He had a book to finish. Ten-thousand words. The other ninety thousand had been difficult. This last tenth seemed impossible. His plot had become derailed. He was unable to see his way through the smoke and coke dust of a mythical railway track that ...
The only thing worth writing about is people. People. Human beings. Men and women whose individuality must be created, line by line, insight by insight. If you do not do it, the story is a failure. [...] There is no nobler chore in the universe than ...
If for a moment you are inclined to regard these taluses as mere draggled, chaotic dumps, climb to the top of one of them, and run down without any haggling, puttering hesitation, boldly jumping from boulder to boulder with even speed. You will then ...
I think people should take mythology much more seriously, because it tells us an awful lot about the history of the human race. We tend to dismiss it as 'fairy tales,' when it isn't. Fairy tales in themselves are about fundamentals of human nature. A...
In so far as I listen with interest to a record, it’s usually to figure out how it was arrived at. The musical end product is where interest starts to flag. It’s a bit like jigsaw puzzles. Emptied out of the box, there’s a heap of pieces, all s...
As a result of these news stories, millions of people must have become aware of "niggardly," who otherwise would never have heard it, let alone thought to use it. If this is right, and the word has a new currency, it is probably not the currency I wo...
Eddie: Hey, let's beat it, man. I don't like it up here. Nic: What are ya, scared of heights? Eddie: I don't know. After what happened to Johnny Gobs... Nic: Hey, look, man. Johnny Gobs got ripped and took a walk off a roof, all right? No big loss. E...
Roy Neary: Is that it? Is that all you're gonna ask me? Well I got a couple of thousand goddamn questions, you know. I want to speak to someone in charge. I want to lodge a complaint. You have no right to make people crazy! You think I investigate ev...
Ralphie: Oooh fuuudge! Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Only I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word! Mr. Parker: [stunned] *What* did you say? Ralphie: Uh, um... Mr. Parker: That'...
Mr. Parker: Get in the car. Get in the car. [Mother runs back inside] Mr. Parker: If we don't hurry, we're gonna miss all the good trees! Mr. Parker: [to the kids] Go on, go on. Ralphie as Adult: [narrating, as Mother switches off the leg lamp] My mo...
Ralphie as Adult: [regarding the note on his report] Oh, no! "You'll shoot your eye out!"? Ralphie: Oh, no! Ralphie as Adult: My mother must have gotten to Miss Shields! There could be no other explanation! Miss Shields, Mother: [in Ralphie's fantas...
Macaulay Connor: [speaking of Tracy] What are her leading characteristics? C. K. Dexter Haven: She has a horror of men who wear their hats in the house. Elizabeth (Liz) Imbrie: Leading characteristics to be filled in later. Macaulay Connor: I can fil...
Tracy Lord: I can't make you out at all now. Macaulay Connor: I thought I was easy. Tracy Lord: So did I. But you're not. You talk so big and tough and then you write like this. Which is which? Macaulay Connor: Both. I guess. Tracy Lord: No. No, I be...
Jack Torrance: Well, that is quite a story. Stuart Ullman: Yeah it is. It's still hard for me to believe it happened here. It did, and I think you can appreciate why I wanted to tell you about it. Jack Torrance: I certainly can and I also understand ...
Buzz: What's going on? Woody: Nothing that concerns you space man, just us toys. Buzz: I'd better have a look anyway. [he looks through Lenny the binoculars] Buzz: Why is that soldier strapped to an explosive device? Woody: [moves Lenny] That's why. ...
Verbal: He lets the last Hungarian go. He waits until his wife and kids are in the ground and then he goes after the rest of the mob. He kills their kids, he kills their wives, he kills their parents and their parents' friends. He burns down the hous...
Lewis Prothero: [on TV screen] This so called V and his accomplice Evey Hammond, neo-demagogues spouting their message of hate, a delusional and aberrant voice... Lewis Prothero: Aberrant and abhorrent! Lewis Prothero: [on TV screen] delivering a ter...
Anybodys, Tomboy: [pretending to shoot A-rab] POW, POW! A-Rab: Cracko jacko. Down goes a teenage hoodlum. [drops to the ground] Baby John: Gee. Could a real zip gun make you do like that? Anybodys, Tomboy: You don't know what a zip gun would do? Man,...
Bill Sampson: [to Eve] "Don't let it worry you", said the camera man, "Even De Mille couldn't see anything looking through the wrong end!" So that was the first and last... Margo Channing: [entering] Don't let me kill the point. Or isn't it a story f...
Lester Bangs: You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars. That's what's important. If you're a rock journalist - first, you will never get paid much. But you will get free records from the record company. And they'll buy you drinks, you'll meet girl...
Detective Richie Roberts: I got possession, supply, conspiracy, bribing a law officer, I got your offshore bank accounts, your real estate, your businesses, all bought with money from heroin, I got hundreds of parents from dead kids, addicts who OD'E...
