Novelists From The United States

"Swimming probably ranks close to running, jumping and throwing as the oldest sport of all. We know that even the overhand swimming stroke was practiced by the Romans. Their paintings and mosaics show swimmers cutting through the water overhand, and others swimming with their faces in the water, which suggests the speedy crawl of modern times. The Greeks and Romans knew a great deal about swimming and diving. Plato declared that in Greece, a man who was not able to swim and dive was as uneducated as one who was ignorant of letters. Caesar was a good swimmer, and Cato showed his son how to cross dangerous gulfs, and the Emperor Augustus taught his nephew to swim. In more modern times, Charlemagne was noted for his swimming stroke, King Louis XI of France often swam in the Seine at the head of his courtiers, and the swimming couriers of Peru traversed hundreds of miles of the South American continent swimming day and night down the rivers. They were aided only by a light log of wood, and their dispatches were enclosed in turbans on their heads."

"Never change your tactics when winning. Likewise, if you are losing try something new even though it may be foreign to your usual style of play."

"Never hurry. Do everything quietly."

"Those were stirring times out on that wild frontier- rough, dangerous times in many ways. But to young Will Rogers, growing up on his father's range, that frontier was the garden spot of the world. He had a comfortable home, kind parents, jolly playmates, and the whole country-side for a playground. But above all, he was happy because he was learning to rope and ride, the two things he cared for most in all the world."

"“Once in a while I get a kid in from the student agency to do some heavy cleaning. You’d be amazed how efficient budding sociologists and historians can be.”"

"His full name was Terence F. Rafferty, and I guess the "F" stood for fiery because that's the kind of fellow he was. Fiery and speedy and tiny and tough. And emotional. When the coach wouldn't start him, his freckled face would go under a cloud and he'd start blinking, and big tears would come rolling out of his eyes until it would get so wet in our dressing room that everybody wished they had fins instead of feet. We called him Red. You couldn't have called him anything else."

"Despite an undeserved reputation for effeminacy, probably caused by its etiquette, tennis measures up to any sport in its demands upon skill, speed, stamina and gameness. The etiquette of tennis is more rigid than that of any other widely-played American sport. A tennis crowd sits dignified and sedately, applauding only at correct intervals and then with a pleasant patter of handclaps. The spectators do not raise parasols at matches, nor move around during actual play, nor boo players or officials. Tennis players always wear white clothing. In England, player and spectator conduct is even more conservative. While the English have a decided sense of humor, they will not tolerate comedy in tennis if it conflicts with the sport's conventions."

"Salazar consulted the map again. “Almost there,” he whispered. “Just another mile.” Arthur sighed. “Wonderful.” Anastasia rounded on him. “Go wander the tunnels on your own, you useless pencil pusher. You have zero skills of value to offer to our current situation. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but of all the problems currently facing the city, the Guild, and the Empire, not to mention ourselves, a lack of properly filed paperwork is not one of them.”"

"“What the hell was that?” “That was a close call wrapped in some very unpleasant philosophical questions.”"

"“Have you any idea how long and painful my convalescence was?” Berenice shrugged. “Have you any idea how little I care?”"

"You’re no stranger to spinning gold from the hay of human misery, are you?"

"“If you’re going to insist on giving perfectly logical and reasonable answers to stupid questions,” she said, “you may put a dent in my delusions of genius.”"

"Sometimes the contortions required to spit on Occam’s razor were just as disturbing as the insights one yearned to avoid."

"Because the universe was a cold, callous place. And they had just peered into the gulf separating the astronomically unlikely from the truly impossible."

"“Well,” he said, “you must be feeling very proud of yourself right now.” “It occurs to me that I might be an underappreciated genius.” She paused to clutch the mast again during a particularly hard gust. “But I’ll tell you something. It’s not so wonderful, learning you were right all along to suspect the world is conspiring against you.”"

"“It’s a debate,” he spat, “over truth. Which truth is more true? The inspiring myth or the bleak, blood-caked reality?”"

"I’ve learned to be wary when something makes you this excited."

"The grotesque machine reassembled its head. The medical servitor stood, emitted a burst of ticktock cog chatter, then flung itself into the massacre with the fervor of a religious zealot."

"I am a pragmatist, said Mab. I do what must be done to make a better world. “Oh, I’m sure you tell yourself that. But so does the woman who tortured Lilith. You sound exactly like her, in fact. The difference is that Berenice actually means it. She doesn’t use the pretense to justify her cruelty.”"

"He didn’t trust them. But he did trust their greed."

"Huygens, there are times when I take comfort in my sinful nature, for it means I’ll meet you in hell. I’ll be the one stomping on your jewels with singular dedication."

"“How have you acquired such intimate knowledge of our kind’s innermost construction?” “You know exactly how. You need me because I’m not burdened with a system of mores that hobbles my inquiries. So you can drop the indignation and make yourselves useful.”"

"Such were the brittle threads of a relationship built not on trust but on a slurry of fear, mutual codependence, and self-interest."

"It isn’t courtly politics if somebody doesn’t get a dagger in the back."

"Your family excels at being a pain in my ass. Are you certain you’re not part Dutch?"

"We’ve drawn attention to ourselves with our obsessive need to stay inconspicuous."

"He’d expected torture. He hadn’t expected surgery."

"The fallacy of your personal bias is inherent in your choice of words."

"“Absence of proof,” said Bell, “is not proof of absence.”"

"Freedom felt like… nothing. Free Will was a vacuum, a negative space. It was the absence of coercion, the absence of compulsion, the absence of agony. A gap in his consciousness where geasa had perpetually jostled for priority, demanding his obedience. It was the photographic negative of Jax’s existence during every minute of the 118 years since he’d been forged. It was overwhelming. Exhilarating. Terrifying. Overwhelming: he could do anything he wanted. But the grand sum of anything-at-all was nothing-at-all. The topology of freedom offered no gradients to nudge him, no landmarks to guide him. How did humans guide themselves? How did they know what to do and what not to do? How did they know when to do anything without the benefit of geasa and metageasa to prioritize every single action of their waking lives? How did they order their daily existence without somebody to tell them what to do?"

"To lose the satchel now would prove that God, if He existed, was a truly sadistic son of a bitch."

"“Sergeant,” she said as they mounted the stairs leading to her old apartments, “thank you for treating me like a human being. And, for what it’s worth, I am sorry about how this turned out.” He grunted. “It can’t be undone,” was all he said."

"First, the fact he awoke at all. Cogito, ergo how the hell aren’t I dead?"

"It’s not my fault your makers made you humorless."

"“The duke was right about you.” “He survived? That’s a shame.”"

"They were old enough to know such things were forbidden, yet young enough still to find the forbidden irresistible rather than terrifying."

"Heartlessness wasn’t the sole province of the rich."

"And, as was so often the case, the history taught to children was oversimplified, watered down, and ofttimes counterfactual."

"Perhaps there really was a God, and He was just as cruel as the humans He made in His form."

"But the speculation was pointless. The past was forever in the past."

"Every additional second the king didn’t take a bullet in the eye seemed a good sign."

"How could you comprehend things whose existence you doubt?"

"Only a fool wasted energy on things he could not control."

"“You narrow-minded idiots have mistaken delaying the inevitable for a divinely bestowed right to survive… You aren’t noble survivors of a historical tragedy, you’re a lingering curiosity of a bygone age. The last vestige of a primitive past. Dust to be swept away. The difference between you and I, dear Berenice, is that I recognized the broom for what it was. And got out of the way.”"

"Alchemy was useful but never compassionate."

"I’ve always loved kids’ books, because I feel like children are the most interesting audience and the one you can affect the most. I remember the books I read when I was 10, 11, and 12, and I feel like they shaped me and my view of the world, and the kind of person I wanted to be. It’s such a wonderful field to work in. I’m interested in joyful and hopeful stories. There’s a lot of dark, crazy things that happen in the dragon books, but the kind of thing I’m always trying to head toward is that idea of hope and agency, that no matter who you are you can control your own destiny. I want kids to feel that coming out of these books."

"I feel so lucky that these amazing readers have connected with my books - and they are amazing; the kids I've talked to are the sweetest, smartest, most thoughtful people, and it gives me so much hope for the future. Especially since so many of them are storytellers and artists, too! Maybe that's the unexpected response I'm proudest of, that there are so many incredibly creative young people who want to come play in my dragon world. I hope it inspires them to create their own hopeful, compassionate stories and a more hopeful, compassionate real world."

"Listen, my books are about dragons and vampires and puppies and bad-tempered unicorns, because I like all those things and I want to write funny, happy books. But one of the biggest reasons I write at all is to get inside someone else's head. I think everyone is at the center of their own story, and I always wonder about how other people see the world... how two people might experience the same event in completely different ways. [...] [I]t shouldn't be surprising that I put a lot of faith in the power of storytelling to shape our own real-life character."

"Connecting with energy is something humans have to be open to and talking about and expecting, otherwise the whole human race can go back to pretending that life is about having power over others and exploiting the planet. If we go back to doing this, then we won't survive. Each of us must do what we can to get this message out. p. 157"

"James Redfield's breakout 1993 novel, The Celestine Prophecy, brought forward Eastern philosophies and New Age spirituality to a primarily American audience... used a traditional narrative to transmit concepts of spiritual awakening, energetic fields and synchronicity to the reader. In 1993, these concepts were still emerging, and have since become hugely popular in mainstream books, movies and music. The book spent an incredible 165 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller's List, making it one of the most successful books of all time. It has sold over 50 million copies to date, and established James Redfield as a millionaire."