Fallon > Fallon's Quotes

“The visitor from outer space made a serious study of Christianity, to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel. He concluded that at least part of the trouble was slipshod storytelling in the New Testament.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“He supposed that the intent of the Gospels was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low. But the Gospels actually taught this: Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“And on and on it went-that duet between the dumb, praying lady and the big, hollow man who was so full of loving echoes.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“Billy heard Rosewater say to a psychiatrist, "I think you guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people just aren't going to want to go on living.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

“Only the candles and the soap were of German origin. They had a ghostly, opalescent similarity. The British had no way of knowing it, but the candles and the soap were made from the fat of rendered Jews and Gypsies and fairies and communists, and other enemies of the State. So it goes.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?" "Yes." Billy, in fact, had a paperweight in his office which was a blob of polished amber with three lady-bugs embedded in it. "Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”
― George Orwell, Why I Write

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
― George Orwell

“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

Cesar Chavez
Address to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Nov. 9, 1984 ”
― Cesar Chavez

“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.”
― Maya Angelou, Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women

“Men invented money Women invented mutual aid”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“It's true, reading too many novels makes you go blind.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“If war's first victim is truth, its second is clerical efficiency.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“One cannot pass by without thinking of the density of men in the ground.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“Why ask a question whose answer would demand ten more questions?”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“Once any tyranny becomes accepted as ordinary, its victory is assured.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“All revolutions are the sheerest fantasy until they happen; then they become historical inevitabilities.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“What is "poker"? A card game where abler liars take money off less able liars.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“True knowledge without xperience is food without sustenance”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“Not all those who wander are lost.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“Well, you can go on looking forward," said Gandalf. "There may be many unexpected feasts ahead of you.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

“Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

“A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again