“
I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of "Admin." The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."
[From the Preface]
”
”
C.S. Lewis (The Screwtape Letters)
“
I read her nasty, wicked thoughts—and she knows for sure that I am a Druid. She is totally warped and absolutely no doubt about it—evil!
”
”
C. Toni Graham (Crossroads and the Himalayan Crystals (Crossroads, #1))
“
I don't define lust as anything evil or nasty. Lust as defined by me, is the feeling of desire: a desire to eat cake, a desire to feel the touch of another's skin moving over your own skin, a desire to breathe, a desire to live, a desire to laugh intensely like it was the best thing God ever created...this is lust as defined by me. And I think that's what it really is.
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
My symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (The Screwtape Letters)
“
I have a really nasty temper, and no restraint. I’ve basically got no impulse control, so I do whatever I feel like, the second I feel it. I’m also into really fucked-up sex.”
I blinked. “Oh.”
“Plus, since I got no impulse control, I tell girls I just met that I’m into really fucked-up sex.”
“You don’t say.”
“I’m a fucking mess,” he said, with the delivery of someone remarking about the weather, like, shrug, What can you do?
”
”
C.M. McKenna (Badger)
“
The bad psychological material is not a sin but a disease. It does not need to be repented of, but to be cured. And by the way, that is very important. Human beings judge one another by their external actions. God judges them by their moral choices. When a neurotic who has a pathological horror of cats forces himself to pick up a cat for some good reason, it is quite possible that in God's eyes he has shown more courage than a healthy man may have shown in winning the V.C. When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing does dome tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God's eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend.
It is as well to put this the other way round. Some of us who seem quite nice people may, in fact, have made so little use of a good heredity and good upbringing that we are really worse than those whom we regard as fiends. Can we be quite certain how we should have behaved if we had been saddled with the psychological outfit, and then with the bad upbringing, and then with the power, say, of Himmler? That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. Most of the man's psychological makeup is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the best or worst out of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice things which we thought our own, but which were really due to a good digestion, will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
“
I could hardly get a boy to look at me. All right, they'd look, they'd even take me out, but no one asked for a second date. I was too nasty, a real wise guy, and all the boys could tell what my rotten disposition was. Deep down, I wanted a commitment with a capital C. To get anywhere with me, a boy would have to sign his undying loyalty with his own blood.
”
”
Alice Hoffman (Local Girls)
“
Loved me. How over the top and dramatic can one person get? I mean, hell. Lust at seventeen, sure. Sex buddies at eighteen, shit yeah. But love? Love doesn’t enter anyone’s life until you turn forty-two, add fifty pounds to your body, and start complaining about the younger generations. Once someone can put up with your forty-two-year-old annoying ass and nasty farts, you know that’s real love.
”
”
Brittainy C. Cherry (Loving Mr. Daniels)
“
What have you got against penguins?’ ‘Nothing very much except for their nasty jauntiness,
”
”
M.R.C. Kasasian (Dark Dawn over Steep House (The Gower Street Detective, #5))
“
To be a science fiction writer you must be interested in the future and you must feel that the future will be different and hopefully better than the present. Although I know that most — that many science fiction writings have been anti-utopias — 1984, as an example. And the reason for that is that it's much easier and more exciting to write about a really nasty future than a — placid, peaceful one.
”
”
Arthur C. Clarke
“
If Clinton had a likability problems, Trump had an unlikable epidemic--but it didn't matter. Likability is optional for men, but it's mandated for women: if a women isn't nice she is a bad person. A man can be unlikable and still be seen as a man to be reckoned with. Trump was a real man. Clinton? A nasty woman.
”
”
Joan C. Williams (White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America)
“
We’re following a guide we know nothing about. How do we know which side that bird is on? Why shouldn’t it be leading us into a trap?”
“That’s a nasty idea. Still--a robin, you know. They’re good birds in all the stories I’ve ever read. I’m sure a robin wouldn’t be on the wrong side.”
“If it comes to that, which is the right side? How do we know that the fauns are in the right and the Queen (yes, I know we’ve been told she’s a witch) is in the wrong? We don’t really know anything about either.”
“The Faun saved Lucy.”
“He said he did, But how do we know? And there’s another thing too. Has anyone the least idea of the way home from here?”
“Great Scott!” said Peter. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“And no chance of dinner, either,” said Edmund.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe)
“
The childish levels, the undersoil of the mind, had been turned up. She wanted to be with Nice people, away from Nasty people—that nursery distinction seeming at the moment more important than any later categories of Good and Bad or Friend and Enemy.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (That Hideous Strength (The Space Trilogy #3))
“
Go a step further. In my most clear-sighted moments not only do I not think myself a nice man, but I know that I am a very nasty one. I can look at some of the things I have done with horror and loathing. So apparently I am allowed to loathe and hate some of the things my enemies do.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
“
An incredulous look spread across his face. "Fer fook's sake, Emma--don't tell me ye haven't done the nasty, yet? What's the matter wi' yeh?"
I punched him in the arm. "Shut up," I hissed. "I have no intention of discussing this with you. You're--You're just a child!"
I stomped back into the kitchen.
"A child who's plainly gettin' more than you," he yelled after me.
”
”
K.C. Dyer
“
The fact that we did not have a database running for 18 months of development meant that, for 18 months, we did not have schema issues, query issues, database server issues, password issues, connection time issues, and all the other nasty issues that raise their ugly heads when you fire up a database. It also meant that all our tests ran fast, because there was no database to slow them down.
”
”
Robert C. Martin (Clean Architecture)
“
The boys and the Dwarf were now in favor of lighting a fire and cooking their bear-meat. Susan didn’t want this; she only wanted, as she said, “to get on and finish it and get out of these beastly woods.” Lucy was far too tired and miserable to have any opinion about anything. But as there was no dry wood to be had, it mattered very little what anyone thought. The boys began to wonder if raw meat was really as nasty as they had always been told. Trumpkin assured them it was.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia, #2))
“
before he went back to helping the boy. Missing from the Warrior tent were Kalona and Aurox. For obvious reasons, Thanatos had decided the Tulsa community wasn’t ready to meet either of them. I agreed with her. I wasn’t ready for … I mentally shook myself. No, I wasn’t going to think about the Aurox/Heath situation now. Instead I turned my attention to the second of the big tents. Lenobia was there, keeping a sharp eye on the people who clustered like buzzing bees around Mujaji and the big Percheron mare, Bonnie. Travis was with her. Travis was always with her, which made my heart feel good. It was awesome to see Lenobia in love. The Horse Mistress was like a bright, shining beacon of joy, and with all the Darkness I’d seen lately, that was rain in my desert. “Oh, for shit’s sake, where did I put my wine? Has anyone seen my Queenies cup? As the bumpkin reminded me, my parents are here somewhere, and I’m going to need fortification by the time they circle around and find me.” Aphrodite was muttering and pawing through the boxes of unsold cookies, searching for the big purple plastic cup I’d seen her drinking from earlier. “You have wine in that Queenies to go cup?” Stevie Rae was shaking her head at Aphrodite. “And you’ve been drinkin’ it through a straw?” Shaunee joined Stevie Rae in a head shake. “Isn’t that nasty?” “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Aphrodite quipped. “There are too many nuns lurking around to drink openly without hearing a boring lecture.” Aphrodite cut her eyes to the right of us where Street Cats had set up a half-moon display of cages filled with adoptable cats and bins of catnip-filled toys for sale. The Street Cats had their own miniature version of the silver and white tents, and I could see Damien sitting inside busily handling the cash register, but except for him, running every aspect of the feline area were the habit-wearing Benedictine nuns who had made Street Cats their own. One of the nuns looked my way and I waved and grinned at the Abbess. Sister Mary Angela waved back before returning to the conversation she was having with a family who were obviously falling in love with a cute white cat that looked like a giant cottonball. “Aphrodite, the nuns are cool,” I reminded her. “And they look too busy to pay any attention to you,” Stevie Rae said. “Imagine that—you may not be the center of everyone’s attention,” Shaylin said with mock surprise. Stevie Rae covered her giggle with a cough. Before Aphrodite could say something hateful, Grandma limped up to us. Other than the limp and being pale, Grandma looked healthy and happy. It had only been a little over a week since Neferet had kidnapped and tried to kill her, but she’d recovered with amazing quickness. Thanatos had told us that was because she was in unusually good shape for a woman of her age. I knew it was because of something else—something we both shared—a special bond with a goddess who believed in giving her children free choice, along with gifting them with special abilities. Grandma was beloved of the Great Mother,
”
”
P.C. Cast (Revealed (House of Night #11))
“
Nasty political correctness as a tactic then makes perfect sense. Having rejected reason, we will not expect ourselves or others to behave reasonably. Having put our passions to the fore, we will act and react more crudely and range-of-the-moment. Having lost our sense of ourselves as individuals, we will seek our identities in our groups. Having little in common with different groups, we will see them as competitive enemies. Having abandoned recourse to rational and neutral standards, violent competition will seem practical. And having abandoned peaceful conflict resolution, prudence will dictate that only the most ruthless will survive.
”
”
Stephen R.C. Hicks (Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault)
“
We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. Most of the man's psychological makeup is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the best or worst out of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice things which we thought our own, but which were really due to a good digestion, will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
“
(3) And now, let us go a little deeper. The manager is going to put in new machinery: before Christ has finished with Miss Bates, she is going to be very ‘nice’ indeed. But if we left it at that, it would sound as though Christ’s only aim was to pull Miss Bates up to the same level on which Dick had been all along. We have been talking, in fact, as if Dick were all right; as if Christianity was something nasty people needed and nice ones could afford to do without; and as if niceness was all that God demanded. But this would be a fatal mistake. The truth is that in God’s eyes Dick Firkin needs ‘saving’ every bit as much as Miss Bates. In one sense (I will explain what sense in a moment) niceness hardly comes into the question
”
”
C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
“
One headline read: ‘West Ham supporters set light to a yacht.’ Now, if that boat was a yacht, then it probably only needed two paddles to row it. But if the headlines were exaggerated, the events of that night weren’t. Some nasty things happened that night. It was inevitable when you had a thousand young men down for a football match with nowhere to stay and nowhere open. [...] It was well into the wee hours before we at last found somewhere to crash out. We met a bird and bloke who were local, and for some unknown reason they offered us the use of their flat on the seafront. Needless to say, we showed our appreciation of their generosity by guzzling the spirits cabinet dry and trashing the flat. The bloke was so pissed he was half joining in while the bird, who we all thought was a bit odd, was going mental. In fact, she was like a fucking animal.
- Jimmy Smith
”
”
Cass Pennant (Congratulations, You Have Just Met the I.C.F.)
“
He had full opportunity to learn the falsity of the maxim that the Prince of Darkness is a gentleman. Again and again he felt that a suave and subtle Mephistopheles with red cloak and rapier and a feather in his cap, or even a sombre tragic Satan out of Paradise Lost, would have been a welcome release from the thing he was actually doomed to watch. It was not like dealing with a wicked politician at all: it was much more like being set to guard an imbecile or a monkey or a very nasty child. What had staggered and disgusted him when it first began saying, ‘Ransom … Ransom …’ continued to disgust him every day and every hour. It showed plenty of subtlety and intelligence when talking to the Lady; but Ransom soon perceived that it regarded intelligence simply and solely as a weapon, which it had no more wish to employ in its off-duty hours than a soldier has to do bayonet practice when he is on leave. Thought was for it a device necessary to certain ends, but thought in itself did not interest it.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy)
“
Arm in arm with a fellow who's had the mishap,
To forget, when he shagged her, to button his flap. Nor I don't like to see, though some think it a treat.
A young woman scratching her thing in the street;
And a boarding-school miss, with no sense in her pate.
Sit and chalk a man's tool on the back of her slate. I don't like to see, in the bright face of the day,
A man stand and piss in the public highway;
Nor a Newfoundland dog, without any disguise.
Tied fast to a bitch not a quarter his size. Nor I don't like to see, little sisters and brothers
Get playing at what they call fathers and mothers;
And I don't like to see, though at me you might scoff,
An old woman trying to toss herself off. I don't like to see - it's a fact that I utter -
That nasty word — written up on a shutter:
And I don't like to see a man, drunk as an Earl.
Getting into a lamp-post thinking it's a girl. I don't like to see, 'cause my feelings it shocks.
Two girls busy playing with each other's c-;
Nor I don't like to see, though it may be a whim.
A hole like a pit-mouth in place of a q-. But I fear I'm encroaching too much on your time,
So I'll put an end to my quizzical rhyme;
Though with my way of taste you'll perhaps not agree,
I've told you the things I don't like to see.
”
”
Anonymous (The Pearl)
“
I’ll stay with you, Reep,” said Edmund.
“And I too,” said Caspian.
“And me,” said Lucy. And then Eustace volunteered also. This was very brave of him because never having read of such things or even heard of them till he joined the Dawn Treader made it worse for him than for the others.
“I beseech your Majesty--” began Drinian.
“No, my Lord,” said Caspian. “Your place is with the ship, and you have had a day’s work while we five have idled.” There was a lot of argument about this but in the end Caspian had his way. As the crew marched off to the shore in the gathering dusk none of the five watchers, except perhaps Reepicheep, could avoid a cold feeling in the stomach.
They took some time choosing their seats at the perilous table. Probably everyone had the same reason but no one said it out loud. For it was really a rather nasty choice. One could hardly bear to sit all night next to those three terrible hairy objects which, if not dead, were certainly not alive in the ordinary sense. On the other hand, to sit at the far end, so that you would see them less and less as the night grew darker, and wouldn’t know if they were moving, and perhaps wouldn’t see them at all by about two o’clock--no, it was not to be thought of. So they sauntered round and round the table saying, “What about here?” and “Or perhaps a bit further on,” or “Why not on this side?” till at last they settled down somewhere about the middle but nearer to the sleepers than to the other end.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3))
“
Harvey wanted to dive into his ugliness; he intentionally reached for those long hours of soul desolation. He waited. He paced, ready to face down whatever was to come.
Paulette’s, though, busted loose uninvited, catching her completely off guard when she was already hurting, feeling crumbled, and vulnerable. When all she really wanted was some quiet gentle feelings for a change. A few flowers. Some sunshine. A way out of all that inner torment for even just a moment.
Had she had brought only nastiness out of her childhood? Hadn’t there been anything sweet she could remember instead?
As she wandered back to her cabin, searching for even a single fond memory, light faded everywhere around her.
Aw, c’mon, she thought. Everyone had some happy childhood memories. She had to have at least a couple.
How about the coloring? Children enjoy coloring; how about that? She’d spent hours and days on her art. It was as close as she could remember to having her Mamma stand over her with anything even remotely resembling approval. Her books and comics could be tales of Jesus, but coloring books had to be Old Testament because “No child’s impure hand could touch a crayon to the sweet beautiful face of our beloved Lord and savior Christ Jesus.”
So the little girl had scrunched down over Daniel in the lion’s den. Samson screaming in rage, pain, and terror as they blinded him with daggers and torches. The redder she made the flowing wounds of a man of God shot full of arrows, the richer the flames around those three men being burned in an iron box, the longer Mamma let her stay out of that closet.
- From “The Gardens of Ailana
”
”
Edward Fahey (The Gardens of Ailana)
“
You had a right to vent. I was behaving like a mother hen."
"A very sweet mother hen with too many chicks."
"I promise to back off." He offered her another bite of pizza. "But I can't promise not to worry."
"Fair enough." She kept her hand on his. "It's natural to worry.But you have to trust,too."
"You know what I've decided?" He plumped up a pillow and stretched out beside her. "You're even more of a rebel than I am."
"You think so?"
"Yeah."
"Next you'll be loaning me your Harley."
"I could be persuaded." He linked his fingers with hers.
She stared at their joined hands and sighed. "This is nice."
"Yeah.I was just thinking the same thing." He leaned his head back and began chuckling.
"What's so funny?"
"I've been a bear for the past week. I'd have happily snapped off anybody's head who dared to cross me."
"I know what you mean.Fortunately, there was nobody around for me to snap at. I had to content myself with yelling at the talking heads on TV." She paused. "How're you feeling now?"
He looked over at her. "What a difference a week makes. The thunderstorm's gone. The cloudy skies. The nasty rain. I'm all sunshine and blue skies and sweet-smelling flowers, thanks to you."
"Me,too." She set her wine on the nightstand and leaned over to brush a kiss over his mouth. "I'm so glad you're here,Wyatt.This has been the longest week of my life."
His arms came around her,gathering her close.Against her lips he whispered, "Speaking of which, you make me weak."
"And you make me..."
His kiss cut off her words.
As they rolled together, one word played over and over in her mind.
Content.
Wyatt McCord made her feel content. And safe.And absolutely, completely, thoroughly loved.
”
”
R.C. Ryan (Montana Destiny)
“
A few chimes ago, however, the screams had fallen mysteriously silent.
“Do you think the torture masters have tired themselves out?” Gaelen pondered with black humor.
“More likely, we’re next, and they’ve just gone to sharpen their blades,” Tajik said.
Locked up in the room with them, Farel gave a grunting laugh of amusement. “Could be. They’ve been using them enough.”
“You know,” Gil announced, “as rescues go, I have to say, this one pretty much scorches rultshart turds.”
About a man length from the source of Gil’s voice came Rijonn’s rumbling agreement. “Tairen turds.”
“I told you,” Gaelen said, “I had backups. I don’t know what happened to them.”
A metallic scraping sound came from the direction of the door, and they all fell silent. The scraping sound was followed by the distinctive click of the latch lifting free. The door swung inward, and a sliver of light—the first in bells—spilled into the cell, widening rapidly as the door opened more fully. Two armored silhouettes stood in the doorway.
“Well, aren’t you a sorry sight,” a familiar Fey voice drawled.
“Kieran?” Gaelen sat up straight. There wasn’t much in life that could surprise him, but the appearance of Kieran vel Solande in the heart of Boura Fell definitely did. “What are you doing here? “
“Apparently, uncle, I’m saving you from a very nasty demise, though gods know, I’m sure it won’t take me long to regret it.”
Gaelen grinned, too pleased to take offense at his nephew’s cheek.
“Well, it took you long enough,” Bel groused, holding up his hands as Kiel ran over with a key to unlock his sel’dor manacles. “I was starting to get worried.”
Gaelen turned on Bel in disbelief. “You knew they were coming? “
Bel arched a brow. “You think the High Mage is the only one who plans backups for his backups?” Rijonn laughed, slow and deep.
”
”
C.L. Wilson (Crown of Crystal Flame (Tairen Soul, #5))
“
C’mon, Mary. You’ve seen enough of the nasty side of human nature to know that it’s not always that easy. Some people take shit, some people give it.”
”
”
Ernie Lindsey (Sledge)
“
Cheer up!" said the big Blue-gum. But the Little Red House couldn't say a word. Presently the big Blue-gum groaned loudly. "Oo! Ah! Ah! Golly!" groaned the Blue-gum in a strange voice. "I beg your pardon? said the Little Red House. "Oh, I have a nasty sharp pain in my side," said the Blue-gum. "I do hope and trust it isn't white-ants. It would be simply horrible, if it were. Fancy getting white-ants at my time of life! Here I have lived on this mountain, tree and sapling, for over a hundred years; and to think those nasty, white, flabby little things should get me at last is horrible--horrible!" "I am sorry," said the Little Red House. "I'm afraid I've been very selfish, too. I was forgetting that everyone has troubles of his own; but I hope it isn't so bad as you fear." "It is bad enough," groaned the Blue-gum. "Ow! There it is again. I'm afraid it IS white-ants. I can feel the wretched little things nipping." But the Little Red House hardly heard him. He
”
”
C.J. Dennis (A Book for Kids)
“
Among other things, hobgoblins liked to use nasty traps and ambushes. When they caught a goblin alone in their territory, they had been known to torture it for hours, then send the crippled wretch back to the goblins as a warning.
True, goblins did the same thing if they managed to catch a hobgoblin, but that was simple justice.
”
”
Jim C. Hines (Goblin Quest (Jig the Goblin, #1))
“
I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of “Admin.” The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern. C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
”
”
Mark Goodwin (The Days of Noah: The Complete Box Set (The Days of Noah #1-3))
“
Well, probably because he was too busy getting it on with my nasty ho-bag of a sister. There are so many days I wish I had a sibling redo. I wish I could take her and push her back into Mom’s va-jay-jay and get another sister. A real sister, not a ho-bag sister.
”
”
Brittainy C. Cherry (Our Totally, Ridiculous, Made-up Christmas Relationship)
“
while it is relatively easy, if uncomfortable, to put oneself in the mind-set of a thoroughly nasty being, it is extremely difficult to envision how a creature might think who is several orders of magnitude more virtuous than oneself.
”
”
Alexander and Nicholas Humez
“
We-ell, I probably shouldn’t be saying this…” Agatha waited patiently, convinced that nothing in this world could make Mrs. Cutler refrain from saying anything nasty about anyone else.
”
”
M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (Agatha Raisin, #7))
“
Ah, yes, yes. Here it is. Kara Nightingale …age sixteen …hit by a bus …pretty nasty way of dying …so sorry about that …soul was already chosen to be a guardian …
”
”
C. Gockel (Gods and Mortals: Thirteen Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels)
“
I don't judge a scene or a line of dialog by whether or not it advances the plot, for example. Imagine an edit of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction wherein only dialog that advances the plot was allowed to remain. I don't obsess over the balance of conflict and interaction. I don't generally fret over the possibility that something I do may cause some reader to experience a "disconnect" (what an odious metaphor). I don't think in dramatic arcs. I don't spend a lot of time wondering if the plot is getting lost in description and conversation. To me, this all seems like a wealth of tedious confusion being introduced into an act that ought to be instinctive, natural, intuitive. I want to say, stop thinking about all that stuff and just write the story you have to tell. Let the story show you how it needs you to write it. I don't try to imagine how the reader will react to X or if maybe A, B, and C should have happened by page R. It's not that I don't want the story to be read. I desire readers as much as anyone. But I desire readers who want to read what I'm writing, not readers who approach fiction with so many expectations that they're constantly second-guessing and critiquing the author's every move, book in one hand, some workshop checklist in the other, and a stopwatch on the desk before them. If writing or reading like this seems to work for you, fine. I mean, I've always said that when you find something that works, stick with it. But, for me, it seems as though such an anal approach to creating any art would bleed from it any spark of enjoyment on the part of the artist (not to mention the audience). It also feels like an attempt to side-step the nasty issue of talent, as if we can all write equally well if we only follow the rules, because, you know, good writing is really 99% craft, not inexplicable, inconvenient, unquantifiable talent.
”
”
Caitlín R. Kiernan
“
Because I'm suffering from a seriously nasty case of I.L."
"Um," I lean away from him and blink several times, some of my smarmy romantic swoon fading away. I was hoping maybe he was here to confess; instead he came to tell me he has an STD? "Is it contagious?"
Zayden tosses his head back and laughs, dropping his chin down and leaning in to press his face against the side of my neck.
”
”
C.M. Stunich (Bad Nanny (The Bad Nanny Trilogy, #1))
“
Chess was a gentleman’s game—every bit as nasty as a bar brawl, only infinitely more deliberate. “Dale
”
”
C.E. Tobisman (Doubt (Caroline Auden, #1))
“
Another is psychotherapist Matt Licata, who writes, ‘The ego’ is often spoken about as if it is some sort of self-existing thing that at times takes us over—some nasty, super unspiritual, ignorant little person living inside—and causes us to act in really unevolved ways creating unending messes in our lives and getting in the way of our progress on the path. It is something to be horribly ashamed of and the more spiritual we are the more we will strive to ‘get rid of it,’ transcend it, or enter into imaginary spiritual wars with it. If we look carefully, we may see that if the ego is anything, it is likely those very voices that are yelling at us to get rid of it.8
”
”
Richard C. Schwartz (No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model)
“
On earth it would have been merely a nasty sight, but up to this moment Ransom had as yet seen nothing dead or spoiled in Perelandra, and it was like a blow in the face. It was like the first spasm of well-remembered pain warning a man who had thought he was cured that his family have deceived him and he is dying after all. It was like the first lie from the mouth of a friend on whose truth one was willing to stake a thousand pounds. It was irrevocable. The milk-warm wind blowing over the golden sea, the blues and silvers and greens of the floating garden, the sky itself- all those had become, in one instant, merely the illuminated margin of a book whose text was the struggling little horror at his feet, and he himself, in that same instant, had passed into a state of emotion which he could neither control nor understand. … The thing was an intolerable obscenity which afflicted him with shame. It would have been better, or so he thought at that moment, for the whole universe never to have existed than for this one thing to have happened.
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C.S. Lewis (The Space Trilogy: Three books in One : Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength)
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I felt like a castaway lost at sea during a nasty nor-easter. And nobody could see past the storm...
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Michael C. Haymes
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@le0snumber1 Said it before... #NastyNina strikes again
@nuts4nina he still was shitty to her behind the scenes, why are you always defending Leo??
@le0snumber1 have you not seen my username?
@nuts4nina c mine?
@le0snumber1 #NastyNina strikes again...
@LeoODonnell use this hashtag again and I will block you. Do you understand?
@le0snumber1 omfg
@le0snumber1 omfg yes, I mean. NEVER AGAIN.
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Erin La Rosa (For Butter or Worse (The Hollywood Series #1))
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Rusk’s three children (particularly the two who were teenagers living in Washington with their parents in 1962) recall that their father was calm but somber and preoccupied during the crisis and that afterwards he immediately returned to his normal routine at the State Department; there was never a hint of any kind of physical or mental breakdown.7 If such a collapse had indeed occurred—and nothing of that kind remains secret very long in the sieve that is Washington, D.C.—it is inconceivable that JFK and later LBJ would have retained Rusk as secretary of state for eight years (the second-longest term in U.S. history).8 In short, there is not a shred of evidence from the tapes or any other official, public, or private source to substantiate this rather nasty piece of character assassination.
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Sheldon M. Stern (The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory: Myths versus Reality (Stanford Nuclear Age Series))
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There had been two nasty stories recently about corrupt policemen, but the newspapers knew there was nothing more the British liked to read about than a brave bobby.
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M.C. Beaton (The Quiche of Death (Agatha Raisin, #1))
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Sweet and Sour Summers “There is something my parents did, and it was pretty unique. My brother and I refer to it as ‘The Sweet and Sour Summer.’ My parents would send us, for the first half of the summer, to an internship with a relative or a friend of the family who had an interesting job. So, at 12, I went and interned with my godbrother, who is a lobbyist in D.C. I would go along with him to pitch congressmen. I had one tie, and I was a pretty good writer. I’d write up one-page summaries of these bills we were pitching, and I’d literally sit there with these congressmen with these filthy mouths—you know, the old Alabaman senator and stuff like that—and watch the pitch happen. It was awesome. I learned so much and developed so much confidence, and really honed my storytelling skills. “But then, from there, I would come home and work in a construction outfit, in a nasty, nasty job. I mean, hosing off the equipment that had been used to fix septic systems, gassing shit up, dragging shit around in the yard, filling up propane tanks. Just being the junior guy on the totem pole, and quite literally getting my ass kicked by whichever parolee was angry at me that day. I think it was part of their master plan, which was: There’s a world of cool opportunities out there for you, but let’s build within you a sense of not just work ethic, but also, a little kick in the ass about why you don’t wanna end up in one of those real jobs. . . .” TIM: “You had the introduction to the godbrother, for the lobbying. Did your parents also help organize the sour part of each summer?” CHRIS: “The guy who ran that construction company is my dad’s best friend, and he was under strict orders to make sure we had the roughest day there.
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Timothy Ferriss (Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers)
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when i first met serkorie he wouldn't shake my hand. cool , not too proud to say i'm still a fan but i told myself to wait till i'm the man.
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nasty c
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The migratory herds and their attendant predators have long since trekked southeast in their annual clockwise circuit of Western Europe. Compared to the chaos we witnessed this summer, the land seems almost abandoned. Even so, we must forever be alert for wolves, cats, rhino and other nasty beasts intent on mayhem.
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Matthew Thayer (Galway (30,000 B.C. Chronicles #4))
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For what nasty thing could happen on such a lovely day?
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M.C. Beaton (Death of a Liar (Hamish Macbeth, #30))
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He’d never been on a train before, although he’d flown many times. It was one thing to be admired by the tourists at the show, those families wearing the straw cowboy hats with colored bands reading Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, or Montana, but it was another thing to be stared at by people on the train. When one well-dressed man came up to Lyle and handed him a five-euro note and said something in French about “exploitation by the Americans” and “cultural imperialism” and something nasty about the past president, Lyle nodded solemnly and took the money. After the man left, Lyle winked at Jimmy and grinned. “George Booosh,” Lyle mocked. “He’s still money.” They emerged from the train at the station on Rue de Rivoli, the Tuileries Garden on their left and beyond them the Seine, behind them the Louvre. Ornate canyon walls of magnificent
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C.J. Box (Shots Fired: Stories from Joe Pickett Country)
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As I stood there gaping at the closed door, a vision rose before my eyes, featuring me and an inspector of police, the latter having in his supporting cast an unusually nasty-looking sergeant.
‘Are you coming quietly, Wooster?’ the inspector was saying.
‘Who, me?’ I said, quaking in every limb. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Ha, ha,’ laughed the inspector. ‘That’s good. Eh, Fotheringay?’
‘Very rich, sir,’ said the sergeant. ‘Makes me chuckle, that does.’
‘Too late to try anything of that sort, my man,’ went on the inspector, becoming grave again. ‘The game is up. We have evidence to prove that you went to this safe and from it abstracted a valuable pearl necklace, the property of Mrs. L.G. Trotter. If that doesn’t mean five years in the jug for you, I miss my bet.’
‘But, honestly, I thought it was Aunt Dahlia’s.’
‘Ha, ha,’ laughed the inspector.
‘Ha, ha,’ chirped the sergeant.
‘A pretty story,’ said the inspector. ‘Tell that to the jury and see what they think of it. Fotheringay, the handcuffs!’
Such was the v. that rose before my e. as I gaped at that c.d., and I wilted like a salted snail. Outside in the garden birds were singing their evensong, and it seemed to me that each individual bird was saying ‘Well, boys, Wooster is for it. We shan’t see much of Wooster for the next few years. Too bad, too bad. A nice chap till he took to crime.
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P.G. Wodehouse (Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (Jeeves, #11))