dennis scharnberg

Time is either everything or it is nothing. It cannot be a mere ingredient.

Titus Musgrave, The Mystery of Sleep.

“Hey, don’t make me laugh! Okay? That’s all I ask of anyone.”

Tristan Holyoke, A Tree Full of Monkeys.

Economics: A horrible, horrible mistake.

Nathaniel Bumppo, The Final Word.

If you repeat a statement often enough, you will alter reality.

Godfrey Tooke, Collected Aphorisms.

“At that point, he presented a sealed envelope. He told me that it contained nine-thousand dollars, in large denominations. Of course there was no way to determine what it contained. There was only his word on the matter.”

Virgil Simms, The Case of the Frivolous Factotum.

[At their best], descriptions of modernism possess greater value than the art they characterize.

Crispin Trove, The Viewer as Pest.

“Try to remember, Jack, that they will never forgive you for being right.”

Will Bestwyck, Letters From Mr. Palindrome.

“Just tell me what it is not, please. That’s all I care to know.”

Endicott Campbell, An Accidental Likeness.

“He is gone,” exclaimed Eleanor, with the slightest shudder. “Perfectly gone.”

Trenton Childe, Rob Riddle and His Friends. (1792)

…and it was claimed that she would evaluate a film script in terms of how many opportunities for smiling it afforded her character.

Jeremy Breedlove, A Sardonic View of the Movies.