Stable is that step backwards between successful and failing.
— Pete Campbell in an episode of Mad Men (“A Little Kiss”)
Posts tagged with #quote
Twitter makes you a comedian in the same way that digital cameras make you a photographer.
— Ken Jennings in America’s Hardest-Working Know-It-All
I suspect if you had the sixteen year old Shakespeare or Einstein in school with you, they’d seem impressive, but not totally unlike your other friends.
Which is an uncomfortable thought. If they were just like us, then they had to work very hard to do what they did. And that’s one reason we like to believe in genius. It gives us an excuse for being lazy. If these guys were able to do what they did only because of some magic Shakespeareness or Einsteinness, then it’s not our fault if we can’t do something as good.
I’m not saying there’s no such thing as genius. But if you’re trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right.
— Paul Graham in his essay, What You’ll Wish You’d Known
I am 9-years-old for the rest of my life.
I am Thanksgiving: At the movies.
I am Christmas Eve: Drunk.
I am Mother’s Day: “Don’t fucking talk to me!”
I am orphan.
— Catalina Ferro in her spoken word poem, “Orphan“
Karma’s got me fearing life [...]
See, I got demons in my past.
I got daughters on the way.
If the prophecy’s correct,
then the child should have to pay
For the sins of a father,
so I barter my tomorrows
against my yesterdays
In hopes that she’ll be okay.
— Jay-Z (“Beach Chair”)
- Diane: If this is part of some involved scheme to get me back in bed with you, you will be very disappointed.
- Sam: Yeah. But you’ll enjoy yourself.
— From an episode of Cheers
We’re old! You’re a creepy, old bachelor and I’m a spinster.
— Sara calls me on Christmas. In my defense and to my detriment, my being a creepy bachelor has nothing to do with my age.
My idea of professionalism is probably a lot of people’s idea of obsessive.
— David Fincher
Never mind what I’ve been through, just look at what I’ve become
All the shit I’ve avoided, what it done for my sons [...]
I sold dope and dropped out of school. Seems it’s all they can see.
They don’t notice none of my family did that since me.
I broke that cycle.
— T.I. (“On Top Of The World”)
Why does he hang out with those “retarded gorillas” as you call them? Because any one of them, if he asked them to, would take a fucking bat to your head, okay? That’s called loyalty.
— Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting (1997)
- Matt: Are either of you even remotely concerned that I tanked tonight?
- Danny: You didn’t tank.
- Matt: Yes, I sure did.
- Jordan: Hang on, cause I’m curious. What if you DID tank tonight? What are you afraid would happen?
- Matt: Strangers wouldn’t like me, friends wouldn’t like me, the network wouldn’t like me, the press wouldn’t like me, women in general wouldn’t like me and Harriet wouldn’t like me.
- Jordan: Is he in therapy?
- Danny: No, he’s got me.
— From an episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
- Natalie: Am I smokey?
- Jeremy: You better believe it. I’ll tell you what else you are: You are a slow drink of whiskey.
- Natalie: Say some computer things… Right now.
- Jeremy: Listen, seriously, those new herbs you’ve been taking? I think you should stop.
- Natalie: I’m a slow drink of whiskey?
- Jeremy: Among other things, yes.
— From an episode of Sports Night
All you see’s
a bunch of “what the fucks”
Dude is dating so and so,
blabbering ‘bout such & such.
And that ain’t Jersey Shore.
Homie, that’s the news.
And these the same people
supposedly telling us the truth.
— Lupe Fiasco (“Words I Never Said”)
‘Because it’s ugly!’ whinge the pedants. It’s only ugly because it’s new and you don’t like it. Ugly in the way Picasso, Stravinsky and Eliot were once thought ugly. And before them: Monet, Mahler and Baudelaire.
— Stephen Fry
- Teacher: Do you at least know the river which flows through Cairo?
- Vitus: No idea. But I could look it up in an atlas for you.
- Teacher: Thanks, but I know the name of the river.
- Vitus: So teachers always know more than their students?
- Teacher: Yes, that’s usually the case.
- Vitus: In that case, do you know who invented the steam engine?
- Teacher: Of course I know that. It was James Watt.
- Vitus: And why didn’t his teacher invent the steam engine?
— From the movie Vitus (2006)