I think as the world changes, we have to keep up. We have to note what is happening, and I think writing has always had a powerful corrective influence and possibility. We have to write about what's good, and we also have to write about parts of our ...
Grace cannot be confused with righteousness. Grace is receiving what we do not deserve; mercy is not receiving what we do deserve. Righteousness, on the other hand, includes what most of us would consider difficult matters, such as punishment, correc...
Speak as educated nature suggests to you, and you will do well, but let it be educated and not raw, rude, uncultivated nature. Demosthenes took unbounded pains with his voice, and Cicero, who was naturally weak, made a long journey into Greece to cor...
A monomaniac is a sick person whose mentality is perfectly healthy in all respects but one; he has a single flaw, clearly localized. At times, for example, he has an unreasonable and absurd desire to drink or steal or use abusive language; but all hi...
If the rules of a language are followed, words usually make sense. But these very rules can stir the impulse to rebel. We're obliged to keep trying to convey meaning through correct sentences. After a while, the good-soldier rigidity of polished pros...
Doc Morris: Wow, this isn't an act, is it? You really aren't a pleasant person. Hank Palmer: Right now? I'm a summer breeze. Once I subpoena you, get you on the stand and extract the truth from your ass like tree sap THEN you'll realize in THAT momen...
Archivist: The report said Commander Chang was killed in the assault. Sonmi-451: That is correct. Archivist: Would you say that you loved him? Sonmi-451: Yes, I do. Archivist: Do you mean, you are still, in love with him? Sonmi-451: I mean, that I wi...
Billy Ray: [posing as "Nenge Mboko," an exchange student from Cameroon] Merry New Year! Beeks: That's "happy." In this country we say "Happy New Year." Billy Ray: Oh, ho, ho, thank you for correcting my English which stinks!
Take stock of your thoughts and behavior. Each night ask yourself, when were you negative when you could have been positive? When did you withhold love when you might have given it? When did you play a neurotic game instead of behaving in a powerful ...
I send my friends e-mail messages about the progress of my garden, especially of my roses. It left them with the impression, I think, that I was concerned with nothing else. I felt no urgency in correcting that notion. People obsessed with their gard...
Politics is the reflex of the business and industrial world.
Politics is a highly tribal business.
Politics is the enemy of the imagination.
Money in politics is a huge issue.
In Pakistan politics is hereditary.
Politics is not really my thing.
I'm not a big politics guy.
Politics is not a world for the squeamish or fainthearted.
Politics is not about power.
To me, politics is a pile of tricks.
I have not the smarts or patience for political office.
