Dept. of Wisdom Dept.

“The explanations a writer gives himself for having written any particular book are often not the real reasons that book has been written. Honesty is not the issue: understanding is. One does not write one novel at a time or one play at a time or even one quatrain at a time. A writer is engaged in the long process of putting his whole life on paper. He is on a journey, and he is reporting in: ‘This is where I think I am, and this is what this place looks like today.'”–Irwin Shaw, 1964

“Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn’t make you spiritual. It’s right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to ‘beef with broccoli’!”–George Carlin’s New Rules for 2008

“Change is good, you say. Language evolves, and it should be free and up to the people. All right, let’s abandon standardized spelling and punctuation because so many people don’t want to learn the rules. Should we just go with the “Descriptive” crowd and say that “baited” breath is fine, that we should accept “definAtely” as an alternative spelling for “definItely” (even though its root “definite” isn’t mangled as often), say that “just deSSerts” is just fine with us, and so on? Goodbye, clarity. Nice to have known you.”–Chantal Fox

“Even if I reveal some small truth about the human heart in my work, strictly serendipitously,strictly by chance, I really don’t know you–and that’s the way I want to keep it, because I subscribe to what H. L. Mencken said: ‘It is precisely at their worst that human beings are the most interesting.'”–Harlan Ellison, 1977

“A book is a participatory adventure.”–Harlan Ellison

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”–Groucho Marx

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