The government decides to try to increase the middle class by subsidizing things that middle class people have: If middle-class people go to college and own homes, then surely if more people go to college and own homes, we’ll have more middle-class...
I see a vision of a great rucksack revolution thousands or even millions of young Americans wandering around with rucksacks, going up to mountains to pray, making children laugh and old men glad, making young girls happy and old girls happier, all of...
This Christmas mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Ap...
When my head is in the typewriter the last thing on my mind is some imaginary reader. I don’t have an audience; I have a set of standards. But when I think of my work out in the world, written and published, I like to imagine it’s being read by s...
Also, I’m not going to be devastated or anything either way. I’m not that kind of person. I just think if you don’t say the honest thing, sometimes the honest thing never becomes true, you know, and I—” she says, but then I hold up my finge...
My dad was always snoozing on the couch, like Dagwood Bumstead. He was a lazy motherfucker. God bless him. He was always working on some kind of get-rich-quick scheme. This is what my dad was like: I'd say, Hey, Dad, we studied penguins today in scho...
Be the kind of person that others admire, can count on, trust and enjoy spending time with. After you have developed that reputation, people will start to ask you what you do, and will want to work with you on the things that matter. When you focus o...
Saying 'I notice you're a nerd' is like saying, 'Hey, I notice that you'd rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you'd rather be thoughtful than be vapid, that you believe that there are things that matter more than the arrest record of Lindsay L...
Over the years, I have noticed that the child who learns quickly is adventurous. She's ready to run risks. She approaches life with arms outspread. She wants to take it all in. She still has the desire of the very young child to make sense out of thi...
Every man on earth is sick with the fever of sin, with the blindness of sin and is overcome with its fury. As sins consist mostly of malice and pride, it is necessary to treat everyone who suffers from the malady of sin with kindness and love. This i...
Emmeline Finch: Oh Russell, I feel sick. J. Russell Finch: Now take it easy honey, these things happen ya know. Mrs. Marcus: Now what kind of an attitude is that, "these things happen"? They only happen because this whole country is just full of peop...
Third Cab Driver: Can't you see I'm talking on the phone? Huh? Give me two minutes! Now listen to me, Sir, I... [Looks back at Melville] Melville Crump: Will you take us to Santa Rosita state park? Third Cab Driver: What's the matter, what happened t...
Project Leader: [over a loudspeaker at The Dark Side of the Moon] Could we have the lights in the arena down 60 percent, please... 60 percent. [the lights go down and running lights turn on one at a time up the runway] Project Leader: I don't think w...
Reverend Clement Hedges: To kill such a creature will require nerves of steel and... a bullet! [lightning strikes] Lord Victor Quartermaine: A bullet? [lightning strikes] Reverend Clement Hedges: A bullet! [lightning strikes] Lord Victor Quartermaine...
Boolie Werthan: What I need is for somebody to drive my mother around Hoke Colburn: Well, if you don' mind my askin', sir, how come she's not hirin' for herself? Boolie Werthan: See, it's kind of a delicate situation. Hoke Colburn: Oh, yessir, yessir...
Simon: Is there a detective named McClane there? Inspector Cobb: He's on suspension. Simon: No, Walter, he's not. Not today. Inspector Cobb: Who is this? Simon: Call me Simon. Inspector Cobb: What do you want? Simon: I want to play a game. Inspector ...
General Paulus: My army is not designed for this kind of fighting. Yesterday, yet again I had to promote 25 sergeants to replace the officers shot down by the sharpshooters. Those snipers are demoralizing my people. This city is no more than a heap o...
[In the Whammy Burger] Bill Foster: Why am I calling you by your first names? I don't even know you. I still call my boss "Mister", and I've been working for him for seven years, but all of a sudden I walk in here and I'm calling you Rick and Sheila ...
Jack Lucas: [drunk and talking to the Pinocchio doll] You ever read any Nietzsche? Nietzsche says there's two kinds of people in the world: people who are destined for greatness like Walt Disney... and Hitler. Then there's the rest of us, he called u...
[first lines] Bill: The following is my explanation. Well, more of an account of what happened. I'd been on my own for a while and getting kind of lonely... and bored... nothing to do all day. And that's when I started shadowing. The Policeman: Shado...
Matt Drayton: When I had ice cream before, I had a special kind of flavor that I liked very much but I can't remember what it was. Carhop: I'll bring you the list, sir. Matt Drayton: Oh no. You - you must know what it is. Carhop: Daquiri Ice, Honeyco...
