Even religious people are vulnerable to this longing. Those who belong to communities of faith have acquired a certain patience with what is sometimes called organized religion. They have learned to forgive themselves. They do not expect their instit...
My youngest brother had a wonderful schtick from some time in high school, through to graduating medicine. He had a card in his wallet that read, ‘If I am found with amnesia, please give me the following books to read …’ And it listed half a do...
Among the things most characteristic of organisms--most distinctive of living as opposed to inorganic systems--is a sort of directedness. Their structures and activities have an adaptedness, an evident and vital usefulness to the organism. Darwin's a...
The man was staring directly at him now, a curious expression on his face, half smiling, half quizzical. Instantly Eager had a sense of certainty far deeper than anything he had experienced so far. "I have it too!" he exclaimed. "I am a part of this ...
Narcissus knew only too well what a charming golden bird had flown to him. This hermit soon sensed a kindred soul in Goldmund, in spite of their apparent contrasts. Narcissus was dark and spare; Goldmund, a radiant youth. Narcissus was analytical, a ...
But I don't want "good" and I don't want "good enough" I want "can't sleep, can't breathe without your love" Front porch and one more kiss, it doesn't make sense to anybody else Who cares if you're all I think about, I've searched the world and I kno...
I wanted to know what it was like to be a drug addict, and have an eating disorder, and have a loved one die, and fall in love. I saw my friends going through these things, I saw the world going through these things, and I needed to understand them. ...
Many lessons can be learned from the history of Western civilization, but one of them is especially clear. Lack of involvement in the affairs of one's society can lead to a sense of powerlessness. In an age that is often crisis-laden and chaotic, an ...
Human stories are practically always about one thing, really, aren't they? Death. The inevitability of death. . . . . . (quoting an obituary) 'There is no such thing as a natural death. Nothing that ever happens to man is natural, since his presence ...
failure is costly, both to society and to individuals. Pretending that all people are equal in their abilities will not change the fact that a person with an average IQ is unlikely to become a theoretical physicist, or the fact that a person with a l...
At last I understood that the way over, or through this dilemma, the unease at writing about 'petty personal problems' was to recognize that nothing is personal, in the sense that it is uniquely one's own. Writing about oneself, one is writing about ...
Blood had long since ceased to beat from one end to the other, but one could sense, from passages marked with fresher traces of wheels and hooves, that once the meaning and even the very idea of a long journey was lost, sleep had not descended over i...
Is it possible that our world still knows better how to deal with a bandit, a murderer, and insurrectionist than it knows what to do with the Prince of Peace? There is a sense in which an assassin's attempt on the pope's life is less shocking to our ...
It is difficult to see ourselves as we are. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to have good friends, lovers or others who will do us the good service of telling us the truth about ourselves. When we don't, we can so easily delude ourselves, lose a sen...
Brick Pollitt: [Offering Big Daddy morphine] It'll kill the pain, that's all. Harvey 'Big Daddy' Pollitt: [Wincing with pain] It'll kill the senses too! You... you got pain - at least you know you're alive. [groans] Harvey 'Big Daddy' Pollitt: Brick...
Raoul Duke: Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas. Has it been five years? Six? It seems like a lifetime, the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Bu...
[in the hospital wing, Ron stirs] Lavender Brown: Ah! See? He senses my presence. [leans down] Lavender Brown: Don't worry, Won-Won! I'm here. I'm here. Ron Weasley: [croaks] Her... my... nee. Hermione... [Hermione takes Ron's hand. Lavender runs out...
Slevin: You're not as tall as I thought you'd be. Lindsey: Well, I'm short for my height. Slevin: That makes sense because I can usually tell how tall someone is by their knock. You have a deceptively tall knock. Congratulations. Lindsey: So it's a g...
Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris: The body knows what fighters don't: how to protect itself. A neck can only twist so far. Twist it just a hair more and the body says, "Hey, I'll take it from here because you obviously don't know what you're doing... Lie down...
Noodles: You've been around. Where'd you learn them "parlez-vous francais" dishes? Who's teaching you that stuff? Deborah Gelly: You mean a sugar daddy, who tries to teach me how to act? I read books. I want to know everything. Doesn't it make sense ...
Conrad "Con" Jarrett: [seeing Beth set the table] Can I help? Beth Jarrett: Help with what? Conrad "Con" Jarrett: With... this? Beth Jarrett: No. I'll tell you what you can do is go upstairs to that room of yours and clean out the closet. Conrad "Con...
