Fairy tales are such evil stories for young children. Every time I'm in a mess I expect a long-haired posh-speaking man to come trotting into my life (on a horse of course, literally trotting himself...) Then you realize you don't want a long-haired ...
We show our surprise at this by speaking of something called the “French paradox,” for how could a people who eat such demonstrably toxic substances as foie gras and triple crème cheese actually be slimmer and healthier than we are? Yet I wonder...
Lacan wrote about two levels of speaking, one in which we know what we are saying (even when struggling with something difficult or contradictory) and another in which we have no idea of what we are saying. In this second level of speaking there are ...
I decided to write this piece because my internal critic told me to write it. At least I think he told me to write it. You see, he only speaks French, and I don't speak any French, so sometimes there can be a lot of confusion. In fact, all I really k...
To be taught to read—what is the use of that, if you know not whether what you read is false or true? To be taught to write or to speak—but what is the use of speaking, if you have nothing to say? To be taught to think—nay, what is the use of b...
Standard languages are inventions, most of them confined to a recent period in human history. They are codes that give access not to clear thinking and basic decency but to the structured parts of our lives such as job interviews, political speeches,...
Hope is something that is demanded of us; it is not, then, a mere reasoned calculation of our chances. Nor is it merely the bubbling up of a sanguine temperament; if it is demanded of us, it lies not in the temperament but in the will... Hoping for w...
It would be erroneous to say Sohrab was quiet. Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it. Sohrab's silence wasn't the self imposed silence of those with ...
Dr. King Schultz: Anything else about Mr. Candie I should know about before I meet him? Leonide Moguy: Yes, he is a bit of a francophile. Well, what civilized people aren't? And he prefers "Monsieur Candie" to "Mr. Candie". Dr. King Schultz: Si c'est...
[Gandalf touches the stone surface of the walls of Moria] Gandalf: Now, let's see... Ithildin. It mirrors only starlight and moonlight. [moonlight shines on the wall, and the doors are revealed] Gandalf: It reads: The doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. S...
Lisa: You should be sleeping, baby. Pita: I'm trying, Mom Lisa: Good news. You're going back to school Pita: When? Lisa: Samuel is going to hire a new bodyguard. It may take a few days, but you're going back Pita: Could he speak English? Emilio could...
Ada: I have told you the story of your father many many times. Flora: Oh, tell me again! Was he a teacher? Ada: Yes. Flora: How did you speak to him? Ada: I didn't need to speak. I could lay thoughts out in his mind like they were a sheet. Flora: Why...
Juror #8: Let me ask you this: Do you really think the boy'd shout out a thing like that so the whole neighborhood could hear him? I don't think so - he's much to bright for that. Juror #10: Bright? He's a common ignorant slob. He don't even speak go...
Shit is disgusting and horrible. A lot of people and things are disgusting and horrible, and I want to be a nice person, and I am. When you are speaking about rejected people whose suffering makes them disgusting, you are speaking about shit. I do no...
...if Clinton's answers come off as well-intended lectures, Obama is offering soaring sermons and generational opportunity. In 1960, the articulate Adlai Stevenson compared his own oratory unfavorably with John F. Kennedy's. "Do you remember," Steven...
Free speech includes the right to not speak.
When we learn to speak, we learn to translate.
But generally speaking, I tend to be quiet and introspective.
Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent.
If I have to speak in public, I am terrified.
My main income is from speaking.