I never really gave up on breaking out of this two-star town.
I got the green light,
I got a little fight,
I'm gonna turn this thing around.
Can you read my mind?
--The Killers
Et tu, Brute?
--Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
(My brother would appreciate this.)
Illegitimi non carborundum: Don't let the bastards grind you down.
--Joe Stilwell
You don't have to believe me,
but I'm not gonna lie.
I've seen all the attention you get from other guys.
You don't have to believe me
when I tell you I like your dress,
but you sure better believe me
when I say you deserve respect.--Eric Hutchinson
I was weeping because Richard Parker
had left me so unceremoniously.
What a terrible thing it is to botch a farewell.--Yonn Martel, Life of Pi
(One of the worst things, in fact)
I need to believe that something extraordinary is possible.
--Jennifer Connelly as Alicia Nash, A Beautiful Mind
We're gonna need a bigger boat.
--Roy Scheider as Chief Brody, Jaws
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice there is.--Yogi Berra
(Definitely.)
It is a strange study, --a singular phenomenon, if you please,
that the only real, independent, and genuine gentlemen in the world
go quietly up and down the Mississippi River,
asking no homage of any one, seeking no popularity, no notoriety,
and not caring a damn whether school keeps or not.--Mark Twain
You want to die out here? Then die.
But I'll tell you what. I'm not going to die.
No sirree. I'm not gonna die.
No, I'm gonna kill the bear….
What one man can do, another can do.--Anthony Hopkins as Charles Morse, The Edge
For the first time in my life a feeling
of overpowering stinging melancholy seized me.
Before, I had never experienced aught
but a not unpleasing sadness.
The bond of a common humanity now
drew me irresistibly to gloom.
A fraternal melancholy!
For both I and Bartleby were sons of Adam.--Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener
Always remember to pack the Swingline.
--David Fisher, fellow wanderer and UALR's force for good
Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.
--Henry David Thoreau
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
is just to love and be loved in return.--Moulin Rouge
Jack: Wanna get drunk?
Liz: No. There's too many phones in here.
--Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy and Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, 30 Rock
Women have come, women have gone,
everyone tryin to cage me.
Some were so sweet, I barely got free,
others, they only enraged me.
Sometimes at night, I see their faces,
I see the traces they left on my soul.
Those are the memories that made me a wealthy soul.--Bob Seger, "Travelin Man"
All I wanted to say honestly to people:
"Have a look at yourselves and see
how bad and dreary your lives are!"
The important thing is that people should realize that,
for when they do,
they will most certainly create another and better life
for themselves.--Anton Chekhov
(Chekhov and I discussed it and agreed
that people rarely change,
even though we want them to.)
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive.
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive.--Jackson Browne, "Running on Empty"
Charles: You know, I once read an interesting book which said that, uh, most people lost in the wilds, they, they die of shame.
Stephen: What?
Charles: Yeah, see, they die of shame. "What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?" And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives.
Bob: And what is that, Charles?
Charles: Thinking.--Anthony Hopkins as Charles Morse, Harold Perrineau as Stephen, and Alec Baldwin as Bob, The Edge
With malice toward none,
with charity for all,
with firmness in the right
as God gives us to see the right,
let us strive on to finish the work we are in....--President Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
(Thanks, Mendy.)
It's not enough that we do our best;
Sometimes we have to do what's required.--Sir Winston Churchill
When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse,
out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child is grown, the dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.--Pink Floyd, "Comfortably Numb"
Sherman: Why you doin' this, Doc?
Doc Holliday: Because Wyatt Earp is my friend.
Sherman: Friend? Hell, I got lots of friends.
Doc Holliday: … I don't.--Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, Tombstone
Tho' much is taken, much abides;
And though we are not now that strength
Which in old days
Moved earth and heaven;
That which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate,
But strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.--Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses"
I'm your Huckleberry.
--Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, Tombstone
Remember, my sentimental friend.
The heart is not judged by how much you love,
but by how much you are loved by others.--The Wizard, as he presents the heart to Tinman, The Wizard of Oz
On a long and lonesome highway, east of Omaha,
you can listen to the engine moaning out its one lone song.--Bob Seger, "Turn the Page"
In its function, the power to punish is not essentially different
from that of curing or educating.--Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Reading departure signs in some big airport,
reminds me of the places I've been.
Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure
makes me want to go back again.--Jimmy Buffett, "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes"
Just carry my burdens and tears.
I'll get the rest.--Brian Hentz
"Gargantuan." You know, I've always liked that word, "gargantuan."
And I so rarely have the opportunity to use it in a sentence.
--Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver, Kill Bill, Volume II
And so it was that Gwaihir saw them
with his keen far-seeing eyes,
as down the wild wind he came,
and daring the great peril of the skies he circled in the air;
two small dark figures, forlorn,
hand in hand upon a little hill,
while the world shook under them,
and gasped, and rivers of fire drew near.--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Ain't but three things in this world
that's worth a solitary dime,
but old dogs and children and watermelon wine.--Tom T. Hall
If I had a million dollars,
I would buy you a K-car,
a nice, Reliant automobile.--Barenaked Ladies, "If I Had 1,000,000"
(We had a red one; it was so cool.)
Night time on The City of New Orleans,
changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Halfway home, and we'll be there by morning
through the Mississippi darkness,
rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
to fade into a bad dream,
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
the passengers will please refrain,
this train's got the disappearing railroad blues.--Steve Goodman
I believe in opening the door for humanity.
--Chris Toth
come what may
--Moulin Rouge
The real hero is always a hero by mistake;
he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.--Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality
Beauty walks a razor's edge,
someday I'll make it mine.
If I could only turn back the clock
to when God and her were born.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."--Bob Dylan
You were made perfectly to be loved --
And surely I have loved you,
in the idea of you,
my whole life long.--Elizabeth Barrett Browning
From everyone who has been given much,
much will be demanded;
And from the one who has been entrusted with much,
much more will be asked.--Luke 12:48
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a'flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.--Robert Frost
I bet there's rich folks eating in a fancy dining car.
They're probably drinkin' coffee and smoking big cigars.
Well, I know I had it comin',
I know I can't be free.
But those people keep a movin',
and that's what tortures me….--Johnny Cash, "Folsom Prison Blues"
(I drink coffee and smoke big cigars for breakfast daily.)
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.--Robert Herrick, "To the Virgins to Make Much of Time"
Miranda: O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world, that has such people in't!
Prospero: 'Tis new to thee.--Shakespeare, The Tempest
I've capitalized on a sleepless night to write to you.
It's 4 a.m., and I'm going to try to get a little sleep.
Heaven help me so that the doctors won't send me to the hospital,
and I can get over this alone in my empty house,
for I really have very few visitors.
Solitude is terrible.
'Solitude is when nobody is waiting for you.'
--Louis Althusser, Philosophy of the Encounter
(And I thought I had sad moments.)
Scott for scientific method,
Amundsen for speed and efficiency.
But when disaster strikes
And all hope is gone,
Get down on your knees
And pray for Shackleton.--Raymond Priestly
Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy.
--F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ann, I'm telling you - you're perfect.
Look at you.
You're the saddest girl I've ever met.
You're gonna make them weep, Ann,
you're gonna break their hearts.--Jack Black as Carl Denham, King Kong
Seems it never rains in Southern California.
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before.
It never rains in California,
but girl, don't they warn ya --
it pours, man, it pours.--Albert Hammond
Been beat up and battered 'round.
Been sent up, and I've been shot down.
You're the best thing that I've ever found.
Handle me with care.--Traveling Wilburys
Get busy living or get busy dying.
--Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption
Pine trees grow so tall in the bright sunshine,
a young boy steals his daddy's fishin' line.
An alligator lays on the banks of the riverbed,
and if you didn't know any better you'd swear he's dead.
Now these are a few things I'm in love with,
a small part of the reason I go back
to Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, gorgeous Georgia.
Now if you think I'm happy down there,
you're on the right track.--Bellamy Brothers, "You Ain't Just a-Whistlin Dixie"
Gettin' too drunk on Saturdays (Check it out),
Playin' football with the kids on Sundays (Check it out),
Soaring with the eagles all week long,
This is all that we've learned about livin'.--John Mellencamp
Great balls of fire.
Don't bother me anymore, and don't call me "Sugar."--Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, Gone With the Wind
No more sadness,
no more sorrow,
no more bad times.
Every day come sunshine,
everyday, everybody laughin',
walkin' together by the river,
walkin' together and laughin'.
Everybody singin' together,
everybody singin' and laughin'.
Good times, good times,
everybody walkin' by the river now.--The Guess Who, "Share the Land"
(Please play this song at my funeral).
You can't help who you love, Kid.
--Richard Jenkins as Nathaniel Fisher, Six Feet Under