Economists often talk about the 80/20 Principle, which is the idea that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the “work” will be done by 20 percent of the participants. In most societies, 20 percent of criminals commit 80 percent of crimes. Twen...
Then I didn’t think much about it, I just did it. I started wearing some of the things he left behind, especially his bathrobe, some shirts too, but only in the house. I read his books, I am embarrassed at this. I also did some things to the place ...
We all are secret-keepers in our intimate relationships. We keep secrets from our partners about daily encounters, former lovers, true feelings about sex, friends, in-laws, finances, personal hopes, and worries about work, health, love, and life. It ...
We are one knot in a great web of being, building out of the vast past and (with luck) continuing billions of years into the future, until the sun dies, the last of its energy reaches Earth, and our local light goes out. The most appropriate response...
It had nothing to do with gear or footwear or the backpacking fads or philosophies of any particular era or even with getting from point A to point B. It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles with no re...
I had to go back and reread the page a few times. As I read it, I kept drifting out of the book, out of the booth, and coasting on the green crest of the song, to the momentary idea that any point on Earth was mine for the visiting, that I'd lucked o...
Oh God just look at me now... one night opens words and utters pain... I cannot begin to explain to you... this... I am not here. This is not happening. Oh wait, it is, isn't it? I am a ghost. I am not here, not really. You see skin and cuts and frai...
It was the merit of Gestalt psychology to make us aware of the remarkable performance involved in perceiving shapes. Take, for example, a ball or an egg: we can see their shapes at a glance. Yet suppose that instead of the impression made on our eye ...
Life, if you keep chasing it so hard, will drive you to death. Time - when pursued like a bandit - will behave like one, always remaining one county or one room ahead of you, changing its name and hair color to elude you, slipping out the back door o...
Sean: Do you like books? Will: Yeah. Sean: [points to wall] Did you read any of these books? Will: I don't know. Sean: [points to shelf] How about any of these books? Will: Probably not. Sean: What about the ones on the top shelf? You read those? Wil...
Tom Stall: [seeing that Leland and Orser mean trouble] Sir, we don't - we don't carry much cash here. You gentlemen are certainly welcome to all of it. Leland Jones: Oh, I know that, asshole. Believe me. I... do... [Leland pulls his gun and points it...
Budd: Larry, there ain't nobody out there! Larry Gomez: [strung-out tone] "There ain't nobody out there... Larry." What's your point? That you're not needed here? Budd: My point is, I'm the bouncer... and there ain't nobody out there to bounce! Larry...
Judith: [on Stan's desire to be a mother] Here! I've got an idea: Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb - which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans' - but that he can have the *right* to have babies. Francis: Good...
School Principal: You can kiss Eden goodbye! Trouble awaits you... [points to Sophie] School Principal: You, my dear, in pain shall you bring forth children, wear high heels, suffer through dieting, exfoliation, face-lifts, and what's more, you'll ha...
Vinny Gambini: Mr. Tipton. When you viewed the defendants walking from their car into the Sac-o-Suds, what angle was your point of view? Mr. Tipton: They was kinda walking toward me when they entered the store. Vinny Gambini: And when they left, what...
Jellon Lamb: Forgive me, sir, but I've been stuck here with no one but this sorry sack of Hibernian pig shit for conversation. Poor, poor Dan O'Reilly. Sit, sir. Drink with me. [Charlie cocks his gun and points it to Lamb] Charlie Burns: One more cra...
English Bob: [discussing the assassination of President Garfield] Well there's a dignity royalty. A majesty that precludes the likelihood of assassination. If you were to point a pistol at a king or a queen your hands would shakes as though palsied. ...
[a butler passes by] Miss Claudia Caswell: Oh, waiter! Addison DeWitt: That is not a waiter, my dear, that is a butler. Miss Claudia Caswell: Well, I can't yell "Oh butler!" can I? Maybe somebody's name is Butler. Addison DeWitt: You have a point. An...
Tana would sit near the door to the basement with fingers in her ears, tears and snot running down her face as she cried and cried and cried. And little Pearl would toddle up, crying, too. They cried while they ate their cereal, cried while they watc...
Magnus gave Alec a sidelong look as they climbed the rickety stairs. Alec caught the glance, and his breathing quickened; his blue eyes were bright. Alec bit his lower lip, and Magnus stopped walking. It was only a momentary hesitation. But then Alec...
She looked up and their eyes locked. “Want to be my birthday present?” she asked in a breathy whisper. Chase’s mother didn’t raise any fools. He released her hips and trailed his hand down her arm until their fingers entwined. “Let’s get ...
