I guess we're all, or most of us, the wards of that nineteenth-century science which denied existence to anything it could not measure or explain. The things we couldn't explain went right on but surely not with our blessing. We did not see what we c...
To the chefs who pioneered the nouvelle cuisine in France, the cuisine they were rebelling against looked timeless, primordial, old as the hills. But the cookbook record proves that the haute cuisine codified early in this century by Escoffier barely...
The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. When a religious scheme is shattered...it is not merely the vices that are let loose. The vices are, indeed, let loose, and they wande...
We must strive to be like the moon.' An old man in Kabati repeated this sentence often... the adage served to remind people to always be on their best behavior and to be good to others. [S]he said that people complain when there is too much sun and i...
Until recently, I was an ebook sceptic, see; one of those people who harrumphs about the “physical pleasure of turning actual pages” and how ebook will “never replace the real thing”. Then I was given a Kindle as a present. That shut me up. S...
William Shakespeare: 'Close up this din of hateful decay, decomposition of your witches' plot! You thieve my brains, consider me your toy, my doting doctor tells me I am not!' Lilith: No! Words of power! William Shakespeare: 'Foul Carrionite specters...
Or awa’ upon Islay, in January, the wind was honed to a cutting edge across the queer flatness of Loch Gorm and the strand and fields ’round. The roe deer had taken shelter in good time and the brown trout had sought deeper waters. An auld ram al...
In East Sussex, let us say, an old farm sleeps in sun-dapple, its oast-house with its cowls echoing the distant steeple of SS Andrew and Mary, Fletching, where de Montfort had prayed and Gibbon now sleeps out a sceptic’s eternity. The Sussex Weald ...
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weaknesses and lonliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and to ask yourself if you love them enough; t...
Last Saturday night I was in a club on the South Side of Chicago listening to live rock music and talking to a guitar playing veteran of the music scene in the city. He looked and talked like the musicians that I recall from my childhood; he was a th...
John Cooper Clarke: The colour scheme is fuckin' brown Everywhere in chicken town, The fuckin' pubs are fuckin' dull The fuckin' clubs are fuckin' full of fuckin' girls and fuckin' guys with fuckin' murder in their eyes, A fuckin' bloke gets fuckin' ...
M: Who the hell do they think they are? I report to the Prime Minister and even he's smart enough not to ask me what we do. Have you ever seen such a bunch of self-righteous, ass-covering prigs? They don't care what we do; they care what we get photo...
Gru: I have accepted a new job. Margo: Whoa! Really? Gru: Yes, I have been recruited by a top secret agency to go undercover and save the world! Edith: You're gonna be a spy? Gru: *That's* right, baby! Gru's back in the game with gadgets and weapons ...
Barton Keyes: Now that's enough out of you, Walter. Now get outta here before I throw my desk at you. [looks in his pocket for a match] Walter Neff: [takes a match of his own and lights Keyes' cigar] I love you, too. [voiceover] Walter Neff: I really...
[Caron calls London, Assistant Commisioner Mallinsion at 3:58 in the morning] Mallinson: I don't wish to sound rude, Inspector, but wouldn't it be better if this sort of routine inquiry could be conducted through the proper channels, preferably when ...
Davis: X 25 shows Code 6 with X 13. Orozco: You okay? Brian Taylor: [on radio] 13 X-ray 13 show. Mike Zavala: Transport this son of a bitch. Davis: Yeah, no problem. Mike Zavala: Check out this motherfucker's burner, bro. Dude he's got more bling tha...
Tyler Durden: If you could fight anyone, who would you fight? Narrator: I'd fight my boss, prob'ly. Tyler Durden: Really. Narrator: Yeah, why, who would you fight? Tyler Durden: I'd fight my dad. Narrator: I don't know my dad. I mean, I know him, but...
[Marlin and Dory are racing through the jellyfish forest. Marlin starts talking to himself] Marlin: So, we're cheating death now, that's what we're doing, and we're having fun at the same time, I can do this, just be careful... Dory: Yeah, be careful...
Hazel Grace Lancaster: Is this where you bring all your romantic conquests? Augustus Waters: Yeah, every last one of them. Which is probably why I'm still a virgin. Augustus Waters: You are not still a virgin! Are you really? Augustus Waters: Let me ...
[last lines] Raoul Duke: What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole lifestyle that he helped create. A generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old mystic fallacy of the acid culture:...
Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"? Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff. Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly. Dr Ray Stantz: Fir...