dennis scharnberg

“Harpo might be wonderful, Lisa.  I don’t know.  All I’m saying is that he isn’t funny.”

Jack Dawes,  Circus Interruptus.

Stumbling upon it is far better than arriving by reason.

Godfrey Tooke,  Collected Aphorisms.

“Loose Reptiles,” read the sign.  Whether it was a warning or a boast was not clear.

Dell Arbogast,  The Null Hypothesis and Other Stories.

“You’re not a Nihilist are you, Georgie?”

“Well, I don’t know.  I would love to visit Egypt some day.”

Ralston Dowd,  Less of It.

Order is a useful illusion.

Godfrey Tooke,  Collected Aphorisms.

The falling tree—with no person present—creates a wind, yes, but not a sound.

Hampton Fancher,  Variations on the Red Barn Con.

“I would expect about 370 pages, Patricia.  And each one of those pages will be loaded with carefully constructed sentences that I certainly do not want to read.”

Benedict Elder,  A Cosmopolitan Paradise.

“Why would you want to be like that, Jameson?  Why would anybody?”

“Wanting has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

Mark Anthony,  The Tale of the Mirror.

“What is it about collecting the old coins, Otto?  Why do you like that?”

“There is no noise.  None at all.”

Christopher Blasey,  The Perplexity of the Two Green Doors.

“Hum it all away, Alice.  Just hum it away.”

Stephanie Biggers,  Cat Farming in Nigeria.