Some years ago, writing about stage adaptations of fiction, I noted: "There is a simple law governing the dramatization of novels:... if it is worth doing, it can't be done; if it can be done, it's not worth doing." Certain reviewers did me the honor of calling this Simon's Law, and I might as well state it now as far as the screen is concerned, "Simon's Law" may still serve as a useful warning but has no legality. For two reasons. First, because unlike the stage, the screen possesses as many resources as fiction, so that, for example, extended narration is possible on screen, backed up by an extensive visual scenario, but not on the stage, where it must become monotonous; similarly, stream of consciousness has its filmic equivalents in montage, voice-over dialogue, closeups and extreme closeups, dissolves, etc., whereas on stage, as mere verbiage, it cannot fail to bore. Secondly, because the screen can fully illustrate what the novel can only name or describe. Of course, this is a mixed blessing, because such illustration can make things overexplicit and oppressive; still, it is there as a resource for those who can effectively handle it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
For a painter, the Mecca of the world, for study, for inspiration and for living is here on this star called Paris. Just look at i...t, no wonder so many artists have come here and called it home. Brother, if you can't paint in Paris, you'd better give up and marry the boss's daughter.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The name of the town isn't important. It's the one that's just twenty-eight minutes from the big city. Twenty-three if you catch t...he morning express. It's on a river and it's got houses and stores and churches. And a main street. Nothing fancy like Broadway or Market, just plain Broadway. Drug, dry good, shoes. Those horrible little chain stores that breed like rabbits.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth...; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.... For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
One rational voice is dumb: over a grave The household of Impulse mourns one dearly loved.... Sad is Eros, builder of cities, And weeping anarchic Aphrodite.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Every accent, every emphasis, every modulation of voice, was so perfectly well turned and well placed, that, without being interes...ted in the subject, one could not help being pleased with the discourse; a pleasure of much the same kind with that received from an excellent piece of music. This is an advantage itinerant preachers have over those who are stationary, as the latter can not well improve their delivery of a sermon by so many rehearsals.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can't pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They spe...ak in languages we once classified as "exotic" but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I have never had a vote, and I have raised hell all over this country. You don't need a vote to raise hell! You need convictions a...nd a voice!LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
What a vast advantage has a speech over a written composition. Men are imposed upon by voice and gesture, and by all that is condu...cive to enhance the performance. Any little prepossession in favor of the speaker raises their admiration, and then they do their best to comprehend him; they commend his performance before he has begun, but they soon fall off asleep, doze all the time he is preaching, and only wake to applaud him. An author has no such passionate admirers; his works are read at leisure in the country or in the solitude of the study; no public meetings are held to applaud him.... However excellent his book may be, it is read with the intention of finding it but middling; it is perused, discussed, and compared to other works; a book is not composed of transient sounds lost in the air and forgotten; what is printed remains.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »