Beth had been a middle school science teacher and Joni was a librarian and they both had collections of weird stuff they had found. Bizarre, misspelled letters written by lovelorn eighth graders. Obscene Polaroids left in between the pages of library...
I had always had a little problem looking out for myself in love. I was afraid people would leave me. So I sort of clung and did everything possible to keep someone around. I didn't have a hard talk with myself about who I was keeping around. Doesn't...
The first thing I encountered on entering the museum was the earliest steam engine built in England. As I walked on, marveling at each successive mechanical wonder, I realized that I was witnessing the history of machinery, as if on parade, from its ...
she was flighty and poor, a French studies major who quoted Simone de Beauvoir. She wiped her runny nose on her coat sleeve when it was snowing, stuck her head out of car windows the way dogs do, the wind fireworking her hair. That woman was gone now...
The snow filled the air with a soft grey-blue mist, softening the wind and gunfire, bringing the earth and sky together into one swaying blur. The snow fell on Bach's shoulders; it was as though flakes of silence were falling on the still Volga, on t...
When dreaded outcomes are actually imminent we don't worry about themwe take action. Seeing lava from the local volcano make its way down the street toward our house does not cause worry it causes running. Also we don't usually choose imminent events...
Rebecca was an academic star. Her new book was on the phenomenon of word casings, a term she'd invented for words that no longer had meaning outside quotation marks. English was full of these empty words--"friend" and "real" and "story" and "change"-...
This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit ...
Shark!" I yelled as my feet hit the wet sand. "There's a shark out there! Everyone get out of the water!" Man, you want to see humans move fast? Scream that on a crowded beach and watch what happens. Its amazing the fear people have for a scaly, shar...
God's fundamental goal for believers is not to protect us from harm or suffering, to make us comfortable, or to benefit from our service. You can biblically sum up God's primary aim for your whole life in one uncomfortable word: change. Ironic as it ...
Can you hold a red-hot iron rod in your hand merely because some one wants you to do so? Then, will it be right on your part to ask others to do the same thing just to satisfy your desires? If you cannot tolerate infliction of pain on your body or mi...
Thus Arthur achieved the adventure of the sword that day and entered into his birthright of royalty. Wherefore, may God grant His Grace unto you all that ye too may likewise succeed in your undertakings. For any man may be a king in that life in whic...
That obstinate sense of independence was the biggest challenge I face in building my little house (that, and not always knowing what I was doing). I was stubborn in the way I hated to ask for help. Some people are good at it, asking friends or their ...
Eden Ashe > Quotes > Quotable Quote(edit) “She shifted in his pocket, pressing her back against his chest. "It's iron." Instead of walking into the elevator, he glanced down at her. If he kept craning his neck this way, he was going to have a hell ...
They always loved my sense of humor. There used to be a light switch inside one of the nurseries that was a cutout of Jesus putting his arm around two children on each side of him as he towered above them. The switch was ironically located in the spo...
Rufus T. Firefly: Chicolini, I need you badly right now. What'll ya' take to come back and work for me again? Chicolini: I'll take a vacation. Rufus T. Firefly: Good. You're hired!... Now, go out on that battlefield and lead those men to victory. Go ...
Virginia 'Pepper' Potts: [after Stark's one night stand with Christine] I have your clothes here; they've been dry cleaned and pressed. And there's a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you'd like to go. Christine Everheart: You m...
Tony Stark: [playing Craps] We're gonna let it ride! Give me a hand, will you? Give me a little something-something. [woman blows on his dice] Tony Stark: Okay, you too. Rhodey: I don't blow on a man's dice. Tony Stark: Come on, honey bear. [Rhodey t...
Carson Wells: [Wells sits back and studies Moss] What do you do? Llewelyn Moss: I'm retired. Carson Wells: What did you do? Llewelyn Moss: Welder. Carson Wells: Acetylene? Mig? Tig? Llewelyn Moss: Any of it. If it can be welded I can weld it. Carson ...
Tony Stark: You're good on this end. The rest is up to you. Pepper Potts: [on the other line] You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid? Tony Stark: Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy. Pepper Pott...
[Quintas Arrius wakes up, chained, on ship debris; the chain is held by Judah] Quintus Arrius: Why did you save me? Judah Ben-Hur: Why did you have me unchained? [they struggle briefly, Arrius is overpowered; he looks at the shackle on Judah's ankle]...
