You'd like Freedom, Truth, and Justice, wouldn't you, Comrade Sergeant?' said Reg encouragingly. 'I'd like a hard-boiled egg,' said Vimes, shaking the match out. There was some nervous laughter, but Reg looked offended. 'In the circumstances, Sergean...
We sat like that for a long time, until a discrete knock at the half-open door broke us apart. Lissa stood in the doorway. "Sorry," she said, her face shining with joy when she saw me. "Should have put a sock on the door. Didn't realize that things w...
Everyone asks me how I got started into writing. I wish I had some cool story to tell, but the truth is pretty lame. My wife and I were having a drink on our back porch and I mentioned a concept I'd been mulling over. She suggested that I write it do...
For a moment I am jealous: He has grown up here, fearless, happy. Perhaps he will never even know about the world on the other side of the fence, the real world. For him there will be no such thing. But there will also be no medicine for him when he ...
I held a brief debate with myself as to whether I should change my ordinary attire for something smarter. At last I concluded it would be a waste of labour. "Doubtless," though I, "she is some stiff old maid ; for though the daughter of Madame Reuter...
Suddenly a force greater than my common sense—which, I’ll admit, has been pretty faulty lately, propels me—and I find myself creeping up the long staircase to the forbidden second floor. I need to see Michael’s room. I need to find out if he ...
So I suggested to Dimitri that maybe he should let me off this time. He laughed, and I was pretty sure it was at me and not with me. Rose Hathaway: "Why is that funny?” Dimitri Belikov: "Oh, You were serious.” Rose Hathaway: "Of course I was! Loo...
It was a pretty sight, and a seasonable one, that met their eyes when they flung the door open. In the fore-court, lit by the dim rays of a horn lantern, some eight or ten little field-mice stood in a semicircle, red worsted comforters round their th...
Once upon a time, my government turned my city into a police state, kidnapped me, and tortured me. When I got free, I decided that the problem wasn’t the system, but who was running it. Bad guys had gotten into places of high office. We needed good...
I'm also old... and my own gift for writing fantasy grows out of very literal-minded, pragmatic soil: the things I do when I'm not telling stories have always been pretty three-dimensional. I used to say that the only strong attraction reality ever h...
Ancient philosophy was framed by prodigies, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. And even though their thoughts were deemed the aristocratic voice, they also had a thing for little boys. Katherine the Great so it's been said, needed large animals to be ful...
[Jürgen Habermas' obituary to friend and philosopher, Richard Rorty] One small autobiographical piece by Rorty bears the title 'Wild Orchids and Trotsky.' In it, Rorty describes how as a youth he ambled around the blooming hillside in north-west New...
Colin Sullivan: I can get the rat. You just gotta let me do it my way, Frank. Frank Costello: Okay. [hands Sullivan "Citizens Trust" envelope] Frank Costello: But Colin - I hope I don't have to remind you that if you don't find that cheese-eating rat...
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard: Doctor Nichols, you really want to help him? You really want to be his friend? Then you'll help us bring him in, unharmed. Dr. Charles Nichols: Why? So he can go back to prison? Tsk, tsk, tsk. If you want help, gentlemen...
Cineplex Manager: What the hell is wrong with you? Enid: What? I was just joking around with the customers. It's my schtick. Cineplex Manager: Well, lose it! And why aren't you pushing the larger sizes? Didn't you get training about upsizing? Enid: Y...
Professor Lupin: Come in. Now, I haven't the faintest idea Harry how this map came to be in your possession, quite frankly I am astounded that you didn't hand it in. Did it never occur to you that this in the hands of Sirius Black is a map to you? Ha...
Kevin McCallister: Everyone in this family *hates* me! Kate McCallister: Then maybe you should ask Santa for a new family. Kevin McCallister: I don't want another family. I don't want any family. Families suck! Kate McCallister: Just stay up there. I...
Eddie Morra: [at a party] ... Well sure, you'd get a short-term spike, but wouldn't that rapid expansion devalue the stock completely in two years? Kevin Doyle: No, 'cause there are safeguards! Eddie Morra: Against aggressive overexpansion? There are...
Celia: Oh, Michael, I've had a lot of birthdays - well, not a lot of birthdays but this is the best birthday ever. [Mike stares lovingly at her] Celia: What are you looking at? Mike: I was just thinking about the first time I laid eye on you, how pre...
[speaking to Billy Fish in Kafiri] Billy Fish: Ootah say take your pick. He have twenty three daughters. Danny: Those are his daughters? Why the dirty old beggar! Peachy Carnehan: Now, now Danny. Different countries, different ways. He's only being h...
Peter Brand: [Sleeping. His phone rings, waking him up] Hello? Billy Beane: Pete? It's Billy Beane. Peter Brand: Wh-what time is it? Billy Beane: I don't know. Pete, would you have drafted me in the first round? Peter Brand: What? Billy Beane: After ...
