If T. S. Eliot had stayed in St Louis, he would never have held that April was the cruelest month. Well, unless he was a Browns fan. At this moment, in the ragged middle of February, it begins: beneath the snow, roots quicken. In the Deep South, alre...
Grief is a stern teacher, but I am confident I could not have learned some lessons in any other way. For that, I am grateful. Grateful to God for loving me enough to stretch me and push me and crush me, to refine me in the furnace of affliction, to f...
There were place cards at the head table, which was one long, rectangular thing that would have everyone facing the reception room. I sat at the one marked Chritine Russell. Randy say to my left, with Denise to his right. To my right read Chris Pin. ...
Magnus remembered a town in Peru whose Quechua name meant “quiet place.” He recalled even more vividly being obscenely drunk and unhappy over his heartbreak of that time, and the maudlin thoughts that had recurred to him over the years, like an u...
In foreign policy, a modest acceptance of fate will often lead to discipline rather than indifference. The realization that we cannot always have our way is the basis of a mature outlook that rests on an ancient sensibility, for tragedy is not the tr...
[The haggadah] was made to teach, and it will continue to teach. And it might teach a lot more than just the Exodus story." What do you mean?" Well, from what you've told me, the book has survived the same human disaster over and over again. Think ab...
In his entire output, I can find only one piece of genuine unfairness: a thuggish attack on the poetry of WH Auden, whom he regarded as a dupe of the Communist Party. But even this was softened in some later essays. The truth is that he disliked Aude...
There may not be a hell, but those who judge may create one. I think people are over-taught. They are over-taught everything. You have to find out by what happens to you, how you will react. I’ll have to use a strange term here… “good.” I don...
The hardcore drug addicts that I treat, are, without exception, people who have had extraordinarily difficult lives. The commonality is childhood abuse. These people all enter life under extremely adverse circumstances. Not only did they not get what...
The sage of Nazareth may satisfy those who have never faced the problem of evil in their own lives; but to talk about an ideal to those who are under the thralldom of sin is a cruel mockery. Yet if Jesus was merely a man like the rest of men, then an...
When They Die We Change Our Minds About Them When they die we change our minds about them. While they live we see the plenty hard they’re trying,to be a star, or nice, or wise, and so we do not quite believe them. When they die, suddenly they are w...
[Jerry and an irate customer argue over a sealant that the customer had previously indicated he didn't want, after Jerry has gone off to pretend to talk to his boss] Jerry Lundegaard: Well, we've never done this before. But seeing as it's special cir...
Billy Batts: Hey Jimmy! What's right is right. You understand what I'm talking about? Jimmy Conway: It's all right. It's all right. Billy Batts: No. The kid's over here. We're hugging and kissing over here. And two minutes later, he's acting like a f...
[Chunk drinks from a water cooler while the others try to figure out how to get through the floor] Mouth: I've got an idea. Why don't we just spread chocolate all over the floor and let Chunk eat his way through? Chunk: Okay, Mouth. I've taken all I ...
Chiaki Mamiya: [the teacher Fukushima has arrived late] It's our lucky day Makoto Konno: No, It's my lucky day Chiaki Mamiya: And that, Why? Makoto Konno: [Voice-over] People say that when you have a bad day, nothing will go fine. But that is not for...
Umpire: No ball! Capt. Russell: [as he and Yardley, slightly incredulous, go over to the umpire] What? Umpire: No ball! Yardley: You're kidding me... Capt. Russell: "No ball"? What do you mean, "no ball"? Umpire: His foot was over the line. Capt. Rus...
Clare Quilty: She's a yellow belt. I'm a green belt. That's the way nature made it. What happens is, she throws me all over the place. Swine: She throws you all over the place? Clare Quilty: Yes. What she does, she gets me in a, sort of, thing called...
[Frank Drebin walks through town] Frank: [narrating] The attempt on Nordberg's life left me shaken and disturbed, and all the questions kept coming up over and over again, like bubbles in a case of club soda. Who was this character in the hospital? A...
Chief Bromden: My pop was real big. He did like he pleased. That's why everybody worked on him. The last time I seen my father, he was blind and diseased from drinking. And every time he put the bottle to his mouth, he didn't suck out of it, it sucke...
Nurse Ratched: Aren't you ashamed? Billy: No, I'm not. [Applause from friends] Nurse Ratched: You know Billy, what worries me is how your mother is going to take this. Billy: Um, um, well, y-y-y-you d-d-d-don't have to t-t-t-tell her, Miss Ratched. N...
The Count: To all our listeners, this is what I have to say - God bless you all. And as for you bastards in charge, don't dream it's over. Years will come, years will go, and politicians will do fuck all to make the world a better place. But all over...
