Search quotes

Link	Quote	Tags	Author
3c52d84	If one will just be still, shut up, and --lo, behold, the world'll sift through one's ideas for one, esp. in a grimy London railway station.		David Mitchell
e9d5c33	War's an auction where whoever can pay the most in damage and still be standing wins.		David Mitchell
724695d	Words are what you fight with but what you fight about is whether or not you're afraid of them.	words arguments fighting	David Mitchell
77b14cb	Sex may be the antidote to death but it offers life everlasting only to the species, not the individual.		David Mitchell
56e4af3	A Muzak version of 'Imagine' comes on and John Lennon wakes up in his tomb, appalled.		David Mitchell
eb97782	come now, what's a reviewer?" I reasoned. "One who reads quickly, arrogantly, but never wisely..."		David Mitchell
525a7bd	Hey, metaphysics seminar is on the roof. Just take the elevator up and keep walking until you hit the sidewalk. Anything is true if enough people believe it.	truth sucide	David Mitchell
1744c24	What if the differences between social strata stem not from genomics or inherent xcellence or even dollars, but merely differences in knowledge? Would this not mean the whole Pyramid is built on shifting sands?" I speculated such a suggestion could be seen as a serious deviancy. Melphi seemed delited. "Try this for deviancy: fabricants are mirrors held up to purebloods' consciences; what purebloods see reflected there sickens them. So the..	hatred racism equality perception justice	David Mitchell
2039ee2	Whoever dies with the most stuff wins.		David Mitchell
b269abf	This "Not Today" attitude of yours is a cancer. Cancer of the character. It stunts your growth."		David Mitchell
bc355aa	S'pose heaven's not like a painting that's just hanging there forever, but more like ... like the best song anyone ever wrote, but a song you only catch in snatches, while you're alive, from passing cars, or ... upstairs windows when you're lost ...		David Mitchell
528906a	There no such thing as something! Why? Because everything's already turning into something else!		David Mitchell
bf2c482	The world unmakes stuff faster than people can make it.		David Mitchell
3aee0b3	Do spirals end? Or just get so tiny your eyes can't follow any more?		David Mitchell
5274206	Dust is gold in the light of dawn.		David Mitchell
42f7daa	I'm not in the Scouts any more,' I remind her. Mr Moody our scoutmaster told me to get lost, so I did, and it took the Snowdonia mountain rescue service two days to find my shelter.		David Mitchell
9bf6970	The last of the cherry blossom. On the tree, it turns ever more perfect. And when it's perfect, it falls. And then of course once it hits the	philosophy perfect	David Mitchell
bd77ae0	Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?		David Mitchell
1cfabaf	Your place does keep you sane, but can also keep you lonely.		David Mitchell
d974a1b	Any society's upper-crust is riddled with immorality, how else d'you think they keep their power? Reputation is king of the public sphere, not private. It is dethroned by public acts.	public private reputation society	David Mitchell
f06de17	science devises ever bloodier means of war until humanity's powers of destruction overcome our powers of creation and our civilisation drives itself to extinction.	war science	David Mitchell
4860dae	one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. Yes, the Devil shall take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction		David Mitchell
2797646	Conduct your life in such a way that, when your train breaks down in the eve of your years, you have a warm, dry car driven by a loved one - or a hired one, it matters not - to take you home.		David Mitchell
250a565	Y cuando exhales el ultimo suspiro, solo entonces, te daras cuenta de que tu vida no ha sido mas que una minuscula gota en un oceano infinito! Y sin embargo, ?que es un oceano sino una multitud de gotas?	spanish humanity humanidad	David Mitchell
d7f7fa6	London is a language. I guess all places are.	place	David Mitchell
93564cb	Finally, I've reached the grandfather clock. Its face has no hands, only the words TIME IS, TIME WAS, TIME IS NOT. Highly metaphysical; deeply useless.		David Mitchell
ab5cacf	There's something fishy about Google's motto, "Don't Be Evil." I'm not saying it's controversial but it makes you think, "Why bring that up? Why have you suddenly put the subject of being evil on the agenda?" It's suspicious in the same way as Ukip constantly pointing out how racist they're not -"		David Mitchell
307fc0a	Remember: What Cupid gives, Cupid takes away.		David Mitchell
d70be72	Fire's the sun, unwindin' itself out o' the wood.	fire wood	David Mitchell
1c1c34d	she thinks,		David Mitchell
8784824	But you have read Madame Bovary?' (I'd never heard of her books.) 'No.	literature	David Mitchell
5dbfae1	What is it that ties shapes of land to the human heart, Mo?		David Mitchell
be70123	Patience's design flaw became obvious for the first time in my life: the outcome is decided not during the course of play but when the cards are shuffled, before the game even begins. How pointless is that?	solitaire patience luck	David Mitchell
1eaba10	Will I be some kid's dad one day? Are any future people lurking deep inside mine?...Which girl's carrying the other half of my kid, deep in those intricate loops? What's she doing right now? What's her name?	love teenage-love young-love pregnancy	David Mitchell
11b031f	Such narrative arcs make good movies but shitty existences.	good-movies narratives	David Mitchell
ebab4ed	At certain rare moments, a library is a kind of mind.		David Mitchell
40ecb02	What do you do when you're visiting someone's house and their garden starts vanishing?		David Mitchell
e657d75	Funny, thinks Milton. Power, time, gravity, love. The forces that really kick ass are all invisible.		David Mitchell
694b811	Es un ciclo tan antiguo como el tribalismo. Todo comienza con la ignorancia. La ignorancia genera miedo. El miedo genera odio y el odio genera violencia. La violencia provoca mas violencia hasta que la unica ley viene dictada por la voluntad del mas fuerte.	hate spanish fear ley miedo law ignorancia ignorance odio	David Mitchell
24026fc	Wars do not combust without warning. They begin as little fires over the horizon. Wars approach. A wise man watches for the smoke, and prepares to vacate the neighborhood just like Ayrs and Jocasta. My worry is that the next war will be so big, nowhere with a decent restaurant will be left untouched.	war warning restaurant	David Mitchell
af5203e	There are different ways people make this place. Sweat, exercise and pain is one way. You can see them in the gyms, in the well-ordered swimming pools. You can see them jogging in the small, worn parks. Another way to make your place is TV. A bright, brash place, always well lit, full of fun and jokes that tell you when to laugh so you never miss them. World news carefully edited so that it's not too disturbing, but disturbing enough to mak..	television world truth	David Mitchell
ea3181a	I said something about reading not being knowledge, about knowledge without experience being food without sustenance.		David Mitchell
2ba7f5b	Matter is thought, and thought is matter. Nothing exists that cannot be synthesized.		David Mitchell
f2a4c1d	Then one of them asked why Japanese kids try to ape American kids? The clothes, the rap music, the skateboards, the hair. I wanted to say that it's not America they're aping, it's the Japan of their parents that they're rejecting. And since there's no home-grown counter culture, they just take hold of the nearest one to hand, which happens to be American. But it's not American culture exploiting us. It's us exploiting it.		David Mitchell

3c52d84

If one will just be still, shut up, and --lo, behold, the world'll sift through one's ideas for one, esp. in a grimy London railway station.

David Mitchell

e9d5c33

War's an auction where whoever can pay the most in damage and still be standing wins.

David Mitchell

724695d

Words are what you fight with but what you fight about is whether or not you're afraid of them.

words arguments fighting

David Mitchell

77b14cb

Sex may be the antidote to death but it offers life everlasting only to the species, not the individual.

David Mitchell

56e4af3

A Muzak version of 'Imagine' comes on and John Lennon wakes up in his tomb, appalled.

David Mitchell

eb97782

come now, what's a reviewer?" I reasoned. "One who reads quickly, arrogantly, but never wisely..."

David Mitchell

525a7bd

Hey, metaphysics seminar is on the roof. Just take the elevator up and keep walking until you hit the sidewalk. Anything is true if enough people believe it.

truth sucide

David Mitchell

1744c24

What if the differences between social strata stem not from genomics or inherent xcellence or even dollars, but merely differences in knowledge? Would this not mean the whole Pyramid is built on shifting sands?" I speculated such a suggestion could be seen as a serious deviancy. Melphi seemed delited. "Try this for deviancy: fabricants are mirrors held up to purebloods' consciences; what purebloods see reflected there sickens them. So the..

hatred racism equality perception justice

David Mitchell

2039ee2

Whoever dies with the most stuff wins.

David Mitchell

b269abf

This "Not Today" attitude of yours is a cancer. Cancer of the character. It stunts your growth."

David Mitchell

bc355aa

S'pose heaven's not like a painting that's just hanging there forever, but more like ... like the best song anyone ever wrote, but a song you only catch in snatches, while you're alive, from passing cars, or ... upstairs windows when you're lost ...

David Mitchell

528906a

There no such thing as something! Why? Because everything's already turning into something else!

David Mitchell

bf2c482

The world unmakes stuff faster than people can make it.

David Mitchell

3aee0b3

Do spirals end? Or just get so tiny your eyes can't follow any more?

David Mitchell

5274206

Dust is gold in the light of dawn.

David Mitchell

42f7daa

I'm not in the Scouts any more,' I remind her. Mr Moody our scoutmaster told me to get lost, so I did, and it took the Snowdonia mountain rescue service two days to find my shelter.

David Mitchell

9bf6970

The last of the cherry blossom. On the tree, it turns ever more perfect. And when it's perfect, it falls. And then of course once it hits the

philosophy perfect

David Mitchell

bd77ae0

Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?

David Mitchell

1cfabaf

Your place does keep you sane, but can also keep you lonely.

David Mitchell

d974a1b

Any society's upper-crust is riddled with immorality, how else d'you think they keep their power? Reputation is king of the public sphere, not private. It is dethroned by public acts.

public private reputation society

David Mitchell

f06de17

science devises ever bloodier means of war until humanity's powers of destruction overcome our powers of creation and our civilisation drives itself to extinction.

war science

David Mitchell

4860dae

one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. Yes, the Devil shall take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction

David Mitchell

2797646

Conduct your life in such a way that, when your train breaks down in the eve of your years, you have a warm, dry car driven by a loved one - or a hired one, it matters not - to take you home.

David Mitchell

250a565

Y cuando exhales el ultimo suspiro, solo entonces, te daras cuenta de que tu vida no ha sido mas que una minuscula gota en un oceano infinito! Y sin embargo, ?que es un oceano sino una multitud de gotas?

spanish humanity humanidad

David Mitchell

d7f7fa6

London is a language. I guess all places are.

place

David Mitchell

93564cb

Finally, I've reached the grandfather clock. Its face has no hands, only the words TIME IS, TIME WAS, TIME IS NOT. Highly metaphysical; deeply useless.

David Mitchell

ab5cacf

There's something fishy about Google's motto, "Don't Be Evil." I'm not saying it's controversial but it makes you think, "Why bring that up? Why have you suddenly put the subject of being evil on the agenda?" It's suspicious in the same way as Ukip constantly pointing out how racist they're not -"

David        Mitchell

307fc0a

Remember: What Cupid gives, Cupid takes away.

David Mitchell

d70be72

Fire's the sun, unwindin' itself out o' the wood.

fire wood

David Mitchell

1c1c34d

she thinks,

David Mitchell

8784824

But you have read Madame Bovary?' (I'd never heard of her books.) 'No.

literature

David Mitchell

5dbfae1

What is it that ties shapes of land to the human heart, Mo?

David Mitchell

be70123

Patience's design flaw became obvious for the first time in my life: the outcome is decided not during the course of play but when the cards are shuffled, before the game even begins. How pointless is that?

solitaire patience luck

David Mitchell

1eaba10

Will I be some kid's dad one day? Are any future people lurking deep inside mine?...Which girl's carrying the other half of my kid, deep in those intricate loops? What's she doing right now? What's her name?

love teenage-love young-love pregnancy

David Mitchell

11b031f

Such narrative arcs make good movies but shitty existences.

good-movies narratives

David Mitchell

ebab4ed

At certain rare moments, a library is a kind of mind.

David Mitchell

40ecb02

What do you do when you're visiting someone's house and their garden starts vanishing?

David Mitchell

e657d75

Funny, thinks Milton. Power, time, gravity, love. The forces that really kick ass are all invisible.

David Mitchell

694b811

Es un ciclo tan antiguo como el tribalismo. Todo comienza con la ignorancia. La ignorancia genera miedo. El miedo genera odio y el odio genera violencia. La violencia provoca mas violencia hasta que la unica ley viene dictada por la voluntad del mas fuerte.

hate spanish fear ley miedo law ignorancia ignorance odio

David Mitchell

24026fc

Wars do not combust without warning. They begin as little fires over the horizon. Wars approach. A wise man watches for the smoke, and prepares to vacate the neighborhood just like Ayrs and Jocasta. My worry is that the next war will be so big, nowhere with a decent restaurant will be left untouched.

war warning restaurant

David Mitchell

af5203e

There are different ways people make this place. Sweat, exercise and pain is one way. You can see them in the gyms, in the well-ordered swimming pools. You can see them jogging in the small, worn parks. Another way to make your place is TV. A bright, brash place, always well lit, full of fun and jokes that tell you when to laugh so you never miss them. World news carefully edited so that it's not too disturbing, but disturbing enough to mak..

television world truth

David Mitchell

ea3181a

I said something about reading not being knowledge, about knowledge without experience being food without sustenance.

David Mitchell

2ba7f5b

Matter is thought, and thought is matter. Nothing exists that cannot be synthesized.

David Mitchell

f2a4c1d

Then one of them asked why Japanese kids try to ape American kids? The clothes, the rap music, the skateboards, the hair. I wanted to say that it's not America they're aping, it's the Japan of their parents that they're rejecting. And since there's no home-grown counter culture, they just take hold of the nearest one to hand, which happens to be American. But it's not American culture exploiting us. It's us exploiting it.

David Mitchell