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b3ac3b2 "What are all these?" Clary asked. "Vials of holy water, blessed knives, steel and silver blades," Jace said, piling the weapons on the floor beside him, "electrum wire - not much use at the moment but it's always good to have spares - silver bullets, charms of protetion, crucifixes, stars of David-" "Jesus," said Clary "I doubt he'd fit." "Jace." Clary was appalled." irony jesus humor jace-wayland Cassandra Clare
f03fa39 From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent. irony H.P. Lovecraft
9757035 I quote others only in order the better to express myself. irony humor truth quoting Michel de Montaigne
38c750a "It's sarcasm, Josh." "Sarcasm?" "It's from the Greek, sarkasmos. To bite the lips. It means that you aren't really saying what you mean, but people will get your point. I invented it, Bartholomew named it." "Well, if the village idiot named it, I'm sure it's a good thing." "There you go, you got it." "Got what?" "Sarcasm." "No, I meant it." "Sure you did." "Is that sarcasm?" "Irony, I think." "What's the difference?" "I haven't the slightest idea." "So you're being ironic now, right?" "No, I really don't know." "Maybe you should ask the idiot." "Now you've got it." "What?" "Sarcasm." irony sarcasm Christopher Moore
bb0ebf6 Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied. irony suffering histrionics mrs-bennett hysterics Jane Austen
8e8a6b8 It is sometimes easier to be happy if you don't know everything. irony knowledge Alexander McCall Smith
f7c3beb "Would you like me to [kill you] now?" asked Snape, his voice heavy with irony. "Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?" irony epitaph snape J. K. Rowling
8470b65 O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't! irony wonder William Shakespeare
8402dfd Nobody steals books but your friends. irony books friendship inspirational stealing Roger Zelazny
9173706 "What is your advice to young writers?" "Drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes." irony sex writing funny humor bukowski smoke alcohol cigarettes authors ironic writing-process drink writers sarcasm Charles Bukowski
d453264 The prince of darkness is a gentleman! irony William Shakespeare
00f9af5 I must be overtired', Buttercup managed. 'The excitement and all.' 'Rest then', her mother cautioned. 'Terrible things can happen when you're overtired. I was overtired the night your father proposed. irony william-goldman the-princess-bride repartee tired tiredness William Goldman
83cbb5b People who didn't need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who didn't need people. irony humorous humor ironic Terry Pratchett
910c199 The beauty and mystery of this world only emerges through affection, attention, interest and compassion . . . open your eyes wide and actually see this world by attending to its colors, details and irony. irony color compassion beauty detail attention interest mystery Orhan Pamuk
4eb5af5 Hell's bells, irony blows. irony humor Jim Butcher
8d17ba3 So, now I've been to see a drug counselor who told me I need to lay off the drugs and talk about my feelings, and a shrink who heard what I had to say and immediately put me on drugs. irony Libba Bray
6efa3a5 Actually--and this was where I began to feel seriously uncomfortable--some such divine claim underlay not just 'the occupation' but the whole idea of a separate state for Jews in Palestine. Take away the divine warrant for the Holy Land and where were you, and what were you? Just another land-thief like the Turks or the British, except that in this case you wanted the land without the people. And the original Zionist slogan--'a land without a people for a people without a land'--disclosed its own negation when I saw the densely populated Arab towns dwelling sullenly under Jewish tutelage. You want irony? How about Jews becoming colonizers at just the moment when other Europeans had given up on the idea? irony religion zionism turkey holy-land israeli-palestinian-conflict land europe britain colonialism israel jews palestine Christopher Hitchens
14da37f girls please give your bodies and your lives to the young men who deserve them besides there is no way I would welcome the intolerable dull senseless hell you would bring me and I wish you luck in bed and out but not in mine thank you. irony poem poetry women funny death life love bukowski dull girls misogyny rejection sexuality hell Charles Bukowski
b159b51 What a refreshing mind you have, young man. There really is nothing quite like total ignorance, is there? irony ignorance Neil Gaiman
6b2d2cf You know, you're rather amusingly wrong. irony humorous funny humor witty-quotes satire wit Terry Pratchett
bd95f1f "To paraphrase Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear, and all those guys, "I wish I had known this some time ago." irony shakespeare humor Roger Zelazny
b7409f2 When the telephoned me at home on Valentine's Day 1989 to ask my opinion about the Ayatollah Khomeini's , I felt at once that here was something that completely committed me. It was, if I can phrase it like this, a matter of everything I hated versus everything I loved. In the hate column: dictatorship, religion, stupidity, demagogy, censorship, bullying, and intimidation. In the love column: literature, irony, humor, the individual, and the defense of free expression. Plus, of course, friendship--though I like to think that my reaction would have been the same if I hadn't known Salman at all. To re-state the premise of the argument again: the theocratic head of a foreign despotism offers money in his own name in order to suborn the murder of a civilian citizen of another country, for the offense of writing a work of fiction. No more root-and-branch challenge to the values of the Enlightenment (on the bicentennial of the fall of the Bastille) or to the First Amendment to the Constitution, could be imagined. President George H.W. Bush, when asked to comment, could only say grudgingly that, as far as he could see, no American interests were involved... enlightenment irony literature hate stupidity religion friendship humor love bastille demagogy fatwa first-amendment satanic-verses washington-post united-states-constitution george-hw-bush iran khomeini theocracy intimidation dictatorship united-states rushdie individualism fascism principles bullying free-speech censorship Christopher Hitchens
a4cd0bc Irony is Fate's most common figure of speech. irony figures-of-speech Trevanian
c005ff3 I'm being ironic. Don't interrupt a man in the midst of being ironic, it's not polite. There! irony Ray Bradbury
bc684b9 "You see, the mailman saw your husband during one of his walks." "He's my fiance," I told her. "We are living in sin." Heather blinked, momentarily knocked off her stride, but recovered. "Oh, that's nice." "It's very nice. I highly recommend it." irony marital-bliss neigbors kate-daniels Ilona Andrews
6cc3ecd God hides the fires of hell within paradise. irony god paulo-coelho paradise hell Paulo Coelho
14f07af A writer flirts with schizophrenia, nurtures synesthesia, and embraces obsessive-compulsive disorder. Your art feeds on you, your soul, and, yes, to a degree, your sanity. Writing novels worth reading will bugger up your mind, jeopardize your relationships, and distend your life. You have been warned. irony writer inspirational David Mitchell
9004430 "The best way to measure the loss of intellectual sophistication - this "nerdification," to put it bluntly - is in the growing disappearance of sarcasm, as mechanic minds take insults a bit too literally." irony intellectual-sophistication post-ironic sophistication post-modern post-modernism nerdery reddit wisdom-vs-nerds nerdiness nerds nerd internet wit Nassim Nicholas Taleb
4b9f87e sometimes when everything seems at its worst when all conspires and gnaws and the hours, days, weeks years seem wasted - stretched there upon my bed in the dark looking upward at the ceiling i get what many will consider an obnoxious thought: it's still nice to be Bukowski. irony poem poetry funny obnoxious ego ironic Charles Bukowski
b7950e6 "I paid, got up, walked to the door, opened it. I heard the man say, "that guy's nuts." out on the street I walked north feeling curiously honored." irony poem poetry funny death life mental self honor crazy soul Charles Bukowski
a747e31 Who else but me is ever going to read these letters? irony innocence Anne Frank
9c74eca We can get you a throne with snakes. I'll stand next to you and roar at anybody who fails to grovel. Fear Kate Daniels. She is a mighty and terrible ruler. Grendel can anoint the petitioners with his vomit. It'll be great . . . irony fun humor grendel kate vomit throne Ilona Andrews
3100439 He was one of the most supremely stupid men I have ever met. He taught me a great deal. irony John Fowles
981912c Aku telah mengidap sakit gila nomor enam belas: yakni penyakit manusia yang membuat dunia sendiri dalam kepalanya, menciptakan masalah-masalahnya sendiri, terpuruk di dalamnya, lalu menyelesaikan masalah-masalah itu, sambil tertawa-tawa, juga sendirian. irony humor inspirational Andrea Hirata
8770900 "I don't want to hurt anyone" Laszlo fiddled with a button on his tux jacket. "Can't we convince the CIA that some of us are peaceful?" "we'll have to try" Angus folded his arms across his broad chest. "And if they doona believe we're peaceful, then we'll have to kill the bastards." Roman frowned, somehow their Highlander logic escaped him." -- irony Kerrelyn Sparks
17612f9 Relate comic things in pompous fashion. Irregularity, in other words the unexpected, the surprising, the astonishing, are essential to and characteristic of beauty. Two fundamental literary qualities: supernaturalism and irony. The blend of the grotesque and the tragic are attractive to the mind, as is discord to blase ears. Imagine a canvas for a lyrical, magical farce, for a pantomime, and translate it into a serious novel. Drown the whole thing in an abnormal, dreamy atmosphere, in the atmosphere of great days ... the region of pure poetry. irony poetry writing fantasy grotesque novel writers creativity Charles Baudelaire
b55c95f When Maimonides says that the Messiah will come but that 'he may tarry,' we see the origin of every Jewish shrug from Spinoza to Woody Allen. irony woody-allen maimonides judaism messiah Christopher Hitchens
9c5ed18 How ya doin'?' I always think, What kind of a question is that?, and I always reply, 'A bit early to tell. irony questions Christopher Hitchens
5bc3164 We've known for a long time that it was no longer possible to overturn this world, nor reshape it, nor head off its dangerous headlong rush. There's been only one possible resistance: to not take it seriously. irony lightness Milan Kundera
44c5c2d "O young girl, throw yourself again into the water so that I might have a second time the chance to save the two of us!" A second time, eh, what imprudence! Suppose, dear sir, someone actually took our word for it? It would have to be fulfilled. Brr...! the water is so cold! But let's reassure ourselves. It's too late now, it will always be too late. Fortunately!" irony salvation selfishness Albert Camus
6f2e3a5 "So, like I said, these are a bunch of really sweet guys, but you wouldn't want to share a Galaxy with them, not if they're just gonna keep at it, not if they're not gonna learn to relax a little. I mean it's just gonna be continual nervous time, isn't it, right? Pow, pow, pow, when are they next coming at us? Peaceful coexistence is just right out, right? Get me some water somebody, thank you." He sat back and sipped reflectively. OK," he said, "hear me, hear me. It's, like, these guys, you know, are entitled to their own view of the Universe. And according to their view, which the Universe forced on them, right, they did right. Sounds crazy, but I think you'll agree. They believe in ..." He consulted a piece of paper which he found in the back pocket of his Judicial jeans. They believe in `peace, justice, morality, culture, sport, family life, and the obliteration of all other life forms'." irony sci-fi Douglas Adams
a35d265 What has our culture lost in 1980 that the avant-garde had in 1890? Ebullience, idealism, confidence, the belief that there was plenty of territory to explore, and above all the sense that art, in the most disinterested and noble way, could find the necessary metaphors by which a radically changing culture could be explained to its inhabitants. metaphor irony idealism confidence avant-garde ebullience meta-modernism shia-lebouf david-foster-wallace post-ironic art culture postmodernism Robert Hughes
3392998 Spiders and sowbugs and beetles and crickets, Slugs from the roses and ticks from the thickets, Grasshoppers, snails, and a quail's egg or two-- All to be regurgitated for you. Lullaby, lullaby, swindles and schemes, Flying's not near as much fun as it seems. irony lullaby Peter S. Beagle
5cef7f8 Very often the test of one's allegiance to a cause or to a people is precisely the willingness to stay the course when things are boring, to run the risk of repeating an old argument just one more time, or of going one more round with a hostile or (much worse) indifferent audience. I first became involved with the Czech opposition in 1968 when it was an intoxicating and celebrated cause. Then, during the depressing 1970s and 1980s I was a member of a routine committee that tried with limited success to help the reduced forces of Czech dissent to stay nourished (and published). The most pregnant moment of that commitment was one that I managed to miss at the time: I passed an afternoon with Zdenek Mlynar, exiled former secretary of the Czech Communist Party, who in the bleak early 1950s in Moscow had formed a friendship with a young Russian militant with an evident sense of irony named Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev. In 1988 I was arrested in Prague for attending a meeting of one of Vaclav Havel's 'Charter 77' committees. That outwardly exciting experience was interesting precisely because of its almost Zen-like tedium. I had gone to Prague determined to be the first visiting writer not to make use of the name Franz Kafka, but the numbing bureaucracy got the better of me. When I asked why I was being detained, I was told that I had no need to know the reason! Totalitarianism is itself a cliche (as well as a of pulverizing boredom) and it forced the cliche upon me in turn. I did have to mention Kafka in my eventual story. The regime fell not very much later, as I had slightly foreseen in that same piece that it would. (I had happened to notice that the young Czechs arrested with us were not at all frightened by the police, as their older mentors had been and still were, and also that the police themselves were almost fatigued by their job. This was totalitarianism practically yawning itself to death.) A couple of years after that I was overcome to be invited to an official reception in Prague, to thank those who had been consistent friends through the stultifying years of what 'The Party' had so perfectly termed 'normalization.' As with my tiny moment with Nelson Mandela, a whole historic stretch of nothingness and depression, combined with the long and deep insult of having to be pushed around by boring and mediocre people, could be at least partially canceled and annealed by one flash of humor and charm and generosity. irony history humour politics 1968 1970s 1980s 1988 allegiance arrest bad-crowds charter-77 gorbachev kafka nelson-mandela vaclav-havel zdenek-mlynar prague moscow czechoslovakia arguments exile commitment bureaucracy boredom clichés generosity dissent totalitarianism detention mediocrity charm russia communism loyalty police Christopher Hitchens
1e5e535 "Do you work for the government, any government?" "I pay taxes, which means I work for the government, part of the time. Yes." irony political Roger Zelazny
8d7966f Luckily, even as a young man not yet become himself, John Bridgens had two things besides indecision that kept him from self-destruction - books and a sense of irony. irony self-destruction salvation Dan Simmons
938a8bc He sure put things into words good. irony S.E. Hinton
f23e172 I think sometimes people think cheerful is a synonym for dumb, so no one is ever cheerful. irony Mindy Kaling
ba6e48e But you see, a rich country like America can perhaps afford to be stupid. irony irrelevant-nowadays Barack Obama
c646de4 "We're not obsessed by anything, you see," insisted Ford. "..." "And that's the deciding factor. We can't win against obsession. They care, we don't. They win." "I care about lots of things," said Slartibartfast, his voice trembling partly with annoyance, but partly also with uncertainty. "Such as?" "Well," said the old man, "life, the Universe. Everything, really. Fjords." "Would you die for them?" "Fjords?" blinked Slartibartfast in surprise. "No." irony sci-fi Douglas Adams
c89acc1 What tale do you like best to hear?' 'Oh, I have not much choice! They generally run on the same theme - courtship; and promise to end in the same catastrophe - marriage. irony marriage women empowerment love disharmony subjection discord matrimony storytelling inequality gender courtship sarcasm Charlotte Brontë
d4b3a6e "We named the bar The Bar. "People will think we're ironic instead of creatively bankrupt," my sister reasoned. Yes, we thought we were being clever New Yorkers - that the name was a joke no one else would really get, like we did. Not meta-get ... But our first customer, a gray-haired woman in bifocals and a pink jogging suit, said, "I like the name. Like in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Audrey Hepburn's cat was named Cat." irony loss drinking audrey-hepburn breakfast-at-tiffany-s bar the-recession new-yorkers bars new-beginnings snobs cat vanity failure Gillian Flynn
38f716a A mouth of no distinction but well practiced, before I entered my teens, in irony. For what is irony but the repository of hurt? And what is hurt but the repository of hope? irony hurt Joyce Carol Oates
251fac9 Jesus Christ was innocent too,' said Svejk, 'and all the same they crucified him. No one anywhere has ever worried about a man being innocent. Maul halten und weiter dienen ['Grin and bear it and get on with the job'] - as they used to tell us in the army. That's the best and finest thing of all. irony svejk inspirational Jaroslav Hašek
0a21afb "A DEAD STATESMAN I could not dig: I dared not rob: Therefore I lied to please the mob. Now all my lies are proved untrue And I must face the men I slew. What tale shall serve me here among irony lies war youth politics truth dishonesty deceit Rudyard Kipling
c0e3c77 (About sweeping).... What he was in FACT doing was moving the dirt around with a broom, to give it a change of scenery and a chance to make new friends. irony humorous laughable ironic Terry Pratchett
813ab05 "Then you do not belong here. Death holds no sweetness in this house. We are not warriors, nor soldiers, nor swaggering bravos puffed up with pride. We do not kill to serve some lord, to fatten our purses, to stroke our vanity. We never give the gift to please ourselves. Nor do we choose the ones we kill. We are but servants of the God of Many Faces." "Valar dohaeris." All men must serve. "You know the words, but you are too proud to serve. A servant must be humble and obedient." "I obey. I can be humbler than anyone." That made him chuckle. "You will be the very goddess of humility, I am sure. But can you pay the price?" "What price?" "The price is you. The price is all you have and all you ever hope to have. We took your eyes and gave them back. Next we will take your ears, and you will walk in silence. You will give us your legs and crawl. You will be no one's daughter, no one's wife, no one's mother. Your name will be a lie, and the very face you wear will not be your own." irony humor George R.R. Martin
d2a3b09 That was his mother. When she wasn't crying over the breakfast cereal, she was laughing about killing herself. irony people life mothers Nick Hornby
c151b49 Just to keep the bad dreams at bay, she took a swig out of a bottle that smelled of apples and happy brain-death. irony humor humorous-quotations ironic Terry Pratchett
cc8c628 "The 21st chapter gives the novel the quality of genuine fiction, an art founded on the principle that human beings change. ----- "A Clockwork Orange Resucked" intro to first full American version 1986" irony philosophical intro american introduction Anthony Burgess
e45b615 to travel faster than a speeding bullet is not much help if you and it are heading straight towards each other irony John Brunner
5f56c3d In the center lay the exploded carcass of a lonely sperm whale that hadn't lived long enough to be disappointed with its lot. tragedy irony humor life Douglas Adams
98379af "You're not going to tell me they built fifty-foot-high killer golems, are you?" "Only a man would think of that. It's our job," said Moist. "If you don't think of fifty-foot-high killer golems first, someone else will." irony men funny humor weapons Terry Pratchett
920c4b7 Captain Smek himself appeared on television for an official speech to humankind. [...] 'Noble Savages of Earth,' he said. 'Long time we have tried to live together in peace.' (It had been five months.) 'Long time have the Boov suffered under the hostileness and intolerableness of you people. With sad hearts I now concede that Boov and humans will never to exist as one.' I remember being really excited at this point. Could I possibly be hearing right? Were the Boov about to leave? I was so stupid. 'And so now I generously grant you Human Preserves - gifts of land that will be for humans forever, never to be taken away again, now.' [...] So that's when we Americans were given Florida. One state for three hundred million people. There were going to be some serious lines for the bathrooms. irony humor reservations native-americans usa invasion parody Adam Rex
f4c4d6a Trusting no man as his friend, he could not recognize his enemy when the latter actually appeared. irony trust mistrust enemy friend Nathaniel Hawthorne
dd17f9c She walks in beauty. irony Ron Rash
9f216d2 He smelled the smells of commerce and listened to the cursing of the sailors, both of which he admired: the former, as it reeked of wealth, and the latter because it combined his two other chief preoccupations, these being theology and anatomy. irony swear-words cursing swearing Roger Zelazny
ef19eef "I wish I hadn't cried so much!" said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. "I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! That will be a queer thing, to be sure! However, everything is queer today." irony ironic-death drowning wonderland crying tears water Lewis Carroll
53b5e82 Trapped. Sinking. Can't be myself. Made into what other people expect. Is that everyone's fate? Were the great individualists the products of their friends who wanted a great individualist as a friend? irony self-doubt karl-glogauer Michael Moorcock
380f181 All depression has its roots in self-pity, and all self-pity is rooted in people taking themselves too seriously. irony humor philosophy self-pity pity psychology sarcasm Tom Robbins
fb8c3ee In the State of Denmark there was the odor of decay... irony shakespeare Roger Zelazny
0d2ece0 Many things in this period have been hard to bear, or hard to take seriously. My own profession went into a protracted swoon during the Reagan-Bush-Thatcher decade, and shows scant sign of recovering a critical faculty--or indeed any faculty whatever, unless it is one of induced enthusiasm for a plausible consensus President. (We shall see whether it counts as progress for the same parrots to learn a new word.) And my own cohort, the left, shared in the general dispiriting move towards apolitical, atonal postmodernism. Regarding something magnificent, like the long-overdue and still endangered South African revolution (a jagged fit in the supposedly smooth pattern of axiomatic progress), one could see that Ariadne's thread had a robust reddish tinge, and that potential citizens had not all deconstructed themselves into Xhosa, Zulu, Cape Coloured or 'Eurocentric'; had in other words resisted the sectarian lesson that the masters of apartheid tried to teach them. Elsewhere, though, it seemed all at once as if competitive solipsism was the signifier of the 'radical'; a stress on the salience not even of the individual, but of the trait, and from that atomization into the lump of the category. Surely one thing to be learned from the lapsed totalitarian system was the unwholesome relationship between the cult of the masses and the adoration of the supreme personality. Yet introspective voyaging seemed to coexist with dull group-think wherever one peered about among the formerly 'committed'. Traditionally then, or tediously as some will think, I saw no reason to discard the Orwellian standard in considering modern literature. While a sort of etiolation, tricked out as playfulness, had its way among the non-judgemental, much good work was still done by those who weighed words as if they meant what they said. Some authors, indeed, stood by their works as if they had composed them in solitude and out of conviction. Of these, an encouraging number spoke for the ironic against the literal mind; for the generously interpreted interest of all against the renewal of what Orwell termed the 'smelly little orthodoxies'--tribe and Faith, monotheist and polytheist, being most conspicuous among these new/old disfigurements. In the course of making a film about the decaffeinated hedonism of modern Los Angeles, I visited the house where Thomas Mann, in another time of torment, wrote . My German friends were filling the streets of Munich and Berlin to combat the recrudescence of the same old shit as I read: The path to this concept of enlightenment is not to be found in the pursuit of self-pity, or of self-love. Of course to be merely a political animal is to miss Mann's point; while, as ever, to be an apolitical animal is to leave fellow-citizens at the mercy of Ideolo'. For the sake of argument, then, one must never let a euphemism or a false consolation pass uncontested. The truth seldom lies, but when it does lie it lies somewhere in between. enlightenment progress irony lies socialism literature humanism politics faith religion science truth apoliticism berlin bought-priesthood cape-coloureds eurocentricism george-hw-bush german-people groupthink left-wing-politics margaret-thatcher munich personality-politics polytheism potus radical-politics tribalism xhosa-people zulu-people ronald-reagan sectarianism monotheism solipsism argument critical-thinking self-pity self-love south-africa totalitarianism journalism right-wing-politics george-orwell soviet-union united-states conviction orthodoxy los-angeles film individualism atheism hedonism thomas-mann populism russia communism postmodernism cold-war germany literary-criticism euphemism Christopher Hitchens
5b5515e Sooner or later, all talk among foreigners in Pyongyang turns to one imponderable subject. Do the locals really believe what they are told, and do they truly revere Fat Man and Little Boy? I have been a visiting writer in several authoritarian and totalitarian states, and usually the question answers itself. Someone in a cafe makes an offhand remark. A piece of ironic graffiti is scrawled in the men's room. Some group at the university issues some improvised leaflet. The glacier begins to melt; a joke makes the rounds and the apparently immovable regime suddenly looks vulnerable and absurd. But it's almost impossible to convey the extent to which North Korea just isn't like that. South Koreans who met with long-lost family members after the June rapprochement were thunderstruck at the way their shabby and thin northern relatives extolled Fat Man and Little Boy. Of course, they had been handpicked, but they stuck to their line. There's a possible reason for the existence of this level of denial, which is backed up by an indescribable degree of surveillance and indoctrination. A North Korean citizen who decided that it was all a lie and a waste would have to face the fact that his life had been a lie and a waste also. The scenes of hysterical grief when Fat Man died were not all feigned; there might be a collective nervous breakdown if it was suddenly announced that the Great Leader had been a verbose and arrogant fraud. Picture, if you will, the abrupt deprogramming of more than 20 million Moonies or Jonestowners, who are suddenly informed that it was all a cruel joke and there's no longer anybody to tell them what to do. There wouldn't be enough Kool-Aid to go round. I often wondered how my guides kept straight faces. The streetlights are turned out all over Pyongyang--which is the most favored city in the country--every night. And the most prominent building on the skyline, in a town committed to hysterical architectural excess, is the Ryugyong Hotel. It's 105 floors high, and from a distance looks like a grotesquely enlarged version of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco (or like a vast and cumbersome missile on a launchpad). The crane at its summit hasn't moved in years; it's a grandiose and incomplete ruin in the making. 'Under construction,' say the guides without a trace of irony. I suppose they just keep two sets of mental books and live with the contradiction for now. irony grief death doublethink drinking-the-kool-aid graffiti jonestown koreans moonies ryugyong-hotel jokes indoctrination surveillance dissent totalitarianism tourism-in-north-korea south-korea authoritarianism pyongyang kim-il-sung kim-jong-il north-korea propaganda mind-control university Christopher Hitchens
ade4d05 "I'm a survivor, " I said. But I didn't think that claim would carry much weight in an obituary." irony humor epitaph Tobias Wolff
8c86c38 One notorious named Hiwa al-Balkhi, writing in ninth-century Persia, offered two hundred awkward questions to the faithful. He drew upon himself the usual thunderous curses--'may his name be forgotten, may his bones be worn to nothing'--along with detailed refutations and denunciations by Abraham ibn Ezra and others. These exciting anathemas, of course, ensured that his worrying 'questions' would remain current for as long as the Orthodox commentaries would be read. In this way, rather as when Maimonides says that the Messiah will come but that 'he may tarry,' Jewishness contrives irony at its own expense. If there is one characteristic of Jews that I admire, it is that irony is seldom if ever wasted on them. irony religion curses maimonides orthodox-judaism hiwi-al-balkhi judaism self-deprecation jewishness heretics messiah atheism jews Christopher Hitchens
1610b65 It is really not so repulsive to see the poor asking for money as to see the rich asking for more money. And advertisement is the rich asking for more money. irony philanthropy hypocrisy G.K. Chesterton
a3cbc8b Since ideology, particularly in it's shallower versions, is peculiarly destructive of the capacity to apprehend and appreciate irony, I suggest that the recovery of the ironic might be our fifth principle for the restoration of reading. ... But with this principle, I am close to despair, since you can no more teach someone to be ironic than you can instruct them to become solitary. And yet the loss of irony is the death of reading, and of what had been civilized in our natures. irony ideology Harold Bloom
fddf4b3 He wears his cockiness like an ironic T-shirt, but it fits him better. irony men funny manwhore t-shirt Gillian Flynn
efe1690 They thought more before nine a.m. than most people thought all month. I remember once declining cherry pie at dinner, and Rand cocked his head and said, 'Ahh! Iconoclast. Disdains the easy, symbolic patriotism.' And when I tried to laugh it off and said, well, I didn't like cherry cobbler either, Marybeth touched Rand's arm: 'Because of the divorce. All those comfort foods, the desserts a family eats together, those are just bad memories for Nick.' It was silly but incredibly sweet, these people spending so much energy trying to figure me out. The answer: I don't like cherries. irony thoughts memories funny over-thinking broken-home cherry-pie the-mind iconoclast psychologist divorce childhood-memories simplicity ironic patriotism logic childhood symbolism psychology Gillian Flynn
5249bff Why should I struggle through hundreds of pages of fabrication to reach half a dozen very little truths?' 'For fun?' 'Fun!' He pounced on the word. 'Words are for truth. For facts. Not fiction. irony truth John Fowles
52aeb89 In spite of her superficial independence, her fundamental need was to cling. All her life was an attempt to disprove it; and so proved it. She was like a sea anemone -- had only to be touched once to adhere to what touched her. irony independence John Fowles
389df44 Either help or give up. Right now devil's advocate is just another name for asshole. irony truth practicality James S.A. Corey
f321e17 Just as she was unaware of the hidden currents of politics running below the surface of College affairs, so the Scholars, for their part, would have been unable to see the rich seething stew of alliances and enmities and feuds and treaties which was a child's life in Oxford. Children playing together: how pleasant to see! What could be more innocent and charming? irony politics rivalry innocence Philip Pullman
008a465 Metaphysics in philosophy is, of course, supposed to characterize what is real - literally real. The irony is that such a conception of the real depends upon unconscious metaphors. irony nature-of-reason nature-of-theory metaphysics metaphors George Lakoff
5a1f85d He had been trying to measure the distance between the earth and God. irony science-fiction Ursula K. Le Guin
3deee18 And yet Praecursoris is not punished the same way, only because it is not practical, and he is needed for breeding? irony logic Naomi Novik
f589ad7 But there was no going back to that idyllic time when only one god wanted to kill me. irony sarcasm Kevin Hearne
2ceda1b Oh - a diamond ring - and Rhett, do buy a great big one! irony jewellery Margaret Mitchell
ddb1d95 She lived in fear of ifonic endings. (91) irony Anne Lamott
a02321e Her beauty was a weapon. A loaded gun, with the barrel pointed at her own head. irony danger Khaled Hosseini
ff8d0ef The world had been divided into two parts that sought to annihilate each other because they both desired the same thing, namely the liberation of the oppressed, the elimination of violence, and the establishment of permanent peace. irony war humanity peace dark-humor Hermann Hesse
feca16f What is a saint supposed to do, if not convert wolves? irony man st-francis saints wolf human-nature Umberto Eco
cd119af Wrath: look at how their folklore portrays our species. There's Dracula for Christ's sake, an evil bloodsucker who preys on the defenseless. There's piss-poor B movies and porn. And don't get me started on the whole Halloween thing. Plastic fangs. Black capes. The only thing the idiots got right are that we drink blood and that we can't go out in daylight. The rest is bullshit, fabricated to alienate us and stimulate fear in the masses. Or just as offensive, the fiction used to create some kind of mystique for bored humans who think the dark side is a fun place to visit. irony humor wrath J.R. Ward
1610474 In our native terms, the ironic style is often compounded with the sardonic and the hard-boiled; even the effortlessly superior. But irony originates in the glance and the shrug of the loser, the outsider, the despised minority. It is a nuance that comes most effortlessly to the oppressed. irony losers minorities outsiders oppression Christopher Hitchens
cd4fdd5 I think this goes more to the idea of 'relentless irony' than 'divine providence. irony divine-providence Donna Tartt
a1b0596 I can't help but think that if she was going to kill herself, she might as well have done it earlier. Perhaps when I was a toddler. Or better yet, an infant. It certainly would have made my life easier. I asked my uncle Hugh (who is not really my uncle, but he is married to the stepsister of my current mother's brother's wife and he lives quite closeand he's a vicar) if I would be going to hell for such a thought. He said no, that frankly, it made a lot of sense to him. I do think I prefer his parish to my own. suicide irony fun Julia Quinn
b26bb6e "The funny thing is if in England, you ask a man in the street who the greatest living is, he will say . And indeed, has done a marvelous job of popularizing . But evolution irony science charles-darwin darwinian dawkins gene genetics richard-dawkins darwin Ernst Mayr
3804542 John says I musn't lose my strength, and has me take cod liver oil and lots of tonics and things, to say nothing of ale and wine and rare meat. Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn't able to go, nor able to stand it after I got there; and I did not make out a very good case for myself, for I was crying before I had finished. It is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight. Just this nervous weakness I suppose. And dear John gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me upstairs and laid me on the bed, and sat by me and read to me till it tired my head. He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake, and keep well. irony love misunderstanding Charlotte Perkins Gilman
3ccaf8c The other shoppers were too well behaved to stare at the green-headed stoner and the tear-streaked lady zigzagging up the aisles with a chubby bearded guy scurrying behind them picking up the things they dropped. irony humor humorous-quotes Amy Goldman Koss
ee57176 The Tyr had tried. It had really tried. It must have gone over every element of human psychology, tried desperately to understand the nature of human aesthetic sense ... and then failed, miserably, in every regard. irony scifi C.S. Friedman
01b5c9e "...You know, one good apple can spoil the rest," Colonel Korn concluded with conscious irony." irony Joseph Heller
c0024b5 "It had to be that Americans were taught, from elementary school, to always "say something" in class, no matter what. [...] They never said "I don't know". They said, instead, "I'm not sure," which did not give any information but still suggested the possibility of knowledge. And they ambled, these Americans, they walked without rhythm. They avoided giving direct instructions: they did not say "Ask somebody upstairs"; they said "You might want to ask somebody upstairs". When you tripped and fell, when you choked, when misfortune befell you, they did not say "Sorry". They said "Are you OK?" when it was obvious that you were not. And when you said "Sorry" to them when they choked or tripped or encountered misfortune, they replied, eyes wide with surprise, "Oh, it's not your fault". And they overused the world "excited", a professor excited about a new book, a student excited about a class, a politician on TV excited about a law; it was altogether too much excitement." irony americans language Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
eaaf6d9 This place is packed with beautiful hipsters. While the Coney Island bombast radiated sincerity, everything here seems more ironic. When someone in the crowd ironically chants, 'USA!' someone else ironically chants back, 'Mother Russia. irony mother-russia the-hunger-games Jon Ronson
8d0e37c All of which does not alter the fact that Pnin was on the wrong train. irony humor Vladimir Nabokov
ab09405 Lots of people wrote to the magazine to say that Marilyn vos Savant was wrong, even when she explained very carefully why she was right. Of the letters she got about the problem, 92% said that she was wrong and lots of these were from mathematicians and scientists. Here are some of the things they said: 'I'm very concerned with the general public's lack of mathematical skills. Please help by confessing your error.' -Robert Sachs, Ph.D., George Mason University ... 'I am sure you will receive many letters from high school and college students. Perhaps you should keep a few addresses for future columns.' -W. Robert Smith, Ph.D., Georgia State University... 'If all those Ph.D.'s were wrong, the country would be in very serious trouble.' -Everett Harman, Ph.D., U.S. Army Research Institute irony mathematics Mark Haddon
317440d "LIII. What is the holiness of conversation? irony god Anne Carson
11a9623 "It is a tragicomic fact that our proper upbringing has become an ally of the secret police. (...) The "Tell the truth!" imperative drummed into us so automatically that we feel ashamed of lying even to a secret policeman." irony philosophy-of-language Milan Kundera
cdc7718 The irony of informing nearly naked people in a wilderness setting about the story of naked Adam and Eve eating the fruit of knowledge and inventing the fashion industry due to a sudden need for clothing to hide their shame is not lost on Williams. irony hubris Sarah Vowell
3b30f22 I come by my alarmism honestly. I have learned this custom over the years as I have settled into being a true New Yorker. This is how we welcome foreigners to our shores. Because we are so often frightened by living here, we are annoyed and offended when visitors fail to show the proper signs of terror. So we try to scare the living daylights out of them. irony new-yorker xenophobia David Rakoff
f0cad87 It's the hardest addiction of all,' said Patrick. 'Forget heroin. Just try giving up irony, that deep-down need to mean two things at once, to be in two places at once, not to be there for the catastrophe of a fixed meaning. irony patrick-melrose Edward St. Aubyn
9c58c22 <> said Alfred. irony virtues Harriet Beecher Stowe
43aed35 You know,' she begins, 'you fellas ought to be looking after each other.' Her comment makes me realise that through the lies, the greatest irony is that we are looking out for each other. It's just that in the end, we're letting her down. That's what injures us. irony lies letting-her-down looking-after-each-other Markus Zusak
a1cee09 Even in dying, a Thennanin ship was reputed to be not worth putting out of its misery. In battle they were slow, unmaneuverable--and as hard to disable permanently as a cockroach. simile irony life space David Brin
d9d0288 I didn't think that Herefordshire Social Services would be best pleased about me dumping a poorly socialised pre-teen with mind control powers on them. irony social-services Ben Aaronovitch
683d378 "That's the unforgivable sin, you know." "What is?" "Refusing to forgive someone." "Refusing to forgive someone is the unforgivable sin?" I asked incredulously." irony humor sin Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
379f64a "John dear!" said I in the gentlest voice, "the key is down by the front steps, under a plantain leaf!" That silenced him for a few moments. Then he said--very quietly indeed, "Open the door, my darling!" "I can't," said I. "The key is down by the front door under a plantain leaf!" And then I said it again, several times, very gently and slowly, and said it so often that he had to go and see, and he got it of course, and came in." irony marriage love Charlotte Perkins Gilman
8f3c08b I seldom lie,' he said. irony Philip José Farmer
bb39ab4 Colorless green ideas sleep furiously three old owls on a chest of drawers were screwing the daughter of the doctor. But then the mother called them, colorless green ideas slepp furiously. irony poetry sestina linguistics semantics pastiche Umberto Eco
70bb568 "Harold adds an important idea to that of Evans-Pritchard. "The state always seems to come down on the little guy," he notes. "Take this bayou. If your motorboat leaks a little gas into the water, the warden'll write you up. But if companies leak thousands of gallons of it and kill all the life here? The state lets them go. If you shoot an endangered brown pelican, they'll put you in jail. But if a company kills the brown pelican by poisoning the fish he eats? They let it go. I think they overregulate the bottom because it's harder to regulate the top." -- irony Arlie Russell Hochschild
6760bf1 "If we ran Nigeria like this cell," he said, "we would have no problems in this country. Things are so organized. Our cell has a Chief called General Abacha and he has a second in command. Once you come in, you have to give them some money. If you don't, you're in trouble." irony cell-one nnamabia Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3c0cd7f He led them around the base of a great fallen tree whose exposed roots resembled more than anything else a huge broom - a broom that would have fired the imagination of Rachel the Dragon toward heroic, legendary feats of sweeping. irony Tad Williams
20f0071 The speed felt tremendous. And the bottom of the ravine was treacherous. She ought to control her mount somehow - slow it; steer it to safer footing. Of course. And while she was at it, she ought to defeat the Alend Monarch's army, take care of Master Gilbur and the arch-Imager Vagel, and produce peace on earth. While composing great music with her free hand. Instead of doing all that, however, she concentrated with a pure white intensity that resembled terror on simply staying in the saddle irony reality sarcasm Stephen R. Donaldson
3edb665 If you really have to get shot, Belfast is one of the best places to do it. After twenty years of the Troubles, and after thousands of assassination attempts and punishment shootings, Belfast has trained many of the best gunshot-trauma surgeons in the world. irony ireland Adrian McKinty
1db37f5 The Lethean Library, for all its incalculable volumes, is, I know, sadly incomplete without Mr. Goodman's effort. irony negative-reviews literary-criticism Vladimir Nabokov
c57977e As a youth I enjoyed -- indeed, like most of my contemporaries, revered -- the agitprop plays of Brecht, and his indictments of Capitalism. It later occurred to me that his plays were copyrighted, and that he, like I, was living through the operations of that same free market. His protestations were not borne out by his actions, neither could they be. Why, then, did he profess Communism? Because it sold. The public's endorsement of his plays kept him alive; as Marx was kept alive by the fortune Engels's family had made selling furniture; as universities, established and funded by the Free Enterprise system -- which is to say by the accrual of wealth -- house, support, and coddle generations of the young in their dissertations on the evils of America. irony humour playwriting communism David Mamet
cef4d43 He gave me a warm smile, and I blinked, realizing he was cute. I'd never really had the luxury of noticing cuteness or lack thereof in guys. Mostly it was the lethal/nonlethal distinction that I went with irony cute-guys max James Patterson
dfc7343 Hard times' is a phrase the English love to use, when speaking of Africa. And it is easy to forget that Africa's 'hard times' were made harder by them. irony charity hardship race pity Alice Walker
039c153 I spose it's wrong to pray that someone dies... But I've thought about all the prayers. If that's what I was doing them years...Asking something, someone, anything, for a big black anvil to fall from the sky like in the cartoons. Kerang! On Wankbag's head. Because nothing else was gunna save [me]... irony death religion salvation Tim Winton
f0b284f It's just an old fella. Mostly bald. Walking dainty like his feet's tender. And still singing. With some things in his hand. He puts them down on a drum. Sits on a milk crate in the shade. Pulls on a pair of gumboots. Then he snatches up the things from beside him and shuffles out in the sun and leans against the verandah post and I see him clear enough. Singlet. Baggy arse shorts. Thick specs. He's short and thick this fella. Red in the face. And that stuff in his hand, it's a knife and steel. He looks around, kind of slow and lazy. Stops singing then and just hums a minute while he hones the knife. And he knows how to freshen up a blade, that I can see straight up. violence irony music Tim Winton
87803a6 And if a diversion is needed, why not arrest a general? Arthur Dillon is a friend of eminent deputies, a contender for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front; he has proved himself at Valmy and in a halfdozen actions since. In the National Assembly he was a liberal; now he is a republican. Isn't it then logical that he should be thrown into gaol, July 1, on suspicion of passing military secrets to the enemy? irony Hilary Mantel
a50a101 I actually feel quite self-indulgent at the moment, telling you all about me, me, me. (...) On the other hand, you're a human -you should understand self obsession. irony humanity egocentrism self-obsession self-absorption Markus Zusak
b31cae0 Drug dealing worse than kiddy fiddling, is it? Stop that, now! There's no need and you've no right. You think the Catholics care how they make their money? They bloody love gangsters, it's their bread and butter. Good God, child, you wouldn't know the half of it. You wouldn't have the faintest notion. irony roman-catholicism Tim Winton
bffe8ad An everyday Doomsayer in sandwich board abruptly walked away from what, over the last several days, had been his pitch, by the gates of a museum. The sign on his front was an oldschool Prophecy of the End. The one bobbing on his back read 'forget it. irony doomsayer prophet China Miéville
b9d68a5 Remember to remember: sometimes your adversary is your biggest asset. Where would David be without Goliath? Jesus without Judas? irony bravery courage inspiration motivation strength success life-lessons humor wisdom adversity achievement-attitude growth Brandi L. Bates
24cdd1a The law. we are told, is what makes us men under God instead of beasts in the ditch irony justice-system the-law justice Bernard Cornwell
687955a The Prohibition era had been a great source of material for building an excellent science of alcohol intoxication irony science prohibition Deborah Blum
0ebfa7e So this was the Ashram's final joke on me? Once I had learned to accept my loud, chatty, social nature and fully embrace my inner Key Hostess - only then could I become The Quiet Girl in the Back of the Temple, after all? irony life Elizabeth Gilbert
a449284 Humor is hard to catch in a second language. Especially when you're as serious a young man as Giovanni. He said to me the other night, 'When you are ironic, I am always behind you. I am slower. It is like you are the lightning and I am the thunder. irony language Elizabeth Gilbert
2d05b53 I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. Still, they have one thing I envy. Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die. irony life Markus Zusak
dff1afe the weekly thirty minutes of sexual stress was a chronic but low-grade discomfort, like the humidity in Florida irony sex marriage obligation Jonathan Franzen
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