The Enlightenment’s great gift to posterity is the notion that “society” is essentially a design problem.
Godfrey Daniels, Inspecting the Time Domain.
“Just because I possess wisdom,” wondered Travis, “does that mean that I am entitled to dispense wisdom?”
Burdyce Goode, Wonderful With Dogs.
“No, Jane, you cannot choose which matters will be those that embarrass you.”
“Oh, but I think that I can, Charles. I am certain of it.”
Benedict Elder, A Cosmopolitan Paradise.
For years, Travis had engaged in collecting the sheet music for old English and Scottish ballads. He divided the material into two categories: “love pleasant” and “love unfortunate.”
Jason Starling, ed., Adventures in Narrative Parsimony.
“What do these stories mean to you, Christine? Just more groaning? Are they mystery? Help me out here.”
Diana Moone, Living Well.
“Trust me, Linda, but magical things just do happen as the logos manifests itself.”
Tristan Holyoke, A Tree Full of Monkeys.
“You guys will never learn,” said Douglas Meade, the systems analyst. “I just know it.”
“I’m not paid to learn,” Simon shot back.
“Well I don’t know what they pay you for, but I do know that you will n-e-v-e-r learn.”
Jeremy Malking, The Anechoic Chamber: Stories.
Anthony kept claiming that he had managed to do something well. Very well, in fact. But that was a week ago, and I can’t remember what it was all about. Most likely, it had something to do with stringing words together.
Sebastian Sleeve, The Random Walk and Other Stories.
The distractions [mean] not having to worry about that emptiness where a soul should be.
Christopher Jayne, A Critique of Sincerity.
It was the Bolsheviks who started all that twaddle about Marx being the diligent, tireless “scholar.”
Bertrand Bartholomew, A Confusion of Tongues.
