laura’s most recent Quotables

Problematize - The blame for this awful neologism lies with academia, where the word serves no apparent purpose except to demonstrate one's mastery of obscurantist jargon.

GIve me a copper coin and I will tell you a golden tale.

Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed.

In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable.

The only thing I know for sure is that the words I read as coming from Jesus Christ are the most truthful thing I have ever heard.

I met Murder on the way -
He had a mask like Castlereagh -
Very smooth he looked, yet grim,
Seven bloodhounds followed him.

Conrad: "You really are a son of a bitch, aren't you?"
Tyler: "Yes. It does appear that you despicable people are starting to rub off on me."

A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.

John: Oh, please, can we not do this this time?
Sherlock: Do what?
John: You being all mysterious with your cheekbones and turning your coat collar up so you look cool.
Sherlock: I don't do that.

Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned.

We’re so caught up in trying to do everything, experience all the essential things, not miss out on anything important...We can’t read all the good books, watch all the good films, go to all the best cities in the world, try all the best restaurants, meet all the great people...Life is better when we don’t try to do everything. Learn to enjoy the slice of life you experience, and life turns out to be wonderful.

My intention has been to set up, in the midst of our community, a billiard-table, at which every one may amuse himself without hurt to body and soul; for innocent recreations do good rather than harm.

Postmodernism, as practised by Coover, is not simply a question of pointing out (tediously) to the reader that she is reading a novel. It's about a return to the novel's original, scandalous ability to create realities, rather than pretending to be a mirror or a movie camera.

The truth is that books are essentially not physical objects, but temporal ones.

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

There's nothing we can't do if we work hard, never sleep, and shirk all other responsibilities in our lives.

The best storytelling devices are, and have always been, rooted in human behaviours and desires

Nothing is so dangerous to the progress of the human mind than to assume that our views of science are ultimate, that there are no mysteries in nature, that our triumphs are complete and that there are no new worlds to conquer.

Don't worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

I never had to ask customers what they wanted. If it’s something truly revolutionary, they won’t be able to help you.