A man who is not born with the novel-writing gift has a troublesome time of it when he tries to build a novel. I know this from experience. He has no clear idea of his story; in fact he has no story. He merely has some people in his mind, and an inci...
I spent the last Friday of summer vacation spreading hot, sticky tar across the roof of George Washington High. My companions were Dopey, Toothless, and Joe, the brain surgeons in charge of building maintenance. At least they were getting paid. I was...
The Master: Where's the TARDIS? The Doctor: Just stop. Just think. The Master: Kill him! I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is or the old man is dead. Wilfred: Don't tell him! The Master: I'll kill him right now! The Doctor: Actually th...
He got a good glass for six hundred dollars. His new job gave him leisure for stargazing. Often he bid me come and have a look Up the brass barrel, velvet black inside, At a star quaking in the other end. I recollect a night of broken clouds And unde...
Tame him? You can't tame a Tower rat--they're flea-bitten and vicious." "So are most men!" The girl smiled and stretched her cramped limbs. "Shall I tame one of them instead? They too make diverting pets, you know." Markham laughed nervously. "Wouldn...
There will be others, many others. You’ll try desperately to digest a single word through the acronym-laden gibberish, while beginning to wonder what the point of all this is, and also why you didn’t feel that staple you just sent into your thigh...
I watched 60 Minutes...and they showed this woman, she's in every kind of..thing like that. 'This woman', they say, 'she lost her first four children--died from malnutrition--and, now, she's afraid that her new six-month-old newborn twins will suffer...
Much of life, fatherhood included, is the story of knowledge acquired too late: if only I’d known then what I know now, how much smarter, abler, stronger, I would have been. But nothing really prepares you for kids, for the swells of emotion that r...
Kirk: Kirk to Enterprise. Spock: Spock here. Kirk: Captain Spock, damage report. Spock: Admiral, if we go "by the book". like Lieutenant Saavik, hours could seem like days. Kirk: I read you captain. Let's have it. Spock: The situation is grave, Admir...
Manny Cussins: Let's be honest, Brian. It's not working, is it? The players aren't happy. We're not happy. In truth, we should probably never have hired you without Peter Taylor. Brian Clough: So... what do you want to do about it? Manny Cussins: It'...
[a brawl takes place between Drax and Rocket] Drax the Destroyer: This vermin speaks of affairs he knows nothing about! Rocket Raccoon: That is true! Drax the Destroyer: He has no respect! Rocket Raccoon: That is also true! Keep callin' me vermin tou...
Cohn: Do you think they've got any chance at all, sir? Commodore Jensen: Frankly, no. Not a chance in the world. I should be very surprised if they get even halfway to Navarone. Just a waste of six good men. However, I suppose that doesn't matter, co...
[Doug comes into the Sidewinder convience store without a shirt on] Doug: What's up, Josh? Hey, give me two packs of cigarettes today. Working overtime, sixteen hours. [Puts malt liquor bottle on the counter] Doug: And nature's nectar. Wake-up juice....
Alan Garner: Hello. How 'bout that ride in? I guess that's why they call it Sin City. [awkward laughter] Alan Garner: You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my ...
Jem: There goes the meanest man that ever took a breath of life. Dill Harris: Why is he the meanest man? Jem: Well, for one thing, he has a boy named Boo that he keeps chained to a bed in the house over yonder. Boo only comes out at night when you're...
[Guran is coming in to bat] British Team Member: Coming from the jungle? [men laughing] British Team Member 2: Make way! [men laughing] British Team Member: Don't get too close, Smithy! [men laughing] British Team Member 2: What on Earth is he doing?...
Maria the cleaning woman: I used to work in the Académie Française / but it didn't do me any good at all. / And I once worked in the library in the Prado in Madrid / But it didn't teach me nothing I recall. / And the Library of Congress you would h...
Danny Witwer: [getting into the elevator] You're in a lot of trouble, John. John Anderton: You set me up. Danny Witwer: I'll write the paranoia off to the whiff you've been doping on... [John slams him against the elevator wall and draws his gun, the...
[singing] Ulysses Everett McGill: I am a man of constant sorrow, I've seen trouble all my days. I bid farewell to old Kentucky, the place where I was born and raised. Delmar O'Donnell, Pete: The place where he was born and raised. Ulysses Everett Mc...
Sgt. Barnes: Talking about killing? Y'all experts? Y'all know about killing? I'd like to hear about it, potheads. [takes pipe and inhales drag] Sgt. Barnes: Why do you smoke this shit? So as to escape from reality? Me, I don't need this shit. I am re...
Foulfellow: [Picks up Pinocchio's schoolbook and apple, which he eats] Well, well. Quite the scholar, I see. Look, Giddy. A man of letters. Here's your book [hands book to Pinocchio] Pinocchio: I'm going to school. Foulfellow: School. Ah, yes. Then p...
