Having spent a long time in open spaces, whether sea or desert, it is a luxury to be able to take refuge in towns with narrow streets which provide a fragile fortress against the assaults of the infinite. There is such a sense of security against the...
An artist has an obligation to tell the truth. My novels are epic fantasy, but they are inspired by and grounded in history. Rape and sexual violence have been a part of every war ever fought, from the ancient Sumerians to our present day. To omit th...
The only thing worth writing about is people. People. Human beings. Men and women whose individuality must be created, line by line, insight by insight. If you do not do it, the story is a failure. [...] There is no nobler chore in the universe than ...
From Martin Eden on submitting manuscripts: "There was no human editor at the other end, but a mere cunning arrangement of cogs that changed the manuscript from one envelope to another and stuck on the stamps. It was like the slot machines wherein on...
Repetitive, forceful corrections had taught this gentle dog that at a specific spot the handler would always yank the lead. Thus, each time the Newf arrived at that point, she'd freeze for a beat and close her eyes in anticipation of the impending bl...
Life is an endless attempt to word the unwordable, to make what cannot be touched walk on the ground, to embody what can never be fit inside a single lifetime. We see reflections of ourselves in sunrises, hear our perfection in thunderstorms and babi...
The first man, who, after enclosing a piece of ground, took it into his head to say, "This is mine," and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society. How many crimes, how many wars, how many murders, how many misf...
There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. If, for the sake of argument, 1 million are violent, that's a mere .000625 percent of them. I wonder who among you wants to be judged on such a tiny minority. Further, at 1.6 billion, if all Muslims - or ev...
It is no longer just engineers who dominate our technology leadership, because it is no longer the case that computers are so mysterious that only engineers can understand what they are capable of. There is an industry-wide shift toward more "product...
Engineer: If they were to give me two more excavators, I'd be a year ahead of the plan by now. Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago: You're an impatient generation. Engineer: Weren't you? Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago: Yes, we were, very. Oh, don't be so impatient, Comrade E...
Jack Lucas: Hey! Edwin! Hey, c'mon now, I told you about these people, they only mate with their own kind, it's called yuppie inbreeding. That's why so many of them are retarded and wear the same clothes. They're not human, they don't feel love, they...
Dr. Edward Morbius: The fool, the meddling idiot! As though his ape's brain could contain the secrets of the Krell! Altaira: [shocked] Father, he's *dead*! Dr. Edward Morbius: He was warned, and now he's paid! Let him be buried with the other victims...
Major Motoko Kusanagi: There are countless ingredients that make up the human body and mind, like all the components that make up me as an individual with my own personality. Sure I have a face and voice to distinguish myself from others, but my thou...
Scarlett: Now I didn't come to talk silliness about me, Rhett. I came 'cause I was so miserable at the thought of you in trouble. Oh, I know I was mad at you the night you left me on the road to Tara, and I still haven't forgiven you! Rhett Butler: O...
Soto: Just you look at the cute little baby, Diego. Isn't it nice that he'll be joining us for breakfast? Diego: It wouldn't be breakfast without him. Soto: Especially after his daddy wiped out half our pack. And wears our skin to keep warm. An eye f...
Alan Turing: [Explaining the Turing Test] "The Imitation Game." Detective Robert Nock: Right, that's... that's what it's about? Alan Turing: Would you like to play? Detective Robert Nock: Play? Alan Turing: It's a game. A test of sorts. For determini...
Sulley: [Sulley and Mike have just been banished to the Himalayas on Earth - Sulley opens the door to find nothing beyond it] BOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sulley: [Opens and closes door, pushes frame, nothing happens] No, no! No, no, no, no, NO! Mike: It's too la...
Yupa: In the midst of my travels, I heard of an ominous rumor... It said that a monster from the ancient world had been excavated from beneath the city of Pejite where it had been sleeping. Mito: A monster from the ancient world? Yupa: It's a God War...
Lady Eboshi: Stay here. Help me kill the Forest Spirit, Ashitaka. Prince Ashitaka: You would do that? Kill the very heart of the forest? Lady Eboshi: Without that ancient god, the animals here would be nothing but dumb beasts once again. Once the for...
[discussing the Doomsday machine] President Merkin Muffley: How is it possible for this thing to be triggered automatically and at the same time impossible to untrigger? Dr. Strangelove: Mr. President, it is not only possible, it is essential. That i...
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: I've accessed a Borg neuroprocessor and I've discovered what they're trying to do. They're transforming the deflector dish into an interplexing beacon. Lt. Hawk: [confused] "Interplexing"? Captain Jean-Luc Picard: It's a subs...
