I used to walk out, at night, to the breakwater which divides the end of the harbor form the broad moor of the salt marsh. There was nothing to block the wind that had picked up speed and vigor from its Atlantic crossing. I’d study the stars in the...
People often say “Just look for the silver lining.” But what do you say to the person surrounded by fog? They don’t see a fluffy object in the sky, blocking the sun for a moment or two. But instead, they see everything as it was before, but thr...
It's an unfortunate word, 'depression', because the illness has nothing to do with feeling sad, sadness is on the human palette. Depression is a whole other beast. It's when your old personality has left town and been replaced by a block of cement wi...
When you're born a light is switched on, a light which shines up through your life. As you get older the light still reaches you, sparkling as it comes up through your memories. And if you're lucky as you travel forward through time, you'll bring the...
I do enjoy writing, and I hope someone gets something interesting out of this book. I already have. Now, If I ever have to write a book that is not about me, I may be totally stumped and have writer's block. We will see. Writing is very convenient, h...
When my father was 17, he went to Montreal and found these submarine sandwich shops that were really successful, and weren't in Toronto [his home town]. So he went to my grandparents and said: "Look, you have to give me the seed money to open up one ...
Dante Hicks: What are you writing over there, your memoirs? Randal Graves: I'm battling this jackass on his blog's message boards. Dante Hicks: About what? Randal Graves: About how he's got too much free time and no life. A guy in a wheelchair who's ...
Soldier: 1. Down to the road block, we've just begun 2. The guards are through 3. The Major's men are on a spree 4. Major and Wladislaw go through the door 5. Pinkley stays out in the drive 6. The Major gives the rope a fix 7. Wladislaw throws the ho...
Darth Sidious: I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend. At last, the Jedi are no more. Yoda: Not if anything to say about it I have! [Yoda force flings Darth Sidious across the room and across his desk] Yoda: At an end your ...
Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion. Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave and eats a bread it does not harvest. Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountif...
Drugs and medical technology can be enormously beneficial when used to take care of real complications, but too often they are abused when applied to women birthing normally. These women are thus subjected to unnecessary risks. The key to this proble...
One of the strangest things is the act of creation. You are faced with a blank slate—a page, a canvas, a block of stone or wood, a silent musical instrument. You then look inside yourself. You pull and tug and squeeze and fish around for slippery r...
Laziness is not particularly terrible or wonderful. Rather it has a basic living quality that deserves to be experienced just as it is. Perhaps we’ll find an irritating, pulsating quality in laziness. We might feel it as dull and heavy or as vulner...
Kandinski looked up. 'Do you read science fiction?' he asked matter-of-factly. 'Not as a rule,' Ward admitted. When Kandinski said nothing he went on: 'Perhaps I’m too skeptical, but I can’t take it too seriously.' Kandinski pulled at a blister 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...
Ralphie as Adult: Round One was over. heh heh. Parents one, kids, zip. I can feel the Christmas noose beginning to tighten. Maybe, what happened next, was inevitable. Mother: Ralphie, what would you like for Christmas? Ralphie as Adult: Horrified, I ...
[first lines] Patrick Kenzie: I always believed it was the things you don't choose that makes you who you are. Your city, your neighborhood, your family. People here take pride in these things, like it was something they'd accomplished. The bodies ar...
Joey Gazelle: [holding her at gunpoint while she holds her baby] Now you listen to me, Conchita. You listen to me real good. I don't want to hurt Manny. Conchita: Okay. Joey Gazelle: All right? I don't want to hurt him, but he has something that belo...
Darth Vader: He is here. Governor Tarkin: Obi-Wan Kenobi? What makes you think so? Darth Vader: A tremor in the Force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master. Governor Tarkin: Surely he must be dead by now. Darth Vader: Don't un...
Buzz Lightyear: Good work, men. Two blocks down and only nineteen more to go. Mr. Potato Head: What? Rex, Hamm, Slinky Dog: Nineteen? Mr. Potato Head: Are we gonna do this all night? My parts are killing me. Buzz Lightyear: Come on, fellas. Did Woo...
[Truman is trying to leave town in his car, with Meryl. He's gone through various obstacles including traffic jams and a forest fire. Now he's hearing a warning siren] Truman: [suspiciously] What now? [they're coming up to Seahaven Nuclear Power Stat...
