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Elah Adonijai
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We have one of these over in the WE for lyrics, so I thought: why shouldn't we have one of these for books, comics, short stories, whatever.

Here, I'll get us started.

"I am warm on the outside, what people see. Warm eyes, warm face, warm fake fucking smile, but inside I am cold all the time and full of lies. I am not what I seem to be; I am awful...but then, there's no other way. Is there? I figured that out a long time ago and made myself like this. But it really isn't so bad. You get what you want this way. And everybody is this way to a degree."

Philip K. Dick, "A Scanner Darkly"

I find it kind of ironic that the characters in this novel live in Orange County. It's almost prophetic.


____________________________________________________________________
"Patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer i beg to submit that it is the first." - Ambrose Bierce
----------------------
A Good Scoundrel isn't Hard to Find
 
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Miss Kitty Fantastico
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ooooh, I lurv this idea, but the book I wanna quote is nowhere near Angus at the mo.

yes...I really named my computer Angus.





I would have thought the end of the world is everyone's responsibility, wouldn't you? ~Death in Thief of Time


Minister of Kraftwerk in the Realm of U & P, Order of the Pineapple with frond for advancement in Nap studies.
 
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Elah Adonijai
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That's okay. We can wait Smile


____________________________________________________________________
"Patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer i beg to submit that it is the first." - Ambrose Bierce
----------------------
A Good Scoundrel isn't Hard to Find
 
Posts: 2179 | Location: Hiding in the secret compartments of Whittier, CA | Registered: July 08, 2005Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Miss Kitty Fantastico
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smeg, now I can't find the book...I wonder if I lent it out?

anyway, one of my very favourite books ever is Peter S Beagle's The Last Unicorn and if I ever win the lottery that poor man won't have any problems with legal fees...

my favourite passage is actually the bit where Schmendrick was tied to a tree and magicked it alive, that whole tree speech was just brilliant.

'til I find my book...a poem from The Last Unicorn-

If I danced with my feet
As I dance in my dreaming,
As graceful and gleaming
As Death in disguise-
Oh that would be sweeet,
But then would I hunger
To be ten years younger,
Or wedded, or wise?


I can quote that because I copied it into my poetry book yonks ago.





I would have thought the end of the world is everyone's responsibility, wouldn't you? ~Death in Thief of Time


Minister of Kraftwerk in the Realm of U & P, Order of the Pineapple with frond for advancement in Nap studies.
 
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Okay, finally books, computer and I are in the same physical spot. Smile

This is a passage from the best sff book I have ever read: Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban.
quote:
"You know Riddley, theres something in us, it don't have no name. (...) We aint a naturel part of it. We dint begin when it begun we dint begin where it begun. It ben here before nor I don't know what we are to it. May be weare jus only sickness and a fever to it or boyls on the arse of it I dont know. Now lissen what Im going to tel you Riddley. It thinks us but it dont like us. It dont think the way we think. Plus like I said before its afeart."
I said, "Whats it afeart of?"
She said, "It's afeart of being beartht."


The answer, I suppose, is humanity. We are nothing but boils on the arse of it. Heh.

Compare this Quote by Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung about dreams and the collective subconscious:
quote:
"We do not dream, we are dreamed. We "suffer" the dream, we are its objects."


__
The brickchewing, camera flaunting restroom saint formerly known as Babylon the Bride
 
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And this is one of my favourite quotes in one of my favourite books Catch-22 by Joseph Heller:
quote:
"They're trying to kill me", Yossarian told him calmly.
"No one's trying to kill you", Clevinger cried.
"Then why are they shooting at me?"
They're shooting at everyone", Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."
"And what difference does that make?"


__
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knows there is no spoon
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quote:
He dreamt an old dream, of three knights in white cloaks, and a tower long fallen, and Lyanna in her bed of blood.

In the dream his friends rode with him, as they had in life, Martyn Cassel, Jory's father; faithful Theo Wull; Ethan Glover, who had been his brother Brandon's squire; Ser Mark Ryswell, soft of speech and gentle of heart; the crannogman, Howland Reed; and Lord Dustin on his great red stallion. Ned had known their faces as well as he knew his own once, but the years leech at a man's memories, even those he has vowed never to forget. In the dream they were only shadows, grey wraiths on horses made of mist.

They were seven, facing three. In the dream as it had been in life. Yet these were no ordinary three, They waited before the round tower, the red mountains of Dorne at their backs, their white cloaks blowing in the wind. These were no shadows, their faces burned clear, even now. Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, had a sad smile on his lips. The hilt of his greatsword Dawn poked up over his right shoulder. Ser Oswell When was on one knee, sharpening his blade with a whetstone. Across his white enameled helm, the black bat of his House spread its wings. Between them stood fierce old Ser Gerold Hightower, the White Bull, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

"I looked for you on the Trident," Ned said to them.

"We were not there," Ser Gerold answered.

"Woe to the Usurper if we had been," added Ser Oswell.

"When King's Landing fell, Ser Jaime slew your king with a golden sword, and I wondered where you were."

"Far away," Ser Gerold said, "or Aerys would yet sit the Iron Throne, and our false brother would burn in seven hells."

"I came down on Storm's End to lift the siege," Ned told them, "and the Lords Tyrell and Redwyne dipped their banners, and all their knights bent the knee to pledge us fealty. I was certain you would be among them."

"Our knees do not bend easily," said Ser Arthur Dayne.

"Ser Willem Darry is fled to Dragonstone with your queen and Prince Viserys. I thought you might have sailed with him."

"Ser Willem is a good man, and true," said Ser Oswell.

"But not of the Kingsguard," Ser Gerold pointed out. "The Kingsguard does not flee."

"Then, or now," said Ser Arthur. He donned his helm.

"We swore a vow," explained old Ser Gerold.

Ned's wraiths moved up beside him, shadow swords in their hands. They were seven against three. "And now it begins," said Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. He unsheathed Dawn and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milkglass, alive with light.

"No," said Ned with sadness in his voice. "Now it ends."


quote:
"Prince Rhaegar led free men into battle, not slaves. Whitebeard said he dubbed his squires himself, and made many other knights as well."

"There was no higher honor than to receive your knighthood from the Prince of Dragonstone."

"Tell me then - when he touched a man on the shoulder with his sword, what did he say? 'Go forth and kill the weak'? Or 'Go forth and defend them'? At the Trident, those brave men Viserys spoke of who died beneath our dragon banners - did they give their lives because they believed in Rhaegar's cause or because they had been bought and paid for?" Dany turned to Mormont, crossed her arms, and waited for an answer.

"My lady," the big man said slowly, "all you say is true. But Rhaegar lost on the Trident. He lost the battle, he lost the war, he lost the kingdom, and he lost his life. His blood swirled downriver with the rubies from his breastplate, and Robert the Usurper rode over his corpse to steal the Iron Throne. Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died."


Both from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. I'll be back later with works from other books when my fingers no longer feel numb from all the typing. Wink Razz



James

Wandering, but not lost.

"You are a Knight Errant. All of the fun of rescuing damsels, and none of the paperwork."
 
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Elah Adonijai
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quote:

If there were no pain, if there were no fear, then what does it matter that we live together, that our lives touch? If our actions have no consequences, then we might as well die, all of us, because we are just machines, contented machines, well oiled and running smoothly with no need to think, nothing to value, because there are no problems to solve and nothing we can lose


-- Orson Scott Card, The Worthing Saga


____________________________________________________________________
"Patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer i beg to submit that it is the first." - Ambrose Bierce
----------------------
A Good Scoundrel isn't Hard to Find
 
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Thus he died, and all the life struggled out of him. And as he died, he spattered me with the dark red and violent-driven rain of bitter-savored blood, to make me glad, as gardens stand among the showers of God in glory at the birthtime of the buds.


Aischylos; Agamemnon; Oresteia. This is Klytemnestra's speak after she has just killed Agamemnon in his bath.
(Oresteia is the only fully survived play from ancient Greece)

quote:
"I mean," she said, "that one can't help growing older".
"One can't perhaps," said Humpty Dumpty, "but two can. With proper assistance, you might have left off at seven."


Need I say?=)


-------------------------------------------------------

Oh are you from Wales? Do you know a fella named Jonah? He used to live in whales for a while.
-Groucho Marx-
 
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Elah Adonijai
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From Jonathan Lethem's "As She Climbed Across the Table":

quote:
"I want a small pizza and a bottle of beer," I explained to the boyish voice on the end of the other line. "But no cheese. Can you give me a small pizza with no cheese?"

"That's unusual," said the voice. "Let me check. I'll put you on hold."

He came back. "One small pizza, no cheese. Any specials?"

"Specials?"

"Special aspects, you know. Things. Mushrooms, garlic, pineapple."

"Mushrooms."

"Just one? You get a discount if you get three."

I thought about it. "What if we consider no cheese a special?"

"Um, okay. So let's see, that's one small pizza, mushrooms, no cheese. Pick one more."

"How about no pineapple?"

There was a long pause. "Let me check."

"Forget it," I said when he came back. "I don't want a pizza. No cheese was the giveaway. Can you just bring me the beer? Talking about pizza made me thirsty."

"I don't think I can do that, sir. I think just beer is against the rules,and it might even be illegal. I might get fired or arrested."

"Check," I said. "Put me on hold."

"I think I'll do that, sir."


The whole book is peppered with funny conversations like this, but then it's got other ones like this, that are very vulnerable and touching:

quote:
"I'm not sure that I really exist, except under your observation."

She didn't say anything.

"If you left me," I said, "you'd take so much of me with you that I'd be inside you, looking back at what was left -- the husk of Philip Engstrand we'd abandoned."

She stared at me across the pillow. "That's actually beautiful," she said.

"So when Ifeel distance between us it's like there's something wrong between me and myself. I feel a fulf in myself."

Alice closed her eyes. "Nothing's wrong," she said.

"No?" I said.


____________________________________________________________________
"Patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer i beg to submit that it is the first." - Ambrose Bierce
----------------------
A Good Scoundrel isn't Hard to Find
 
Posts: 2179 | Location: Hiding in the secret compartments of Whittier, CA | Registered: July 08, 2005Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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quote:
"So what do you believe in?" Vicente wanted to know.
"The trinity, sir", Harper said sententiously.
"The trinity?" Vicente was surprised.
"The Baker rifle", Sharpe said, "the sword bayonet and me."
"Those too", Harper acknowledged and laughed.
(Sharpe's Havoc by Bernard Cornwell)

And I really like the next one... I don't know why...

"He stood in a daze and watched a photocopier at work. It was a machine as big as a launderette dryer and it was spitting copies out so hard and so fast that it was rocking back and forth on its feet. And costing some customer a fortune. That was clear. (...)
Opposite the print shop corral was a display of inkjet cartridges. They were expensive, too. Reacher had no idea what they were for. Or what they did. Or why they cost so much. He pushed past a line of people at a checkout desk and headed for the street."
(The Hard Way by Lee Child)


" 'A lovers' spat',(...)'Boy meets girl, girl wants boy dead. An everyday story really.'" - D. Gemmell
 
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From Charles Stross's short story, "Rogue Farm"

"Brains! Fresh brains for Baby Jesus!"

"Sometimes a man just had to be alone with his dog and a good joint, doing man-and-dog stuff."
 
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"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith and without faith I am nothing."

"But," says man, "the babelfish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It proves you exist, and so therefore you don't, q.e.d."

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.


The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


-----------------------------

Great vampires never die, they just fade away.
 
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Elah Adonijai
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"I think this is getting needlessly messianic."

Douglas Adams, "the Hithchiker's Guide to the Galaxy."


____________________________________________________________________
"Patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer i beg to submit that it is the first." - Ambrose Bierce
----------------------
A Good Scoundrel isn't Hard to Find
 
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Yahr!
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quote:
"Well, what we called a computer in 1977 was really a kind of electric abacus, but..."
"Oh, now, don't underestimate the abacus," said Reg. "In skilled hands it's a very sophisticated calculating device. Furthermore it requires no power, can be made with any materials you have to hand, and never goes bing in the middle of an important piece of work."
"So an electric one would be particularly pointless," said Richard.
"True enough," conceded Reg.
"There really wasn't a lot this machine could do that you couldn't do yourself in half the time with a lot less trouble," said Richard "but it was, on the other hand, very good at being a slow and dim-witted pupil."
Reg looked at him quizzically.
"I had no idea they were supposed to be in short supply," he said. "I could hit a dozen with a bread roll from where I'm sitting."
"I'm sure. But look at it this way. What really is the point of trying to teach anything to anybody?"
This question seemed to provoke a murmur of sympathetic approval from up and down the table.
Richard continued, "What I mean is that if you really want to understand something, the best way is to try and explain it to someone else. That forces you to sort it out in your own mind. And the more slow and dim-witted your pupil, the more you have to break things down into simpler ideas. And that's really the essence of programming. By the time you've sorted out a complicated idea into little steps that even a stupid machine can deal with, you've certainly learned something about it yourself. The teacher usually learns more than the pupil. Isn't that true?"


It goes on. But if I wait 'till I reach a bit that isn't pure awesome I'll end up transcribing the whole book, which is Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gentley's holistic detective agency."


~ Gal-El

You don't have to be a basketball player, you can be the president of the United States. ~ LeBron James.
 
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Yahr!
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'I'm sorry about lucas , man. He was... He was a dude.'


William Gibson - "Count Zero."


~ Gal-El

You don't have to be a basketball player, you can be the president of the United States. ~ LeBron James.
 
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Yahr!
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quote:
The almond-eyed waiter was trying to hide a smirk when he brought Renner's main course. The dish was conspicuous, a shallow bowl over a foot across and five inches high. Customers at other tables broke off conversation to watch as he set it in front of Renner.
The creatures in the bowl might have been four legged crabs. Their sides pulsed. Renner remembered reading that they were land creatures. They could almost reach the rim before they dropped back. Their eyes were locked on Renner as they climbed towards him. They looked hungry and determined.
"Pick up the crottling fork," Belinda whispered. "The two-pronged fork. use your thumb and two fingers."
It was sitting beside the bowl. Renner picked it up. Belinda whispered, "Stab just behind the head plate. Do it hard enough to set the prongs. You don't want it to drop off.
Hesitating was bad: the greeps would move. You couldn't blame them.Renner stabbed one and lifted the fork. Belinda said, "Scrape it off on the edge. You didn't stab hard enough. They bite."
Renner scraped it off and tried another. The beasts weren't fast, but it wasn't easy to center the fork. He stabbed.
"Good. Pick it up. Your left hand takes the tail. Pull hard."
Renner pulled. The exoskeletal tale came right off, exposing two inches of pale meat.
All eyes were on Renner, to watch him make a fool of himself. The naked tail writhed. Renner felt like a murderer. He said "So, wretched sand dweller! Now will you tell us about your troop movements?"


Larry Niven and Jerry pournelle - "The Gripping Hand."


~ Gal-El

You don't have to be a basketball player, you can be the president of the United States. ~ LeBron James.
 
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"Drink a lot of water", I said.
"That way", Chollo said, "we run out of ammunition we can piss on them."
(Potshot - R. Parker)

"...for the ghost of a child is still, for all that, a child, and a memory of a love is still, even decades later, love."
(Dark Hollow - J. Connolly)


" 'A lovers' spat',(...)'Boy meets girl, girl wants boy dead. An everyday story really.'" - D. Gemmell
 
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The passage that came to my mind first is from Dashiell Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon." Sam Spade tells this story, and it completely interrupts the main story and is just incredibly compelling (or was for me anyway). It's too long to type here, but luckily somebody else already typed it out online. Here: http://www.newpartisan.com/home/hammetts-parable-of-the-falling-beams.html
 
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Istanbul was never Constantinople. They lied.
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"He had a truly brilliant mind, but it was brilliant like a fractured mirror, all marvelous facets and rainbows but, ultimately, also something that was broken."
--Hogfather, Terry Pratchett




He began to think of people in a new light; how everyone's just little more than that frightened, fragile brain stem, surrounded by meat and physics, too terrified to recognize the sum of their parts, insulated in the shells of their skulls and lower-middle-class houses, afraid of change, afraid of decisions, afraid of pain, stuck in traffic, listening to terrible music.
 
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