The Father made men curious, some say to test our faith. It is my own abiding sin that whenever I come upon a door I must needs see what lies upon the farther side, but certain doors are best left uno...

The Australian sculptor who made leather sandals said that Beethoven’s duet for viola and cello sounded to him like two bulky women rummaging under a bed. Behind him a girl said, —Of course I like mus...

The American Negro has the great advantage of having never believed the collection of myths to which white Americans cling: that their ancestors were all freedom-loving heroes, that they were born in...

The 'pre-emption' versus 'prevention' debate may be a distinction without much difference. The important thing is to have it understood that the United States is absolutely serious. The jihadists have...

That’s why you aren’t hearing from anyone out there. That’s why the great silence persists. There are many other living intelligences out there, no doubt, but they can’t leave their home planets any m...

That’s extremely important to understand. He had given up.Because he’d given up, the surface of life was comfortable for him. He worked reasonably hard, was easy to get along with and, except for an o...

That's when he hit her, when he saw how scared she was. He couldn't bear it that she was frightened and asking for help. Asking for help is wrong. Because there isn't any such thing as help in this wo...

That's what the movies do. They don't entertain us, they don't send the message: 'We care.' They give us lines to say, they assign us parts: John Wayne, Theda Bara, Shirley Temple, take your pick.

That's what it is, this arrogance, in this flamenco music this same arrogance of suffering, listen. The strength of it's what's so overpowering, the self-sufficiency that's so delicate and tender with...

That's what happens when you're thirty-seven years old: you do the things you always did but the result is somehow different.

That's what books are for, to travel without moving an inch.

That which interest me above all else,' he wrote,'is the caligraphy of a tree or the tiles of a roof, and I mean leaf by leaf, branch by branch, blade by blade of the grass.

That was what it took me some time to see the snow falling in the window at the end of the bar. Whispers rose among the guests, they pointed to the street. Their heads turned in a reverent row. Thin s...

That was seven years ago. The doctors told her father the memory would fade, like the big messy scar on her arm, but neither ever did.

That was how I learned that no is stronger than yes. (Shostakovich already knew that.) It takes two yesses for I to become we, but only one no for we to break apart, no matter what the other party wis...

That part of your life is over. Set it aside as something you have finished. Complete or no, it is done with you. No being gets to decide what his life is supposed to be...'Be a man. Discover where yo...

That night, I hated father. He smelt of cabbage. There was cigarette ash all over his trousers. His untidy moustache was yellower and viler than ever with nicotine, and he took no notice of me. He sim...

That is why Bias jested with those who were going through the perils of a great storm with him and calling on the gods for help: Shut up, he said, so that they do not realize that you are here with me...

That first peach slithers down his throat like rapture. A sunrise in his mouth.

That drew a laugh from Jessamy, but he said, after a moment: You had better flay me. It was my fault—all my fault!I was wondering how long it would be before you contrived to convince yourself that yo...