What does it take to break a person? Torturers and interrogators would be able to provide statistics. This many nights without sleep, this many needles, this much water, this voltage of current on this many occasions. But there is considerable variat...
But can one be a blessing merely by being cheerful? Yes; moral beauty of any kind exerts a silent influence for good. It is like a sweet flower by the wayside, which has a benediction for everyone who passes by. A legend tells how one day in Galilee ...
Now, the invention of the scientific method and science is, I'm sure we'll all agree, the most powerful intellectual idea, the most powerful framework for thinking and investigating and understanding and challenging the world around us that there is,...
The potential for loss of soul--to one degree or another--is the affliction of a society that as a collective has lost its sense of the holy, of a culture that values everything else above the spiritual. We live in such a spiritually impoverished cul...
Nationalism and socialism as actually lived and applied in the 20th century are the same thing (and in the 18th and 19th century, nationalism was often a force for classical liberalism!). It’s all a kind of reactionary tribalism (another “ism” ...
M: You've got a bloody cheek! James Bond: Sorry. I'll shoot the camera first next time. M: Or yourself. You stormed into an Embassy. You violated the only absolutely inviolate rule of international relations, and why? So you could kill a nobody. We w...
Frank Morris: Something special about those steps? English: The higher you sit, the more status you got. So we kind of play King of the Mountain. Except here we don't play for fun, man. Frank Morris: And you're King? English: Yeah. [Morris walks down...
Mr. Fox: Ash, are you mad at me? I understand if you are and I'm sorry; I wouldn't have ever involved your cousin if I had realized you would feel this way. It was only ever just because he's kind of a natural... I mean... I mean look at him dig! [Vi...
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Where the hell are you from anyway, private? Private Cowboy: Sir, Texas, sir. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Holy dog shit! Texas? Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy, and you don't look much like a steer to me...
Don Zaluchi: I also don't believe in drugs. For years I paid my people extra so they wouldn't do that kind of business. Somebody comes to them and says, "I have powders; if you put up three, four thousand dollar investment, we can make fifty thousand...
Peeta Mellark: Katniss, I don't... I don't know kind of deals you made with Haymitch, but he made me promises too. [Pulls off the necklace from around his neck] Peeta Mellark: If you die, and I live, I'd have nothing. Nobody else that I care about. K...
Radagast: The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf. A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows anymore, at least nothing good. The air is fouled decay, but worst are the webs. Gandalf: Webs? What do you mean? Radagast: Spiders, Gandalf. Giant ones. Some kind...
Maude: I should like to change into a sunflower most of all. They're so tall and simple. What flower would you like to be? Harold: I don't know. One of these, maybe. Maude: Why do you say that? Harold: Because they're all alike. Maude: Oooh, but they...
Clarissa Vaughn: All right Richard, do me one simple favor. Come. Come sit. Richard Brown: I don't think I can make it to the party, Clarissa. Clarissa Vaughn: You don't have to go to the party, you don't have to go to the ceremony, you don't have to...
Smaug: You seem familiar with my name, but I don't remember smelling your kind before. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask? Bilbo Baggins: I come from under the hill... Smaug: Underhill? Bilbo Baggins: ...and under hills and over hills ...
Vincent Hanna: Seven years in Folsom. In the hole for three. McNeil before that. McNeil as tough as they say? Neil McCauley: You lookin' to become a penologist? Vincent Hanna: You lookin' to go back? You know, I chased down some crews; guys just look...
Toyo: What help am I? Kanji: You - just to look at you makes me feel better. It warms this - this mummy's heart of mine. And you're so kind to me. No; that's not it. You're so young, so healthy. No; that's not it either... You're so full of life. And...
George Bailey: Well, you look about the kind of angel I'd get. Sort of a fallen angel, aren't you? What happened to your wings? Clarence: I haven't won my wings, yet. That's why I'm called an Angel Second Class. I have to earn them. And you'll help m...
Crown Prince Leopold: You're late. Chief Inspector Uhl: My apologies, your Highness. I was attending to loose ends of the case. Crown Prince Leopold: Are there still loose ends? Chief Inspector Uhl: Very few. Crown Prince Leopold: Did he do it again?...
Virginia 'Pepper' Potts: You are supposed to be halfway around the world by now. Tony Stark: How'd she take it? Virginia 'Pepper' Potts: Like a champ. Tony Stark: Why are you trying to hustle me out of here? Virginia 'Pepper' Potts: Your flight was s...
Quint: [seeing Hooper's equipment] What are you? Some kind of half-assed astronaut? [examining the shark cage] Quint: Jesus H Christ, when I was a boy, every little squirt wanted to be a harpooner or a sword fisherman. What d'ya have there - a portab...