The picture of Mother Teresa that I remember from my childhood is of a short, sari-wearing woman scurrying down a red gravel path between manicured lawns. She would have in tow one or two slower-footed, sari-clad young Indian nuns. We thought her a f...
We are the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences – be they positive or negative – make us the person we are, at any given point in our lives. And, like a flowing river, those same experiences, and those yet to come, continue to influenc...
Written over the gate here are the words 'Leave every hope behind, ye who enter.' Only think what a relief that is! For what is hope? A form of moral responsibility. Here there is no hope, and consequently no duty, no work, nothing to be gained by pr...
We may not know what lies ahead of us in the future years, nor even in the days or hours immediately beyond. But for a few yards, or possibly only a few feet, the track is clear, our duty is plain, our course is illumined. For that short distance, fo...
How many of us stop short of success on purpose? How many of us sabotage our own happiness because failure, while miserable, is a fear we're familiar with? Success, however, dreams come true, are a whole new kind of terrifying, an entire new species ...
When you've got a thing to say, Say it! Don't take half a day. When your tale's got little in it Crowd the whole thing in a minute! Life is short--a fleeting vapor-- Don't you fill the whole blamed paper With a tale which, at a pinch, Could be corner...
Nor do we merely feel these essences for one short hour no, even as these trees that whisper round a temple become soon dear as the temples self, so does the moon, the passion posey, glories infinite, Haunt us till they become a cheering light unto o...
[last lines] Private Joker: [voice-over] My thoughts drift back to erect nipple wet dreams about Mary Jane Rottencrotch and the Great Homecoming Fuck Fantasy. I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece and short. I'm in a world of shit... yes. But I...
Colonel Smithers: [Referring to the gold bar on the dining room table] Mr. Bond can make whatever use of it he deems necessary... provided he returns it, of course. It's worth five thousand pounds. [Bond reaches for the bar, but M stops him short] M:...
[Willie goes to the front of the plane, and sees the cockpit is empty] Willie: Oh, no... oh, no... [Runs back and starts shaking Indy awake] Willie: Mister! Mister! Oh, Mister, wake up! Short Round: [waking up] You call him Dr. Jones, doll! Willie: O...
Rohit Patel: I want to get married, I want to have children, and... Kurzon bhai Patel: [concerned as he predicts his son being gay] Children? Is that possible? Rohit Patel: Of course it's possible! Why is it not possible? [short pause] Kurzon bhai Pa...
[first lines] Writer: So, you were raised in a zoo? Adult Pi Patel: Born and raised. In Pondicherry, in what was the French part of India. My father owned the zoo, and I was delivered on short notice by a herpetologist, who was there to check on the ...
Jonathan Mardukas: What's the name of this establishment? Red Wood: Red's Corner Bar. Jonathan Mardukas: Are you Red? Red Wood: Yes. Jonathan Mardukas: Do you dye your hair? Red Wood: No. [pause] Jonathan Mardukas: Why do they call you Red? Red Wood:...
[Waddington walks in to the Fanes' new house] Waddington: You must be the doctor's wife. I've just met your husband and invited myself to dinner. I've kept the Watsons' cook for you - she's not bad. She'll have to do for your amah as well. We're a li...
Princess Fiona: The sooner we get to Duloc, the better! Donkey: Oh, you gonna love it there, Princess, it's beautiful! Princess Fiona: And my groom-to-be Lord Farquaad, what's he like? Shrek: Well, let me put it this way, Princess: men of his stature...
Wolverine: What did she do to me...? Prof. Charles Francis Xavier: Whenever Rogue touches someone, she takes their energy: their life force. In the case of mutants, she absorbs their gifts for a short while; in your case your ability to heal. Wolveri...
Hanbei Kitou: Who are you? You're no samurai. Koyata: So what? Do only samurai matter in this world? I thought samurai would be fun but you bore me. You're useless, even more useless in great numbers. Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira: [stabs him] This man s...
Michael: So you're going to ballet every week? Billy: Aye, but don't say owt. Michael: Do you get to wear a tutu? Billy: Fuck off, they're only for lasses. I wear me shorts. Michael: You ought to ask for a tutu? Billy: I'd look a right dickhead. Mich...
Alma Jr., Age 13: Daddy, tell about when you rode broncs in the rodeo. Ennis Del Mar: Short story honey. Only 'bout three seconds I was on that bronc. Next thing I knew, I was flyin' through the air... only I wasn't no angel like you and Jenny here; ...
Short stories have no net. The writer cannot take a leisurely sixty pages to get things moving, or make a side trip onto a barely related subject, or slack off in the last forty pages. Everything is right now, right here, in the reader's grasp and mi...
Strange is our situation here on Earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other ...
