“
Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place, but there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him?
No, thank you,' he will think. 'Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, although these are things which cannot inspire envy.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
E!" Klaus cried. "E as in Exit!" The Baudelaires ran down E as in Exit, but when they reached the last
cabinet, the row was becoming F as in Falling File Cabinets, G as in Go the Other Way! and H as in How
in the World Are We Going to Escape?
”
”
Lemony Snicket (The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #8))
“
The eyes are the windows of the soul.... If someone was to look into your eyes, what would you want them to see?
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside of you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
I've been the oldest child since before you were born
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Secrets are the kind of adventure she needs. Secrets are safe, and they do much to make you different. On the inside where it counts.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
The adventure is over. Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you. It's the same as going on a vacation. Some people spend all their time on a vacation taking pictures so that when they get home they can show their friends evidence that they had a good time. They don't pause to let the vacation enter inside of them and take that home.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
A nasty letter or a sarcastic one can make you righteously angry, but what can you do about a polite letter of rejection? Nothing, really, except cry.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Why can't we be friends now?" said the other, holding him affectionately. "It's what I want. It's what you want." But the horses didn't want it — they swerved apart: the earth didn't want it, sending up rocks through which riders must pass single file; the temple, the tank, the jail, the palace, the birds, the carrion, the Guest House, that came into view as they emerged from the gap and saw Mau beneath: they didn't want it, they said in their hundred voices "No, not yet," and the sky said "No, not there.
”
”
E.M. Forster (A Passage to India)
“
But lying in bed just before going to sleep is the worst time for organized thinking; it is the best time for free thinking. Ideas drift like clouds in an undecided breeze, taking first this direction and then that.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Therefore, she decided that her leaving home would not be just running from somewhere but would be running to somewhere.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Five minutes of planning are worth fifteen minutes of just looking.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (Literature Guide: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Grades 4-8))
“
If you think of doing something in New York City, you can be certain that at least two thousand other people have the same thought. And of the two thousand who do, about one thousand will be standing in line waiting to do it.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away. That is, running away in the heat of anger with a knapsack on her pack. She didn't like discomfort; even picnics were untidy and inconvenient: all those insects and the sun melting the icing on the cupcakes. Therefore, she decided that her leaving home would not be just running from somewhere but would be running to somewhere.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
There's something nice and safe about having money.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
She filed those moments away like precious documents, wore them smooth with memory, collected them like bits of prayers.
”
”
Jennifer E. Smith (The Comeback Season)
“
I keep telling you that often the search proves more profitable than the goal.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Some people spend all their time on a vacation taking pictures so that when they get home they can show their friends evidence that they had a good time. They don’t pause to let the vacation enter inside of them and take that home.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Writers often have the cleanest windows, floors, fridges and toilets, the most up-to-date filing system or the best record for returning calls or e-mails because, in the moment, just about any task seems more palatable than sitting down to write.” (p.136)
”
”
Mark David Gerson (The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write)
“
The best thing about being a friend, is just being.
”
”
Laura Dower (BF4E* *Best Friends Forever (From the Files of Madison Finn, #4-6))
“
You think he left a big flashing arrow pointing to a filing cabinet labeled 'Evidence Here!'? He's a Stray, Ethan, not Wile E. Coyote!
”
”
Rachel Vincent (Prey (Shifters, #4))
“
Flattery is as important a machine as the lever, isn't it, Saxonberg? Give it a proper place to rest, and it can move the world.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (Literature Guide: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Grades 4-8))
“
Both Jamie and Claudia had acquired a talent for being near but never part of a group. (Some people, Saxonberg, never learn to do that all their lives, and some learn it all too well.)
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (Literature Guide: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Grades 4-8))
“
Jamie, you know, you could go clear around the world and still come home wondering if the tuna fish sandwiches at Chock Full O'Nuts still cost thirty-five cents.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
What happened was: they became a team, a family of two. There had been times before they ran away when they acted like a team, but those were very different from feeling like a team. Becoming a team didn't mean the end of their arguments. But it did mean that the arguments became a part of the adventure, became discussions not threats. To an outsider the arguments would appear to be the same because feeling like part of a team is something that happens invisibly. You might call it caring. You could even call it love. And it is very rarely, indeed, that it happens to two people at the same time-- especially a brother and a sister who had always spent more time with activities than they had with each other.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
I never really look past my eyes. That way I always feel pretty. Windows of the soul, you know.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
I don’t have any say in that. I love you because my heart says so.” He sent me a crooked smile. “I like you because I say so.
”
”
S.E. Harmon (Principles of Spookology (The Spectral Files, #2))
“
Jamie: The only kind of deal that I can make is with money, and we haven't got any of that.
Mrs. Frankweiler: You are very poor indeed if that is the only kind of deal you can make
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
As far as plans went, it was like facing the zombie apocalypse with a nail file and a bag of Skittles. It might work, but chances were good that I'd die a horrible, painful death.
At least the end would be filled with fruity, candy goodness. And for my dramatic death scene I could whisper, in a creepy, quivery death rattle, taste the rainbow. Boy would those zombies be confused.
”
”
E.J. Stevens (The Pirate Curse (Spirit Guide, #5))
“
Mason, E, 2nd LT: I take this as a declaration of war. Presuming they don't line me up against a bulkhead and shoot me after my court martial tomorrow, I will be making sweet, sweet love to your sister by the week's end. This I solemnly vow
McNulty, J, Sgt: ezra don't joke about my sister I ****ing warned you
Mason, E, 2nd LT: sweet
McNulty, J, Sgt: chum
Mason, E, 2nd LT: sweet
McNulty, J, Sgt: mason
Mason, E, 2nd LT: lurrrrrrve
”
”
Amie Kaufman (Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1))
“
Next to any kind of elegance, Claudia loved good clean smells.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
I have such faith in words that when I read about such families as a child, I thought that they were the norm and that the way I lived was subnormal, waiting for normal.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Flattery is as important a machine as the lever, isn't it, Saxonberg? Give it a proper place to rest, and it can move the world.
”
”
from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler
“
one of the finest private collections of art in the Western Hemisphere. Others considered it a gigantic hodgepodge of
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Last time I checked, we’re cops. We can’t turn down donuts. People will talk, Daniel.
”
”
S.E. Harmon (Principles of Spookology (The Spectral Files, #2))
“
Becoming a team didn’t mean the end of their arguments. But it did mean that the arguments became a part of the adventure, became discussions not threats. To an outsider the arguments would appear to be the same because feeling like part of a team is something that happens invisibly. You might call it caring. You could even call it love.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Finding a secret can make everything else unimportant, you know.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
The adventure is over. Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It’s hollow.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Having words and explanations for things is too modern
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler)
“
Jamie liked perspiration, a little bit of dirt, and complications.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler)
“
Angel" became part of Claudia's story about finding herself, about how the greatest adventure lies not in running away but in looking inside, and the greatest discovery is not in finding out who made a statue but in finding out what makes you.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
(Flattery is as important a machine as the lever, isn’t it, Saxonberg? Give it a proper place to rest, and it can move the world.)
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Parke-Bernet Galleries.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Ebenezar blinked . Then he turned his face to me his expression clearly asking whether or not I was out of my damned mind .
"Wile E. Coyote" I said to him soberly . "Suuuuuuper Genius
”
”
Jim Butcher (Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, #11))
“
I can’t believe you read my medical files.”
Prophet looked offended. “That would be an invasion of privacy. I looked through your bags.
”
”
S.E. Jakes (Catch a Ghost (Hell or High Water, #1))
“
We were a couple now, which was shorthand for your hell is my hell.
”
”
S.E. Harmon (Spooky Business (The Spectral Files, #3))
“
McNulty, J, Sgt: and if that works McNulty, J, Sgt: u must name ur first kid james in my honor Mason, E, LT 2nd: >_> McNulty, J, Sgt: if it’s a daughter u name it jamette Mason, E, LT 2nd: 0_o
”
”
Amie Kaufman (Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1))
“
Nouilles et fromage en casserole,” Parks answered. Claudia showed interest. “I’ll have some, please. Sounds like something special.” Parks served. Claudia looked down at her plate, looked up at me and moaned, “Why, it’s nothing but macaroni and cheese.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It’s hollow.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
We didn’t have sex.” He keeps his focus on the contents of the file folder in front of him, thumbing through the pages.
“We did. I finished out the scenario in my head when I got home last night. I was amazing. You were just okay. I have to say … you’re the first guy I’ve been with who cried during your orgasm. What you lacked in manliness, you made up for with complete tenderness. I will always remember the soft caress of your tears falling onto my cheeks.”
Flint eases his squinted gaze up so slowly it’s torturous. I nibble at the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning. Dang! He looks so sexy with ruffled feathers.
”
”
Jewel E. Ann (Look the Part)
“
They waited for miles and miles of time
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Didn’t Danny know the rules? You always side with the guy who warms up the lube before he jams it in your ass.
”
”
S.E. Harmon (Principles of Spookology (The Spectral Files, #2))
“
I thought of relationships as a mosaic, and I put more stock in the overall picture, not the individual tiles. Life was too damned short to make every moment poignant, and too damned long to make every moment perfect. You fought, you made up, you cried, you laughed, and hopefully, when you stepped back, the picture was still beautiful.
”
”
S.E. Harmon (Spooky Business (The Spectral Files, #3))
“
Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you. It’s the same as going on a vacation. Some people spend all their time on a vacation taking pictures so that when they get home they can show their friends evidence that they had a good time. They don’t pause to let the vacation enter inside of them and take that home.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Therefore, she decided that her leaving home would not be just running from somewhere but would be running to somewhere. To a large place, a comfortable place, an indoor place, and preferably a beautiful place. And that’s why she decided upon the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Claudia said, “But, Mrs. Frankweiler, you should want to learn one new thing every day. We did even at the museum.” “No,” I answered, “I don’t agree with that. I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It’s hollow.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
When I watch the living meet,
And the moving pageant file
Warm and breathing through the street
Where I lodge a little while,
If the heats of hate and lust
In the house of flesh are strong,
Let me mind the house of dust
Where my sojourn shall be long.
In the nation that is not
Nothing stands that stood before;
There revenges are forgot,
And the hater hates no more;
Lovers lying two and two
Ask not whom they sleep beside,
And the bridegroom all night through
Never turns him to the bride.
”
”
A.E. Housman (A Shropshire Lad)
“
I wasn’t very good at just floating along. I didn’t like upheaval. I liked security and schedules and stability because they appeased the squarest parts of my heart
”
”
S.E. Harmon (Principles of Spookology (The Spectral Files, #2))
“
I miracoli sono aberrazioni statistiche. E il fato è un'illusione che l'umanità sfrutta per darsi consolazione nel buio. Nella vita non c'è nulla di assoluto, esclusa la morte.
”
”
Amie Kaufman (Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1))
“
Knowledge gained is as useless as pride
if filed away and never applied.
”
”
Richelle E. Goodrich (Slaying Dragons: Quotes, Poetry, & a Few Short Stories for Every Day of the Year)
“
Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant.” -Seneca
”
”
S.E. Harmon (Spooky Business (The Spectral Files, #3))
“
Jamie spied a Hershey's almond bar still in its wrapper lying in the corner of the landing. He picked it up and tore open one corner.
"Was it bitten into?" asked Claudia.
"No," Jamie smiled. "Want half?"
"You better not touch it," Claudia warned. "It's probably poisoned or filled with marijuana, so you'll eat it and become either dead or a dope addict".
Jamie was irritated. "Couldn't it just happen that someone dropped it?"
"I doubt that. Who would drop a whole candy bar and not know it? That's like leaving a statue in a taxi".
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
The adventure is over. Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you. It's the same as going on a vacation. Some people spend all their time on a vacation taking pictures so that when they get home they can show their friends evidence that they had a good time. They don't pause to let the vacation enter inside of them and take that home.”
― E. L. Konigsburg, From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
First item in the crew roster is given name, so I'll input 'Skippy'. Second item is surname-"
"The Magnificent."
"Really?"
"It is entirely appropriate, Joe."
"Oh, uh huh, because that's what everyone calls you," I retorted sarcastically, rolling my eyes. Not wanting to argue with him, I typed in 'TheMagnificent'.
"Next question is your rank, this file is designed for military personnel."
"I'd like 'Grand Exalted Field Marshall El Supremo'." "Right, I'll type in 'Cub Scout'. Next question-"
"Hey! You jerk-"
"-is occupational specialty."
"Oh, clearly that should be Lord God Controller of All Things."
"I'll give you that one, that is spelled A, S, S, H, O, L, E. Next-"
"Hey! You shithead, I should-"
"Age?" I asked.
"A couple million, at least. I think."
"Mentally, you're a six year old, so that's what I typed in."
"Joe, I just changed your rank in the personnel file to 'Big Poopyhead'." Skippy laughed.
"Five year old. You're a five year old."
"I guess that's fair," he admitted.
"Sex? I'm going to select 'n/a' on that one for you," I said.
"Joe, in your personnel file, I just updated Sex to 'Unlikely'."
"This is not going well, Skippy."
"You started it!"
"That was mature. Four year old, then. Maybe Terrible Twos."
"I give up," Skippy snorted. "Save the damned file and we'll call it even, Ok?"
"No problem. We should do this more often, huh?"
"Oh, shut up.
”
”
Craig Alanson (SpecOps (Expeditionary Force, #2))
“
think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
No! The E aisle!"
"B?" Violet asked, finding it difficult to hear over the sounds of the cabinets.
"E!" Klaus cried. "E as in Exit!"
The Baudelaires ran down E as in Exit, but when they reached the last cabinet, the row was becoming F as in Falling File Cabinets, G as in Go the Other Way! and H as in How in the World Are We Going to Escape?
”
”
Lemony Snicket (The Hostile Hospital (A Series of Unfortunate Events, #8))
“
Abracadabra," Roarke stated, and opened it.
"Now that's more like it." Hunkered down beside him, Eve studied the neat stacks of cash. "This is how he stayed out of a cage so long. No credit, no e-transfers. Cash on the line. And a file box, loaded with discs and vids."
"Best of all." Roarke reached in, took out a PPC. "His personal palm, very likely uninfected and chock-full of interesting data."
"Let's load it up, get it in." She pulled out her memo book.
"What're you doing?"
"Logging the entry. I better not see any of that green stuff or those baubles go into your pockets, Ace."
"Now I'm offended." He straightened, brushed at his shirt. "If I nipped anything, you can bet your ass you wouldn't see me do it.
”
”
J.D. Robb (Purity in Death (In Death, #15))
“
I was amused and surprised by the odd, visceral details that returned to me with each work: Pa bringing the girls real white sugar wrapped in brown paper in Little House in the Big Woods, Sally J. Freeman having a man-o-war wrapped around her foot (who even know what a man-o-war was?), Claudia choosing macaroni at the Automat in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. These strong, charged images that have never left me - they're often stronger than memories I have of my old life.
”
”
Lizzie Skurnick (Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading)
“
There can be no question that parrots have more intellect than any other kind of bird, and it is this that makes them such favourite pets and brings upon them so many sorrows. ...Men will buy them ... and carry them off to all quarters of the native town, intending, I doubt not, to treat them kindly; but "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel", and confinement in a solitary cell, the discipline with which we reform hardened criminals, is misery enough to a bird with an active mind, without the superadded horrors of ... life in a tin case, hung from a nail in the wall of a dark shop... Why does the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals never look into the woes of parrots?
...
However happy you make her captivity, imagination will carry her at times to the green field and blue sky, and she fancies herself somewhere near the sun, heading a long file of exultant companions in swift career through the whistling air. Then she opens her mouth and rings out a wild salute to all parrots in the far world below her.
”
”
E.H. Aitken
“
She found Jamie standing on that corner, probably one of the most civilized street corners in the whole world, consulting a compass and announcing that when they turned left, they would be heading 'due northwest.' Claudia was tired and cold at the tips; her fingers, her toes, her nose were all cold while the rest of her was perspiring under the weight of her winter clothes. She never liked feeling either very hot or very cold, and she hated feeling both at the same time. 'Head due northwest. Head due northwest,' she mimicked. 'Can't you simply say turn right or turn left as everyone else does? Who do you think you are? Daniel Boone? I'll bet no one's used a compass in Manhattan since Henry Hudson.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Logotherapy, keeping in mind the essential transitoriness of human existence, is not pessimistic but rather activistic. To express this point figuratively we might say: The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him? “No, thank you,” he will think. “Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these are things which cannot inspire envy.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It’s hollow.
”
”
E.L. Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler)
“
Lo strizzacervelli non sapeva che l'attesa è una di quelle cose che fa impazzire la gente? La gente aspettava per tutta la vita. Aspettava per vivere, aspettava per morire. Aspettava in fila per comprare la carta igienica. E se non aveva quattrini aspettava in file più lunghe. Aspettavi per dormire e poi aspettavi per svegliarti. Aspettavi per sposarti e poi aspettavi per divorziare. Aspettavi che piovesse poi aspettavi che smettesse. Aspettavi per mangiare poi aspettavi per mangiare di nuovo. Aspettavi nello studio di uno strizzacervelli con una masnada di psicopatici e ti chiedevi se lo fossi anche tu.
”
”
Charles Bukowski (Pulp)
“
La cosa che odio di più è il pianto, che ti assale quando meno te l'aspetti. Sei lì che fai qualcosa e di colpo hai di nuovo gli occhi lucidi, che cavolo, e non capisci com'è successo.
”
”
Amie Kaufman (Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1))
“
You don’t have a middle name.”
No, I did not. Rainstorm only went with so much, thank God. My parents had offered to amend the oversight, but I declined. Mostly because my mother was overly fond of the name Moonbeam, and two wrongs do not make a right. They just make one very irritated Dr Rainstorm Moonbeam Christiansen marching to the courthouse with name-change forms.
”
”
S.E. Harmon (P.S. I Spook You (The Spectral Files, #1))
“
As for relegated/delegated responsibility to ensure organizational software licensing compliance, management is still accountable when intellectual property rights are violated. If the safeguarding responsibility is assigned to an ineffective and/or inefficient unit within an organization, IT audit should recommend an alternative arrangement after the risks are substantiated.
”
”
Robert E. Davis
“
The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him? “No, thank you,” he will think. “Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these are things which cannot inspire envy.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
In 1960, for example, the Committee for Long Range Studies of the Brookings Institution prepared a report for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration warning that even indirect contact—i.e., alien artifacts that might possibly be discovered through our space activities on the moon, Mars or Venus or via radio contact with an interstellar civilization—could cause severe psychological dislocations. The study cautioned that “Anthropological files contain many examples of societies, sure of their place in the universe, which have disintegrated when they have had to associate with previously unfamiliar societies espousing different ideas and different life ways; others that survived such an experience usually did so by paying the price of changes in values and attitudes and behavior.
”
”
Stanley Kubrick (Stanley Kubrick: The Playboy Interview (Singles Classic) (50 Years of the Playboy Interview))
“
One conspicuous benefit is cognitive: sleep helps us remember important things and helps synthesize and integrate them. It sounds like magic, but while we sleep, our brains file and then analyze information.
”
”
Daniel E. Lieberman (Exercised: The Science of Physical Activity, Rest and Health)
“
The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
It was a pity that most people didn't actually go to libraries anymore, not when they could sit in the comfort of their own quarters and access files electronically. Want to read the new hot interstellar caper novel, or the latest issue of Beings holozine? Input the name, touch a control, and zip - it's in your datapad. . . .
There were, of course, old-fashioned beings who would still actually trundle down to where the files were. On some worlds the most ancient libraries kept books - actual bound volumes of printed matter - lined up neatly on shelves, and readers would walk the aisles, take a volume down, sniff the musty-dusty odor of it, and then carry it to a table to leisurely peruse.
There weren't many of those readers left, and they were growing rarer all the time . . . But there were some who still knew how to actually turn a page - and for those who were willing to do so, the rewards could be great indeed.
”
”
Michael Reaves (Star Wars: Death Star)
“
In 1973, the CIA, informed that reporters were sniffing around their affairs, had destroyed all the files concerning Project MK-Ultra. But the CIA is, above all, an enormous bureaucracy. Joseph Rauth was convinced that some traces had to remain of such an important project, which had extended over twenty-five years and involved dozens of directors and a staff of thousands. Under the auspices of the Rockefeller Commission, we were authorized access to documents or other materials relating to research into mind control. We hired an ex-CIA operative named Frank Macley to look into it. After several weeks of investigation, he confirmed that most of the files had been destroyed by two high-ranking officials: CIA Director Samuel Neels and one of his close associates, Michael Brown. But through his persistence, Macley unearthed seven huge crates of documents relating to MK-Ultra at the Agency’s records storage facility. Crates that had gotten lost in the administrative labyrinth.
”
”
Franck Thilliez (Syndrome E)
“
Life of a software engineer sucks big time during project release. Every single team member contribution is very important. At times, we have to skip breakfast, lunch and even dinner, just to make sure the given ‘TASK’ is completed. Worst thing, that’s the time we get to hear wonderful F* words. It can be on conference calls or on emails, still we have to focus and deliver the end product to a client, without any compromise on quality. Actually, every techie should be saluted. We are the reason for the evolution of Information Technology. We innovate. We love artificial intelligence. We create bots and much more. We take you closer to books. Touch and feel it without the need of carrying a paperback. We created eBook and eBook reader app: it’s basically a code of a software engineer that process the file, keeps up-to-date of your reading history, and gives you a smoother reading experience. We are amazing people. We are more than a saint of those days. Next time, when you meet a software engineer, thank him/her for whatever code he/she developed, tested, designed or whatever he/she did!
”
”
Saravanakumar Murugan (Coffee Date)
“
I understand the CIA has bigger stuff to do than figure out why some guy’s manual on do-it-yourself hair restoration got jacked up, but is it so much to ask that we could get a little FBI/X-files attention when some honest-to-goodness, real live, supernatural, ghost shit goes down? I think not.
”
”
David E. Sharp (Lost on a Page: Character Developments)
“
Nella libreria del pastore vedo file e file di copertine, una accanto all'altra, e tutte contengono tempi di tipo diverso. Il tempo che ci è voluto a scrivere il libro, il tempo in cui si svolge la storia, il tempo che ci vuole per leggerla. E mi manca la terra sotto i piedi quando mi rendo conto che in un misero pezzetto di scaffale è racchiuso più tempo di quanto possa contenerne una vita intera. Le esperienze descritte sono così vaste che nessun individuo potrà mai comprenderle tutte dentro di sè, i pensieri così numerosi che nessuna mente riuscirà mai a formularli tutti nel corso di una sola esistenza, nemmeno se passassimo ogni singolo giorno della nostra vita a divorare libri. Mi immagino grandi case piene zeppe di libri, così tanti che nessuno riuscirebbe mai a leggerli tutti, e al solo pensiero mi vengono le vertigini.
”
”
Mikael Niemi (Koka björn)
“
A thousand times over with you,
I yearned to linger in a perfect moment
and stop the passing of time.
A thousand times over with you,
I caught your tender smile and tucked it
carefully away in my heart for safekeeping.
A thousand times over with you,
I took in your sunny gaze and
hoarded its light for the wintry season.
A thousand times over with you,
I heard your laughter and sat silent
as it vibrated like music in my soul.
A thousand times over with you,
I saw your eyes twinkle like stars,
and I made a wish for forever.
A thousand times over with you,
I noted wisdom in your years,
and I filed away your thoughtful words.
A thousand times over with you,
I felt the warmth of your hand in mine
and squeezed tight, reluctant to let go.
A thousand times over with you,
I pondered how quickly mortality ushers us
from sunrise to sunset, and I dreaded the night.
A thousand times over with you,
I embraced the promise of immortality,
dreaming of a day when perfect moments
linger pleasantly on and on and on
a thousand times over with you.
”
”
Richelle E. Goodrich (A Heart Made of Tissue Paper)
“
The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
Subject: Some boat
Alex,
I know Fox Mulder. My mom watched The X-Files. She says it was because she liked the creepy store lines. I think she liked David Duchovny. She tried Californication, but I don't think her heart was in it. I think she was just sticking it to my grandmother, who has decided it's the work of the devil. She says that about most current music,too, but God help anyone who gets between her and American Idol.
The fuzzy whale was very nice, it a little hard to identify. The profile of the guy between you and the whale in the third pic was very familiar, if a little fuzzy. I won't ask. No,no. I have to ask.
I won't ask.
My mother loves his wife's suits.
I Googled. There are sharks off the coast of the Vineyard. Great big white ones. I believe you about the turtle. Did I mention that there are sharks there? I go to Surf City for a week every summer with my cousins. I eat too much ice cream. I play miniature golf-badly. I don't complain about sand in my hot dog buns or sheets. I even spend enough time on the beach to get sand in more uncomfortable places. I do not swim. I mean, I could if I wanted to but I figure that if we were meant to share the water with sharks, we would have a few extra rows of teeth, too.
I'll save you some cannoli.
-Ella
Subject: Shh
Fiorella,
Yes,Fiorella. I looked it up. It means Flower. Which, when paired with MArino, means Flower of the Sea. What shark would dare to touch you?
I won't touch the uncomfortable sand mention, hard as it is to resist. I also will not think of you in a bikini (Note to self: Do not think of Ella in a bikini under any circumstanes. Note from self: Are you f-ing kidding me?).
Okay.
Two pieces of info for you. One: Our host has an excellent wine cellar and my mother is European. Meaning she doesn't begrudge me the occasional glass. Or four.
Two: Our hostess says to thank yur mother very much. Most people say nasty things about her suits.
Three: We have a house kinda near Surf City. Maybe I'll be there when your there.
You'd better burn this after reading.
-Alexai
Subect: Happy Thanksgiving
Alexei,
Consider it burned. Don't worry. I'm not showing your e-mails to anybody. Matter of national security, of course.
Well,I got to sit at the adult table. In between my great-great-aunt Jo, who is ninety-three and deaf, and her daughter, JoJo, who had to repeat everyone's conversations across me. Loudly. The food was great,even my uncle Ricky's cranberry lasagna. In fact, it would have been a perfectly good TG if the Eagles han't been playing the Jets.My cousin Joey (other side of the family) lives in Hoboken. His sister married a Philly guy. It started out as a lively across-the-table debate: Jets v. Iggles. It ended up with Joey flinging himself across the table at his brother-in-law and my grandmother saying loud prayers to Saint Bridget. At least I think it was Saint Bridget. Hard to tell. She was speaking Italian.
She caught me trying to freeze a half-dozen cannoli. She yelled at me. Apparently, the shells get really soggy when they defrost. I guess you'll have to come have a fresh one when you get back.
-F/E
”
”
Melissa Jensen (The Fine Art of Truth or Dare)
“
He had always assumed that a time would come in adulthood, a kind of plateau, when he would have learned all the tricks of managing, of simply being. All mail and e-mails answered, all papers in order, books alphabetically on the shelves, clothes and shoes in good repair in the wardrobes, and all his stuff where he could find it, with the past, including its letters and photographs, sorted into boxes and files, the private life settled and serene, accommodation and finances likewise. In all these years this settlement, the calm plateau, had never appeared, and yet he had continued to assume, without reflecting on the matter, that it was just around the next turn, when he would exert himself and reach it, that moment when his life became clear and his mind free, when his grown-up existence could properly begin. But not long after Catriona's birth, about the time he met Darlene, he thought he saw it for the first time: on the day he died he would be wearing unmatching socks, there would be unanswered e-mails, and in the hovel he called home there would still be shirts missing cuff buttons, a malfunctioning light in the hall, and unpaid bills, uncleared attics, dead flies, friends waiting for a reply, and lovers he had not owned up to. Oblivion, the last word in organization, would be his only consolation.
”
”
Ian McEwan (Solar)
“
antibody, which she administered via their nasal passages. The problem was, her therapy didn’t effectively cross the blood-brain barrier and reach the plaques in the parts of the brain affected by Alzheimer’s. In what might go down as one of the greatest twists of scientific luck, Solomon decided to attach her antibody to a virus called M13 to transport it across the blood-brain barrier. M13 was a special type of virus called a bacteriophage—a virus that infected only bacteria. And M13 infected only one type of bacteria: Escherichia coli, or E. coli. To Solomon’s surprise, the antibody, when attached to M13, showed great success in her trials. But what was truly surprising was that the group of mice treated with the M13 virus alone—without Solomon’s antibody therapy—
”
”
A.G. Riddle (Pandemic (The Extinction Files, #1))
“
He bridges the tiny pocket of space between our mouths, his lips brushing against mine in a feather-light kiss. One so soft, it’s barely a kiss at all. And I sink into it. Into the pure innocence of it. Into the intimacy of it, until I’m unable to escape the hold it’s got over me. But I don’t want to escape. Not now, not ever. I want to bottle this entire moment up into a single heartbeat and cherish it in all its glory. Because come morning light, one of two things are bound to happen. He’ll wake up beside me and regret every moment of what just happened. Or he won’t. But either way, I need to save it. File it in my memory as something pure and perfect. Something to remain untouched, no matter what happens tomorrow. And then pretend this doesn’t change anything between us. Even if I know it’s a lie.
”
”
C.E. Ricci (Iced Out (Leighton U, #1))
“
What’s more, AI researchers have begun to realize that emotions may be a key to consciousness. Neuroscientists like Dr. Antonio Damasio have found that when the link between the prefrontal lobe (which governs rational thought) and the emotional centers (e.g., the limbic system) is damaged, patients cannot make value judgments. They are paralyzed when making the simplest of decisions (what things to buy, when to set an appointment, which color pen to use) because everything has the same value to them. Hence, emotions are not a luxury; they are absolutely essential, and without them a robot will have difficulty determining what is important and what is not. So emotions, instead of being peripheral to the progress of artificial intelligence, are now assuming central importance. If a robot encounters a raging fire, it might rescue the computer files first, not the people, since its programming might say that valuable documents cannot be replaced but workers always can be. It is crucial that robots be programmed to distinguish between what is important and what is not, and emotions are shortcuts the brain uses to rapidly determine this. Robots would thus have to be programmed to have a value system—that human life is more important than material objects, that children should be rescued first in an emergency, that objects with a higher price are more valuable than objects with a lower price, etc. Since robots do not come equipped with values, a huge list of value judgments must be uploaded into them. The problem with emotions, however, is that they are sometimes irrational, while robots are mathematically precise. So silicon consciousness may differ from human consciousness in key ways. For example, humans have little control over emotions, since they happen so rapidly and because they originate in the limbic system, not the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Furthermore, our emotions are often biased.
”
”
Michio Kaku (The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind)
“
day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect with pride and joy on all the richness set down in these notes, on all the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, the future which is in store for him? “No, thank you,” he will think. “Instead of possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done and of love loved, but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of which I am most proud, though these are things which cannot inspire envy.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search For Meaning)
“
inbox. It was from Ogden Morrow. The subject line read “We Can Dance If We Want To.” There was no text in the body of the e-mail. Just a file attachment—an invitation to one of the most exclusive gatherings in the OASIS: Ogden Morrow’s birthday party. In the real world, Morrow almost never made public appearances, and in the OASIS, he came out of hiding only once a year, to host this event. The invitation featured a photo of Morrow’s world-famous avatar, the Great and Powerful Og. The gray-bearded wizard was hunched over an elaborate DJ mixing board, one headphone pressed to his ear, biting his lower lip in auditory ecstasy as his fingers scratched ancient vinyl on a set of silver turntables. His record crate bore a DON’T PANIC sticker and an anti-Sixer logo—a yellow number six with a red circle-and-slash over it. The text at the bottom read Ogden Morrow’s ’80s Dance Party
in celebration of his 73rd birthday!
Tonight—10pm OST at the Distracted Globe
ADMIT ONE I was flabbergasted. Ogden Morrow had actually taken the time to invite me to his birthday party. It felt like the greatest honor I’d ever received. I called Art3mis, and she confirmed that she’d received the same e-mail. She said she couldn’t pass up an invitation from Og himself
”
”
Ernest Cline (Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1))
“
First, since so much time is spent by people in bureaus working with paper, they may come to set too much store by it. They may become absorbed in receiving it, initialing it, routing it, filing it, keeping it; they may forget to read it in this process. Paper may in their eyes become more important than what is written on it. This is a natural tendency — paper is durable, tangible, easy to manipulate. It is something to see, feel, touch. Information and ideas are volatile, hard to handle, invisible, and they may not even be used. Men in bureaus are not different from men anywhere; they would rather risk their lives and reputations in keeping track of something solid and inert than of something impalpable and invisible. So they may tend to worry more over where a paper is than what has become of the things written on it.
There is something else about bureaucratic paper worth noticing. There are some things you cannot write on it, things any sensible man has to take into account. You can, for instance, write out orders for Lieutenant Brown to leave Fort Russell and report to Fort Ethan Allen, but you can't get on the paper how the lieutenant may feel about it. All kinds of qualifying, modifying, distorting considerations have to be left out of the information written on bureaucratic paper. It is difficult to introduce a sense of urgency, of uncertainty, of change, of growth, of all those strange feelings and attitudes that enter into and disturb any human situation. Concern for paper, in other words, may tend to drive out concern for the human being.
”
”
Elting E. Morison (Men, Machines, and Modern Times)
“
Recipe for a Perfect Wife, the Novel INGREDIENTS 3 cups editors extraordinaire: Maya Ziv, Lara Hinchberger, Helen Smith 2 cups agent-I-couldn’t-do-this-without: Carolyn Forde (and the Transatlantic Literary Agency) 1½ cup highly skilled publishing teams: Dutton US, Penguin Random House Canada (Viking) 1 cup PR and marketing wizards: Kathleen Carter (Kathleen Carter Communications), Ruta Liormonas, Elina Vaysbeyn, Maria Whelan, Claire Zaya 1 cup women of writing coven: Marissa Stapley, Jennifer Robson, Kate Hilton, Chantel Guertin, Kerry Clare, Liz Renzetti ½ cup author-friends-who-keep-me-sane: Mary Kubica, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Amy E. Reichert, Colleen Oakley, Rachel Goodman, Hannah Mary McKinnon, Rosey Lim ½ cup friends-with-talents-I-do-not-have: Dr. Kendra Newell, Claire Tansey ¼ cup original creators of the Karma Brown Fan Club: my family and friends, including my late grandmother Miriam Christie, who inspired Miriam Claussen; my mom, who is a spectacular cook and mother; and my dad, for being the wonderful feminist he is 1 tablespoon of the inner circle: Adam and Addison, the loves of my life ½ tablespoon book bloggers, bookstagrammers, authors, and readers: including Andrea Katz, Jenny O’Regan, Pamela Klinger-Horn, Melissa Amster, Susan Peterson, Kristy Barrett, Lisa Steinke, Liz Fenton 1 teaspoon vintage cookbooks: particularly the Purity Cookbook, for the spark of inspiration 1 teaspoon loyal Labradoodle: Fred Licorice Brown, furry writing companion Dash of Google: so I could visit the 1950s without a time machine METHOD: Combine all ingredients into a Scrivener file, making sure to hit Save after each addition.
”
”
Karma Brown (Recipe for a Perfect Wife)