There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of see...ds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
As a novelist, I cannot occupy myself with "characters," or at any rate central ones, who lack panache, in one or another sense, w...ho would be incapable of a major action or a major passion, or who have not a touch of the ambiguity, the ultimate unaccountability, the enlarging mistiness of persons "in history." History, as more austerely I now know it, is not romantic. But I am.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
English grammar is so complex and confusing for the one very simple reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin--a la...nguage with which it has precious little in common. In Latin, to take one example, it is not possible to split an infinitive. So in English, the early authorities decided, it should not be possible to split an infinitive either. But there is no reason why we shouldn't, any more than we should forsake instant coffee and air travel because they weren't available to the Romans. Making English grammar conform to Latin rules is like asking people to play baseball using the rules of football. It is a patent absurdity. But once this insane notion became established, grammarians found themselves having to draw up ever more complicated and circular arguments to accommodate the inconsistencies.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When we can drain the Ocean into mill-ponds, and bottle up the Force of Gravity, to be sold by retail, in gas jars; then may we ho...pe to comprehend the infinitudes of man's soul under formulas of Profit and Loss; and rule over this too, as over a patent engine, by checks, and valves, and balances.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The middle years of parenthood are characterized by ambiguity. Our kids are no longer helpless, but neither are they independent. ...We are still active parents but we have more time now to concentrate on our personal needs. Our children's world has expanded. It is not enclosed within a kind of magic dotted line drawn by us. Although we are still the most important adults in their lives, we are no longer the only significant adults.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
None will now find Cupid latent By this foolish antique patent.... He came late along the waste, Shod like a traveller for haste.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
With their souls of patent leather, they come down the road.... Hunched and nocturnal, Where they breathe they impose, silence of dark rubber, and fear of fine sand.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »