Boris Slocum > Boris's Quotes

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
― Louis L'Amour

“Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. It sounds swell when you write about it, but it's hell when you meet it face to face in a dark and lonely place.”
― Louis L'Amour

“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ”
― George Orwell

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

“All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.”
― Sir Walter Scott

“I envy thee not thy faith, which is ever in thy mouth but never in thy heart nor in thy practice”
― Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

“The difference between genius and stupidity is: genius has its limits.”
― Alexandre Dumas-fils

“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.”
― Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes

“Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.”
― Albert Camus

“Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.”
― Marcel Proust

“Everybody does have a book in them, but in most cases that's where it should stay.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“Write drunk; edit sober.”
― Peter De Vries, Reuben, Reuben

“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

“I will not be "famous," "great." I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one's self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Writer's Diary

“To the dumb question "Why me?" the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: why not?”
― Christopher Hitchens, Mortality

“Time spent arguing is, oddly enough, almost never wasted.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

“She had only one flaw. She was perfect, otherwise she was perfect.”
― Truman Capote

“Let them think what they liked, but I didn't mean to drown myself. I meant to swim till I sank -- but that's not the same thing.”
― Joseph Conrad, The Secret Sharer and other stories

“OH, THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING IN THE STOCKING THAT MAKES A NOISE, said Death. OTHERWISE, WHAT IS 4:30 A.M. FOR?”
― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

“There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”
― Justice Louis Brandeis

“What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

“Quid rides? Mutato nomine et de te fabula narrator. [Why do you laugh ? Change only the name and this story is about you.]”
― Horace, The Satires of Horace

“There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“Five exclamation marks, the sure sign of an insane mind.”
― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

“If cats looked like frogs we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That's what people remember.”
― Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

“Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken.”
― Terry Pratchett, Eric

“Death: "THERE ARE BETTER THINGS IN THE WORLD THAN ALCOHOL, ALBERT."
Albert: "Oh, yes, sir. But alcohol sort of compensates for not getting them.”
― Terry Pratchett

“The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.”
― Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment

“In theory it was, around now, Literature. Susan hated Literature. She'd much prefer to read a good book.”
― Terry Pratchett, Soul Music