A creative writing teacher at San Jose State used to say about clichés: 'Avoid them like the plague.' Then he'd laugh at his own joke. The class laughed along with him, but I always thought clichés got a bum rap. Because, often, they're dead-on. Bu...
Sometimes Christians live in a terror of universal obligation: AIDS over here, people to be saved over here, a crushing sense of low-level guilt every day of our lives. Question to ask: Where has God put me right now? I need to say no to a whole bunc...
It should be a privilege to be able to say "I love you" to someone. It shouldn't be something people say just because they feel like it. A privilege that is earned. They say you have to earn the right to be loved; no, love is unconditional, if you lo...
When the wildish woman has an idea, the friend or lover will never say, "Well, I don't know . . . sounds really dumb [grandiose, undoable, expensive, etc.] to me." A right friend will never say that. They might say instead . . . "I don't know if I un...
Learn to say no to demands, requests, invitations, and activities that leave you with no time for yourself. Until I learned to say no, and mean it, I was always overloaded by stress. You may feel guilty and selfish at first for guarding your down- ti...
When God grabs you by the scruff of the neck then although theoretically you have a freedom to say 'no', in another sense, actually, you can't say no because it's like Jeremiah. 'God, you have cheated me. You called me to be a prophet against the peo...
Stupid English." "English isn't stupid," I say. "Well, my English teacher is." He makes a face. "Mr. Franklin assigned an essay about our favorite subject, and I wanted to write about lunch, but he won't let me." "Why not?" "He says lunch isn't a sub...
Major Barton: [into a telephone] Barton, sir. Col. Robinson: [into a telephone] Barton, I don't care what your watches say, mine says they should've gone 3 minutes so send them. Major Barton: Sir, do you know that they're back in the trenches. Col. R...
Balin: What news from the meeting in Ered Luin? Did they all come? Thorin Oakenshield: Aye, envoys from all seven kingdoms. Balin: Ah, all off them! Dwalin: And what did the Dwarves of the Iron Hills say? Is Dain with us? Thorin Oakenshield: They wil...
Judge Chamberlain Haller: I don't like your attitude. Vinny Gambini: So what else is new? Judge Chamberlain Haller: I'm holding you in contempt of court. Vinny Gambini: [to Bill] Now there's a fucking surprise. Judge Chamberlain Haller: What did you ...
Eli: What'd you say? Richie: Hmm? Eli: What? Richie: I didn't say anything. Eli: When? Right now? [a pause] Eli: I'm sorry, don't listen to me. I'm on mescaline. I've been spaced out all day. Richie: Did you say you're on mescaline? Eli: I did, indee...
Warden Samuel Norton: [to new inmates, after explaining the prison routine] Any questions? Prisoner: When do we eat? Captain Hadley: [Approaches prisoner] You eat when we say you eat. You piss when we say you piss, and you shit when we say you shit. ...
Tom: This is lies. We are liars. Think about it. Why do people buy cards? It's not because they want to say how they feel. People buy cards because they can't say they feel or are afraid to. And we provide the service that let's them off the hook. Yo...
You’re going to have people who are going to say ‘Oh, you know like, she just writes songs about her ex-boyfriends’ and I think frankly that’s a very sexist angle to take. No one says that about Ed Sheeran. No one says it about Bruno Mars. Th...
Strategy for a Marathon I will start when the gun goes off. I will run for five miles. Feeling good, I will run to the tenth mile. At the tenth I will say, Only three more to the halfway." At the halfway mark, 13.1 miles, I will know fifteen is in re...
Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out.
The sparrow says: "I have not eaten... so the parrot will not eat either."
When a man says he does not mind, then he really does.
If the king says that it is night in the middle of the day, look up at the stars.
If you give in to a fool, he will say, "This is because they are afraid of me."
The weasel comes to say "Happy New Year!" to the chickens.
