From cradle to grave this problem of running order through chaos, direction through space, discipline through freedom, unity through multiplicity, has always been, and must always be, the task of education, as it is the moral of religion, philosophy,...
If you just go get one of these little fine arts degrees or writing program degrees, it never forces you to confront your responsibility as narrator, whereas any of the social sciences make you at look the interaction between the storyteller and stor...
And why does England thus persecute the votaries of her science? Why does she depress them to the level of her hewers of wood and her drawers of water? Is it because science flatters no courtier, mingles in no political strife? ... Can we behold unmo...
It doesn't matter how I express myself artistically. It doesn't matter what medium I use to showcase my art. And it doesn't matter how talented I am. There will always be the indifference that keeps those from wanting to enjoy what I have to offer. B...
Reading history is good for all of us. If you know history, you know that there is no such thing as a self-made man or self-made woman. We are shaped by people we have never met. Yes, reading history will make you a better citizen and more appreciati...
Mr. Parker: Holy smokes. Do... Do you know what this is? This is... A lamp! Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] It was indeed a lamp. Mr. Parker: Isn't that great? What a great lamp. Mother: I don't know... Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] The old man's eyes ...
Henckels: Who's shooting who? Dmitri: That's Gustave H., the escaped murderer and art thief! I've got him cornered! M. Gustave: That's Dmitri Desgoffe und Taxis! He's responsible for the killing of Deputy Kovacs, Serge X and his club-footed sister, p...
Enid: [Enid is reading a note clipped to her diploma] What? Rebecca: What? Enid: These assholes are saying I have to go to summer school and take some stupid art class. Rebecca: Why? Enid: God, I didn't think that just because you get an "F" you have...
Andy: You think I don't appreciate art? You think I don't understand fashion? You think I'm not hip? You think I'm pathetic? A nerd? A lard-ass fat-so? You think I'm shit? Well, you're wrong, 'cause i'm champagne, and you're shit. Until the day you d...
Josef Fischer: Life and death. Space and time. Fate and chance. Theses are the forces of the universe. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a man who has unlocked these mysteries. From the furthest corners of the world where the dark arts ...
Hattori Hanzo: [in Japanese; voice-over] For those regarded as warriors, when engaged in combat the vanquishing of thine enemy can be the warrior's only concern. Suppress all human emotion and compassion. Kill whoever stands in thy way, even if that ...
Barber: Why don't you train us to be top fighters... and we'll avenge them! Landlady: Becoming a top fighter takes time, unless you're a natural-born kung-fu genius, and they're 1 in a million. Barber: [Does martial arts routine] It's obvious I'm the...
John Oldman: I had a chance to sail with Columbus, only I'm not the adventurous type. I was pretty sure the earth was round, but at that point I still thought he *might* fall off an edge some place. The Group: [incredulous looks all around the room] ...
Brown: Circus too constricting a word to describe the talented and merry band with which we travel. It is a spectacle unlike most have ever witnessed. Creatures from the darkest Africa as yet unseen by civilized man. Acrobats from the Orient able to ...
Longshanks: Who is this person who speaks to me as though I needed his advice? Prince Edward: I have declared Phillip my high counselor. Longshanks: Is he qualified? Phillip: I am skilled in the arts of war and military tactics, Sire. Longshanks: Are...
[first lines] Mackiepenny: Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against...
Poetry leads us to the unstructured sources of our beings, to the unknown, and returns us to our rational, structured selves refreshed. Having once experienced the mystery, plenitude, contradiction, and composure of a work of art, we afterward have a...
During my 20’s and 30’s at some point I started to think, “I have to give it up and I have to grow up.” But the truth is that I can never give it up and that’s another thing that I always tell people, especially young people: don’t even b...
I like to be aware of a book as a piece of writing, and aware of its structure as a product of mind, and yet I want to be able to see the represented world through it. I admire artists who succeed in dividing my attention more or less evenly between ...
G.K. Chesterton once wrote that the trouble with people who do not believe in God is not that they then believe in nothing. It is that they will believe in anything. And the biggest anything around for people to believe in, in our day, is the State. ...
A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen the...
