I think the measure of advancement depends on where you are stood and from what distance you look. A thousand years ago, we farmed the fields, built towns and defended our land with swords and spears. It is little different now, save for the number o...
Late one night, during a toss-and-turn fretful sleep, I pondered my crisis. No solutions were on the horizon. I, again, wasted my psychic energy with prayer. Nothing. No angel on a white cloud. No rainbow’s pot of gold. No way to control the people...
Normally, when you challenge the conventional wisdom—that the current economic and political system is the only possible one—the first reaction you are likely to get is a demand for a detailed architectural blueprint of how an alternative system ...
[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...
Going through the customs dampened them further. Customs inspectors must have a mental twist that makes them suspicious of innocence. Dewy-eyed honeymooners, red-cheeked provincials, and helpless little old ladies lash them into frenzied investigatio...
Dr. John Montgomery: He had two cavities that needed filling. He put up a fight, but I took care of it. Christine Collins: And? Dr. John Montgomery: Your son's upper front teeth were separated by a small tissue, a diastema. It made them sit about an ...
John Merrick: [after seeing pictures of Dr. Treves' family] Would you care to see my mother? Dr. Frederick Treves: [surprised] Your mother? Yes please. [John pulls out a small portrait] Mrs. Treves: Oh but she's... Mr. Merrick, she's beautiful! John ...
Hana: The war's over - you told me yourself. How can it be desertion? Oliver: It's not over everywhere. I didn't mean literally. Hana: [looking at Almasy] When he dies I'll catch up. Oliver: [looking over the small cache of provisions] It's not safe ...
Stoick: [as Hiccup tries to sneak past] Hiccup. Hiccup: Dad! Uh, I have to talk to you, Dad. Stoick: I need to speak with you too, son. [They both take deep breaths, then both speak at once] Stoick: I think it's time you learned to fight dragons. Hic...
[the Shape is lurking by a bush on the sidewalk] Laurie: Annie, look! Annie Brackett: Look where? I don't see anything. Laurie: That guy who passed us in the car before, the one you yelled at! Annie Brackett: Subtle, isn't he? [marches over to the bu...
[Brody sees his son sitting in a small skiff, and yells for him to get out of it] Ellen Brody: Martin, it's his birthday tomorrow! Brody: I don't want him out on the water! Ellen Brody: He is not out on the water, he is in a boat! He's not going to g...
[At Q's lab, Q and Tanner try to create a false trail for Silva to follow] Q: It's a fine line. If the breadcrumb's too small, then he might miss it. Too big, and Silva will smell a rat. Tanner: Yes, but you'd think even Silva will be able to spot th...
Willy Wonka: Well, fortunately, small boys are extremely springy and elastic. So I think we'll put him in my special taffy-pulling machine. That should do the trick. [to an Oompa Loompa] Willy Wonka: To the taffy-pulling room. You'll find the boy in ...
You know the real reason we celebrate Christmas, don't you? I mean, beyond Santa Claus and jungle bells and Christmas trees? You mean because Jesus was born? she asked. Yes... but did you ever think how Jesus was born? I mean, have you considered how...
No fundamentalist undercurrent ran through the national culture before the first war. Sufism had always been the predominant Muslim sect, and Wahhabism was a foreign, wartime import. A few times a year, Arab Wahhabis came through the village in searc...
Will!” He turned at the familiar voice and saw Tessa. There was a small path cut along the side of the hill, lined with unfamiliar white flowers, and she was walking up it, toward him. Her long brown hair blew in the wind — she had taken off her ...
I guess I´m too used to sitting in a small room and making words do a few things. I see enough of humanity at the racetracks, the supermarkets, gas stations, freeways, cafes, etc. This can´t be helped. But I feel like kicking myself in the ass when...
I hope she can’t tell that I’m appraising her and that I’m completely worried by what I see. She’s excitable and strange. She’s ten. What do people do during the day when they’re ten? She runs her fingers along the window and mumbles, “...
That night, Gregory dreamt of his mother. It was a dream that he'd have carried to his therapist like a raw, precious egg if he'd had a therapist, and the dream made him wish he had one. In the dream, he sat in the kitchen of his mother's house at th...
concluded Elmer Luchterhand, a sociologist at Yale who interviewed fifty-two concentration camp survivors shortly after liberation. Pairs stole food and clothing for each other, exchanged small gifts and planned for the future. If one member of a pai...
Cathy, don't look so defeated. She was only trying to put us down again. Maybe nothing did work out right for her, but that doesn't mean we are doomed. Let's go forth tomorrow with no great expectations of finding perfection. Then, expecting only a s...
