The whole tendency of modern life is towards scientific planning and organisation, central control, standardisation, and specialisation. If this tendency was left to work itself out to its extreme conclusion, one might expect to see the state transfo...
Being born a woman is my awful tragedy. From the moment I was conceived I was doomed to sprout breasts and ovaries rather than penis and scrotum; to have my whole circle of action, thought and feeling rigidly circumscribed by my inescapable feminity....
As Donilon [President Obama's security advisor] would tell me, Obama said: "Here's the deal. I want this hunt for Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to come to the front of the line. I worry that the trail has gone cold. This has to be our top priority ...
[listening to BBC reporter Hugh Elder's broadcast on the radio] Jon Swain: Where do they get this crap? Al Rockoff: That guy across the gate there. The little guy. Could we all not look at once, please? I have it on reliable sources that that's none ...
Pi Patel: For castaways who must share their lifeboats with large, dangerous carnivores, it is advisable to establish a territory as your own. The following course of action is recommended. Step one: Choose a day when waves are moderate, but regular....
[Dutch is talking to the General] Dutch: So why don't you use the regular army? What do you need us for? Dillon: 'Cause some damn fool accused you of being the best. [Dutch turns around and sees Dillon sitting in a chair in another room] Dutch: Dillo...
[Susan is pretending to be a mobster] David Huxley: Constable, she's making all this up out of motion pictures she's seen! Susan Vance: Oh, I suppose I saw you with that red-headed skirt in a motion picture ? Constable Slocum: There you are doc - ano...
I was deluded, and I knew it. Worse: my love for Pippa was muddied-up below the waterline with my mother, with my mother's death, with losing my mother and not being able to get her back. All that blind, infantile hunger to save and be saved, to repe...
Don't we all have a certain number of images that stay around in our head, which we undoubtedly call memories and improperly so, and which we can never get rid of because they return in our sky with the regularity of a comet - torn away also from a w...
Tell her I'm sorry I sold the diamond, eh?" Sammy said. "I broke my promise. When she disappeared in Alaska... ah, so long ago, I finally used that diamond, moved to Texas as I always dreamed. I started my machine shop. Started my family! It was a go...
Host-TV: Quite a story, yes? Any questions for Edward? Yeah, get way over. Stand right up. Audience Member #1: What's been the best part of your new life here in town? Edward: The friends I made. Host-TV: Any other questions? Audience Member #2: Have...
Angela Hayes: I'm serious. He just pulled down his pants and yanked it out. You know, like, "Say hello to Mr. Happy." Playground Girl #1: Gross. Angela Hayes: It wasn't gross. It was kinda cool. Playground Girl #1: So did you do it with him? Angela H...
Q: Where and when do you do your writing? A: Any small room with no natural light will do. As for when, I have no particular schedules... afternoons are best, but I'm too lethargic for any real regime. When I'm in the flow of something I can do a reg...
Along the way I stopped into a coffee shop. All around me normal, everyday city types were going about their normal, everyday affairs. Lovers were whispering to each other, businessmen were poring over spread sheets, college kids were planning their ...
There came an awful day when I picked up the phone and knew at once, as one does with some old friends even before they speak, that it was Edward. He sounded as if he were calling from the bottom of a well. I still thank my stars that I didn't say wh...
[Agent Monk has kidnapped the mayor] Agent Monk: You. I'm gonna tell you a story. A kid named Homer Wilkes lives 30 miles north of here. He'd just taken his girlfriend home and was walking along the road. A truck pulls up beside him. Four white boys ...
