Productivity is a relative matter. And it's really insignificant: What is ultimately important is a writer's strongest books. It may be the case that we all must write many books in order to achieve a few lasting ones - just as a young writer or poet...
Reactionary conservatives are smiling through the racial apocalypse. To them, race baiting is a joke, as 'humorist' Rush Limbaugh will tell you when he's calling Mexicans 'stupid.' Or it's a matter of semantics when they claim that Sonia Sotomayor is...
A feeble body makes a feeble mind. I do not know what doctors cure us of, but I know this: they infect us with very deadly diseases, cowardice, timidity, credulity, the fear of death. What matter if they make the dead walk, we have no need of corpses...
She was around ten minutes late, as a matter of fact. I didn't give a damn, though. All that crap they have in cartoons in the Saturday Evening Post and all, showing guys on street corners looking sore as hell because their dates are late - that's bu...
As you get older; you've probably noticed that you tend to forget things. You'll be talking with somebody at a party, and you'll know that you know this person, but no matter how hard you try, you can't remember his or her name. This can be very emba...
Many people look at their past and bemoan their mistakes. Those errors in judgment, behavior, hurting others, and the wrong decisions may be what consumes them now. It does not have to be that way, for recovering from a traumatic situation is all a m...
Time does not really exist for mothers, with regard to their children. It does not matter greatly how old the child is-in the blink of an eye, a mother can see the child again as they were when they were born, when they learned how to walk, as they w...
There was all this talk when Obama got elected about how we were living in a postracial world. But we're not. Until we get to the point where James Earl Jones can play, say, George Washington, race matters. You wouldn't put a white actor in blackface...
South Carolina, as a matter of compromise, displays the Confederate flag on a flagpole in front of the state capitol. Because I grew up in the South and believe that the Confederate flag is a very divisive symbol, I have stated publicly a number of t...
When I listen to the complaints that follow just about every presidential debate, I'm reminded of the well-worn joke about the Jewish mother who buys her son two shirts. When he shows up at dinner wearing one, she says: 'What's the matter? You didn't...
Trials come to each of us. Living righteously does not mean that our lives will be free of problems or sorrow, but no matter what hardships we face we can always rely on Heavenly Father and His son. They will not forsake us, and They will give each o...
Christmases are never the same. They change from year to year, and they are never really perfect, no matter how hard we try to force them to be so. What is perfect is the miracle in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago and the love of God that continues to burs...
You don't need the iPhone: you have the most exquisite apparatus in the known universe sitting right in your head - the most complex organization of matter in the entire universe. And here are we, feeling a little depressed, feeling like we're not ge...
Elin: I use two grams of milk and five thousand kilograms of chocolate and it's always nearly black and then... then I usually pour in more milk but then the glass isn't big enough. Then I have to pour it into a bigger glass, or another glass, if the...
On Screen Text: [first lines, the text that appears on screen] In 1814, the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Elba, off the coast of Italy. Fearing an attempt to rescue him, his British captors would shoot anyone who came ...
[Of Victor Laszlo, who wants to escape from Casablanca] Captain Renault: No matter how clever he is, he still needs an exit visa... or I should say two? Rick: Why two? Captain Renault: He is traveling with a lady. Rick: He'll take one. Captain Renaul...
[first lines] Dora's Client: [dictating a letter] My darling, My heart belongs to you. No matter what you've done, I still love you. I love you. While you're locked in there all those years, I'll be locked up out here, waiting for you.
Mrs. Treves: I'm very pleased to meet you, Mr. Merrick. John Merrick: I'm very pleased... [John begins to cry] Dr. Frederick Treves: What is it, John? What's the matter? John Merrick: It's just that I-I'm not used to being treated so well by a beauti...
Deputy Sergeant Arthur Gault: [Preston sluices Rambo with a fire hose] Hey, Preston! Make sure you get him behind the ears! Ha-ha-ha-ha. [Mitch leaves in disgust] Deputy Sergeant Arthur Gault: What's the matter, Mitch? Don't you like water sports? [c...
Eva: I don't even know how this war started. It's just two sides that tripped each other way back. Who cares about the history behind it? I am my father's daughter, and when they call me to testify, I will protect my own, no matter what.
Trip: [addressing the 54th the night before battle] I ain't much about no prayin', now. I ain't never had no family, and... killed off my mama. Well, I just... Y'all's the onliest family I got. I love the 54th. Ain't even much a matter what happens t...
