I mean, when I got to Brown, the place was riven, because you had older professors who were basically new critics and had been teaching a certain way for 30 years. And then you had this other gang who was down with the semiotic program. And as a stud...
I like to see people reunited, maybe that's a silly thing, but what can I say, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can't tell fast enough, the ears that aren't b...
Though I didn't quite plan it that way, I had my two sons at just about the same ages my mother saw me and my sister off to college, and my first novel was published when I was 46. This 'tardiness' isn't something I'm proud of, but I'm happy to be an...
So always avoid banality. That is, avoid illustrating the author's words and remarks. If you want to create a true masterpiece you must always avoid beautiful lies: the truths on the calender under each date you find a proverb or saying such as: "He ...
In what terms should we think of these beings, nonhuman yet possessing so very many human-like characteristics? How should we treat them? Surely we should treat them with the same consideration and kindness as we show to other humans; and as we recog...
Finally, Christians were accused of being subversive, for they refused to worship the emperor and thus destroyed the very fiber of society. The apologists answered that it was true that they refused to worship the emperor or any other creature, but t...
Let me just acknowlege that the function of grammar is to make language as efficent and clear and transparent as possible. But if we’re all constantly correcting each other’s grammar and being really snotty about it, then people stop talking beca...
Reading with an eye towards metaphor allows us to become the person we’re reading about, while reading about them. That’s why there is symbols in books and why your English teacher deserves your attention. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if the a...
It is back to basics here,’ Jason said. ‘What women seek to find in a man is dictated by evolution and the role of the man as a hunter gatherer. Women want a bad boy who will treat them well but not so well that they will have nothing to bitch ab...
There is a difference between what is wrong and what is evil. Evil is committed when clarity is taken away from what is clearly wrong, allowing wrong to be seen as less wrong, excusable, right, or an obligatory commandment of the Lord God Almighty. E...
I've always been a singer in my mind. Fronting a band is something I've never done because I've always done other things. It's something I want to do, and the more I do it, the more and more it feels very natural. I've always been a little timid and ...
I had to be right in never talking about what you could not change, and I had to make many people agree that I was right. None of them ever accused me of being responsible for what had happened to Phineas, either because they could not believe it or ...
Ray Arnold: [taking over Dennis Nedry's terminal which is covered in junk food wrappers] Look at this work station! [pushes the trash on the floor] Ray Arnold: What a complete slob! Muldoon: The raptor fences aren't out, are they? Ray Arnold: No, no....
Writing a book is a long and difficult process for me. I'm a slow writer, so I spend the year with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike in my head. I was thinking about this the other day. I wrote the first book in 1987. Literally every day since that time, Elvis...
Peter Joshua: Do we know each other? Reggie Lampert: Why, do you think we're going to? Peter Joshua: How would I know? Reggie Lampert: Because I already know an awful lot of people, so until one of them dies I couldn't possibly meet anyone else. Pete...
Jay: Yeah. Silent Bob, you're a rude motherfucker, you know that? But you're cute as hell. I could go down on you, suck you, line up three other guys, make like a circus seal. [Jay makes a rude head gesture and car horn honks] Jay: Ewww, you fucking ...
Pedrosa: What's up? Why do you want to know about our case? Fanning: Any unusual activity tonight? Pedrosa: Like what? Fanning: That relates to a series of murders in Wilshire Central or West Hollywood? Pedrosa: All quiet on the western front. Variou...
Father James Lavelle: He was a good man, your husband? Teresa: Yes. He was a good man. We had a very good life together. We loved each other very much. And now... he has gone. And that is not unfair. That is just what happened. But many people don't ...
[first lines] Graham: It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash...
Cat: You probably think this world is a dream come true. But you're wrong. The other Wybie told me so. Coraline Jones: That's nonsense. He can't talk. Cat: Perhaps not to you. We cats, however, have far superior senses than humans, and can see and sm...
Ace Rothstein: [voice-over; notices a couple of card counters] Now here's this guy reading the dealer's whole card and signaling his buddy at this table. [the signaler, using a small telegraph, types a morse code to his friend at the other table] Ace...
