The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don't just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed. Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will b...
Luke captured my gaze again and said, "If beauty were time, you'd be eternity." My heart stopped. I was paralysed to look away from him (...) Thankfully, another senior boy who apparently wasn't dating anyone spoke. And when the words came out of his...
Grandma Donna passed the oyster stuffing and asked my father straight out what he was working on, it being so obvious his thoughts were not with us. She meant it as a reprimand. He was the only one at the table who didn't know this, or else he was ig...
Everyone, no matter what kind of job he or she has, fantasizes about freaking out at work. How many corporate drones, stuck in a boring staff meeting, have had the sudden urge to jump on top of the conference table and start screaming obscenities? St...
Hey, Melissa-is there anything I should know about having this kid that isn't in the books I've been reading?" Sunlight streamed through the window, making the golden, hormone-induced mutton chops glisten upon my cheeks. As I waited for her answer, I...
I learned to find equal meaning in the repeated rituals of domestic life. Setting the table. Lighting the candles. Building the fire. Cooking. All those soufflés, all that crème caramel, all those daubes and albóndigas and gumbos. Clean sheets, st...
There had come to him one of those moments of quiet despair that lie in wait for even the happiest. Stealthy-footed they leap upon us, as we walk along the street, as we sit at evening with fruit and wine upon the table and laughter on our lips, as w...
When I arrived back at Intro to Basic Art again later that week, I thought for a moment we had a new student who didn’t know about the assigned seats. Sitting at my table was a girl in a long flowered dress, very vintage-hippie. She actually was we...
It was all I could do not to fall on my knees and weep like the bastard she always said I was, and I was a breath away from begging her to run away with me. I can’t believe I’m admitting this on tape—I was standing at that table, she hit me wit...
The notion that inspired play (even when audacious, offensive, or obscene) enhances rather than diminishes intellectual vigor and spiritual fulfillment, the notion that in the eyes of the gods the tight-lipped hero and the wet-cheeked victim are freq...
We don't have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that's what I want in life. What I'm grateful and thankful to have found at Yale, and what I'm scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow after Commencement and leave this...
I cleaned the shit off my pink high-tops and drove home, stopping for an espresso at the coffeehouse across from the college. Men and women were hunched over copies of Jean Paul Sartre and writing in their journals. Most wore the thin-rimmed tortoise...
On my bedside table is a snow globe with a winterscape inside. Church, park bench, girl standing shin-deep in snow. Tip the snow globe over and a blizzard of slow snow falls over church and bench and girl. What is it about snow globes that makes them...
I don’t know what it is that comes over me, but suddenly I’m crossing to his side of the table and sitting down in his lap, arms wrapping around his neck. His lips are soft against mine, and when I part them he tenderly obliges, tasting me delica...
Jimmy Conway: [after Spider tells Tommy to "go fuck yourself"] I can't believe what I just hear. [he throws some money on the table] Jimmy Conway: Here, Spider, this is for you. I got respect for this kid. He's got alot of fucking balls. Good for you...
Johnny Foote: Listen, Celia finally told me about the babies. All of them. But I also know that the minute you started working here, she started getting better. You saved her life. Minny Jackson: You mean, you knew I'd been working here this whole ti...
Minny Jackson: [Johnny's escorted Minny to the house where Celia has an elegant meal on the table] What's this? Celia Foote: [proudly] I cooked it all by myself. Johnny Foote: Yes she did. She was up all night. Celia Foote: I wanted to do something s...
Col. Hans Landa: Gentlemen, I have no intention of killing Hitler and killing Goebbels and killing Göring and killing Bormann, not to mention winning the war single-handedly for the Allies, only later to find myself standing before a Jewish tribunal...
Rohit Patel: [In front of table with lots of food] What is all this? Rohit's Mother: This Mango, That is Khus, so no fuss Rohit Patel: Not the food!... All this singing and dancing Rohit's Mother: Oh! That! That's our Silver Anniversary Wedding Rehea...
Po: But dad, didn't you ever, I don't know, want to do something else? Something besides noodles? Mr. Ping: Actually, when I was young and crazy, I thought about running away and learning how to make tofu. Po: So why didn't you? Mr. Ping: Oh, because...
Sera: [Ben has been on another binge] I want you to see a doctor. Ben Sanderson: Sera... I'm not gonna see a doctor. Perhaps now would be a good time for me to move back to a motel. Sera: And do what? Rot away in a room? We're not gonna talk about th...
