garner: You probably get this a lot. This isn't the real Caesar's Palace is it? Lisa: What do you mean? Alan Garner: Did, umm... did Caesar live here? Lisa: No. Alan Garner: I didn't think...
[questioning Thorin] Thranduil: [to Thorin] Where does your journey end? A quest to reclaim a homeland, and slay a dragon!... I suspect something more prosaic. Attempted burglary, or something of that kind. You seek that which would bestow upon you t...
Louis: Thirty years had passed, yet her body remained that of an eternal child. Her eyes alone told the story of her age, staring out from under her doll-like curls, with a questioning that will one day need an answer.
Laura Bishop: Walt, where the hell are you? Walt Bishop: Right here. Why are you cursing at me? Laura Bishop: Does it concern you that your daughter's just run away from home? Walt Bishop: That's a loaded question. Laura Bishop: Come down and read th...
Ed Tom Bell: The motel in Del Rio? Wendell: Yes, sir. None of the three had I.D. on 'em, but they're tellin' me all three is Mexican... was Mexicans. Ed Tom Bell: There's a question, whether they stopped being and when. Wendell: Yes, sir.
Barbara Covett: Why were you fighting? Perfectly simple question. Steven Connolly: [mumbles] Dunno, miss. Barbara Covett: You don't know. One minute you're an inert lump, the next you're trying to castrate a fellow pupil. Nothing occurred between the...
