Language is one of the more complex human cognitive functions,” Narly Golestani, Group Leader of the university’s Brain and Language Lab, tells me during a recent visit. “There’s been a lot of work on bilingualism. Interpretation goes one ste...
I am a lifelong lover of form–content interplay, and this book is no exception. As with several of my previous books, I have had the chance to typeset it down to the finest level of detail, and my quest for visual elegance on each page has had coun...
What good is your reality, when justice fails and dishonesty is glossed over and the ones who keep faith suffer .... What good is your reality then?" " .... I never promised you a rose garden. I never promised you perfect justice .... and I never pro...
Noah Vosen: Our target is a British national - Simon Ross, a reporter. I want all his phones, his BlackBerry, his apartment, his car, bank accounts, credit cards, travel patterns - I want to know what he's going to think before he does. Every dirty l...
[Frederick is talking about TV] Frederick: You see the whole culture. Nazis, deodorant salesmen, wrestlers, beauty contests, a talk show. Can you imagine the level of a mind that watches wrestling? But the worst are the fundamentalist preachers. Thir...
[first lines] Nemo Nobody adult: Like most living creatures, the pigeon quickly associates the pressing of the level with the reward. But when a timer releases a seed automatically every 20 seconds, the pigeon wonders, what did I do to deserve this? ...
Peter Gibbons: You're gonna lay off Samir and Michael? Bob Slydell: Oh yeah, we're gonna bring in some entry-level graduates, farm some work out to Singapore, that's the usual deal. Bob Porter: Standard operating procedure. Peter Gibbons: Do they kno...
Sherlock Holmes: Are you familiar with the study of graphology? Professor Moriaty: I have never given it any serious thought, no. Sherlock Holmes: The psychological analysis of handwriting. The upwards strokes on the p, the j, the m indicate a genius...
Imperial Officer: [seeing Luke and Han disguised as Stormtroopers taking Chewbacca to the prison level] Where are you taking this... thing? Luke Skywalker: Prisoner transfer. Cell block 1138? Imperial Officer: I wasn't notified. I'll have to clear it...
Rose: [as she and Jack are making love in the backseat of the car, Rose puts her hand to his face and caresses it] You're trembling. Jack: [Panting] Don't worry. I'll be all right. [He smiles, leans toward Rose and kisses her. They look at each other...
Parker: Uh, before we dock, I think we oughta discuss the bonus situation. Brett: Right. Parker: Brett and I, we think we oughta - we deserve full shares, right baby? Brett: Right. You see, Mr. Parker and I feel that the bonus situation has never bee...
Jack: What's going on? We have a right to know the truth! Rumack: [to the passengers] All right, I'm going to level with you all. But what's most important now is that you remain calm. There is no reason to panic. [Rumack's nose grows an inch long] R...
1st Jailer: [looking in records] Miriam, wife... Tirzah, daughter. Drusus: Yes, they're the ones. Are they alive? 1st Jailer: [examining the records, he is pessimistic] East section... lower level. Cell two. The jailer in that wing will know. [Drusus...
Sometimes you meet someone, and it’s so clear that the two of you, on some level belong together. As lovers, or as friends, or as family, or as something entirely different. You just work, whether you understand one another or you’re in love or y...
You have everything within you to do great things in this world. Maybe, you are inspired to sing a song, write a book or poems, create art in various forms. Or you may decide to find a cure for disease, end world hunger, prevent abuse, or take a stan...
I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: "That is a hat." Then I would never tal...
Not all deceptions are palatable. Untruths are too easy to come by, too quickly exploded, too cheap and ephemeral to give lasting comfort. Mundus vult decipi, but there is a hierarchy of deceptions. Near the bottom of the ladder is journalism: a stea...
Sense never fails to give them that have it, Words enough to make them understood. It too often happens in some conversations, as in Apothecary Shops, that those Pots that are Empty, or have Things of small Value in them, are as gaudily Dress'd as th...
Every time you post something online, you have a choice. You can either make it something that adds to the happiness levels in the world—or you can make it something that takes away. I tried to add something by starting Girl Online. And for a while...
A black boy brought Wilson's gin and he sipped it very slowly because he had nothing else to do except to return to his hot and squalid room and read a novel - or a poem. Wilson liked poetry, but he absorbed it secretly, like a drug. The Golden Treas...
The Average Occidental- be he a democrat or a Fascist, a Capitalist or a Bolshevik, a manual worker or an intellectual- knows only one positive "religion", and that is the worship of material progress, the belief that there is no other goal in life t...