Post brief quotes from fiction/narrative/whatever

[Jizzelbin]

"Man’s highest joy is victory.
To conquer your enemies and to pursue them,
To deprive them of their possessions,
To make their beloved weep,
To ride on their horses,
And to embrace their wives and daughters."

— Genghis Khan, attrib.

[Elendil's Heir]

Barbarian general: "Conan, what is best in life?”
Conan: “To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!”

Conan the Barbarian

[Jizzelbin]

“Not only are buffets gonna come back, they’re gonna come back with this weird, own-the-libs vengeance. Every one of them’s gonna have an agenda: ‘Come on down to Captain COVID’s Alpha Males Only Buffet! Are you the kind of leftwing soy boy that needs a sneeze guard over your clam chowder, or are you able to fuck your wife? Then come on down to Captain COVID’s. Show us proof you ain’t been vaccinated, and get a free platter of room-temperature scallops.’”

— Patton Oswalt joke/bit.

[Elendil's Heir]

Dr. Caron: "There's thirty million people here, and they just let themselves die."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

“Hiking is for trudging defeatedly. We’ve all agreed to it. It’s unspoken, but it’s there. But every now and then, somebody’s gotta show up, and they gotta do that weird, extra, show-off-y workout shit. It’s not enough that they’re hiking; they gotta do that urban workout where you turn the environment around you into your gym. You see a tree branch, you jump up, and you fucking do pull-ups, yeah! Where you see a park bench, you drop, and you do crunches. Grr! Grab a possum and curl it. Everything is your gym. And the men and women who do this are already gorgeous! There’s not an ounce of fat on them; you see every rib and rivet. I don’t know what fitness level they’re going for. It’s like they’re trying to reach a fitness level I like to call ‘painful to fuck.’”

— Patton Oswalt, anecdote

[Elendil's Heir]

Ha!

Dr. Caron: "I won't live to report this, but people have to know. We meant it for the best... to make people safer."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

"I got the trees on my mirror, so my car won't smell
Sittin' 'round the house, gettin' high, watchin' tube
I'm eating Colonel's chicken, drinkin' Heineken brew"

— Beastie Boys, "Slow Ride"

[Elendil's Heir]

Mal: "Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

"We live with a monkey and a Chinese acrobat."

Paul Kennerley, lyrics to "I've Got Me a Woman," sung by several

[Elendil's Heir]

Jayne: "Shepherd Book used to tell me, 'If you can't do somethin' smart... do somethin' right.'"

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

"Become as familiar as possible with all alternate fingerings in a position."

— Mick Goodrick, The Advancing Guitarist

[Elendil's Heir]

Mal: "You shot me in the back! I haven't made you angry, have I?"

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

"NYC in the 80's people used to put a sign on the dashboard: "NO STEREO IN CAR".

The window gets broken anyway. Then they notice their sign's been replaced with one that says "GET ONE"."

— old joke

[Elendil's Heir]

Mal: "I know the secret. The truth that burned up River Tam's brain. Rest of the 'verse is gonna know it, too... 'cause they need to."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

Maggie: "And what if I said you can kiss my ass right in the crack?"

— Bridget Fonda as "Maggie" in Point of No Return

[Elendil's Heir]

The Operative: "Do you know what your sin is, Mal?"
Mal (holding him at gunpoint): "Ah, hell, I'm a fan of all seven. But right now, I'm gonna have to go with wrath."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

"He looked at her more closely. Then he shrugged. 'It's called chess.'"

— Walt Tevis, The Queen's Gambit

[Elendil's Heir]

A great novel and a great miniseries, with some major differences between them. PM me if you want to know more.

Mal: "They take you down, I don't expect to grieve overmuch. Like to kill you myself, I see you again."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

"No one comes between you and this plutonium. Not Hunt, not his team, not anyone."

— some lady in Mission Impossible : Fallout

<aside: hell yes, I'm interested! I enjoyed the miniature series a bit, as well as Tevis's novels *The Hustler* and *TColor of Money* [that last one had really not much to do with the otherwise IMHO very good movie, nor did the novel *The Hustler*, much....beautiful descriptions of a number of states of mind, as well as some very nice technical descriptions of fairly pedestrian shots taken at the table.

I'm only a few pages in to the Q's Gambit (basically I read fiction while waiting in the car before work or while proctoring/observing new hires at work, so it takes me a while to read even short novels like these.

If you have some inside dirt on the Tevis chess novel/novella I'd be interested.</aside>

[Elendil's Heir]

I don't want to spoil anything. When you're all done with the novel, let me know.

Mal: "Ready to get off this heap, back to civilized life?"
Inara: "I, uh... I don't know."
Mal (smiling): "Good answer."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

"'Hot and cold water upstairs and down, and stationary washstands in every last bedroom of the place!'"

— Tarkington, *The Magnificent Ambersons* (1918).

[Elendil's Heir]

Mal: "It ain't all buttons and charts, little albatross. You know what the first rule of flying is? Well, I suppose you do, since you already know what I'm about to say."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

"'Solo Flight' is one of Charlie Christian's crowning achievement [sic] and a cornerstone of his legacy."

— Wolf Marshall, commentary in The Best of Charlie Christian. A Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Styles and Techniques of the Father of Modern Jazz Guitar.

[Elendil's Heir]

Mal: "Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' o' worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home."

Serenity

[Jizzelbin]

“There’s a real disregard for authority here and a real primary focus on politics. [...] And that’s what we’re seeing in the courtroom.”

— A. Stooge Unaccomplished, in a court of law, with apparently a straight face.

[Elendil's Heir]

Uncle Pomme: "The Earth speaks to all of us, and if we listen, we can understand."

Castle in the Sky

[Jizzelbin]

"[My] recommendation is to learn every key (that is, every minor 11th arpeggio) in both of these melodic patterns in all positions possible."

— A recommendation

[Elendil's Heir]

Sheeta: "This is no longer a throne room. This is a tomb for the both of us. You see, a king without compassion does not deserve a kingdom. You will never possess the crystal! You and I will die here, together. Now I understand why the people of Laputa vanished. This is a song from my home in the valley of Gondoa that explains everything. It says, 'Take root in the ground, live in harmony with the wind, plant your seeds in the winter, and rejoice with the birds in the coming of spring.' No matter how many weapons you have, no matter how great your technology might be, the world cannot live without love."

Castle in the Sky

[Jizzelbin]

"Our wooden paddle is both eco-friendly and safe, making it ideal for engaging in parent-child painting activities at home. It not only provides a hands-on creative experience but also fosters stronger bonds among family members as you share the joy of crafting together."

— some copy for a product that I may or may not know about.

[Elendil's Heir]

Pazu: "A girl just fell from the sky, boss!"

Castle in the Sky

[Jizzelbin]

"G̶i̶r̶l̶s̶!̶ Hamburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast!"

— I'm not telling (hey, what's the VB code for strikethrough here, again? I forgot and had to use a little converter thingy.)

[Elendil's Heir]

Louis: "YES! No more swabbin' the decks! Hooray!"
Henri: "I won't have to wash the dishes!"
Charles: "I've peeled my last potato! YEE-HAW!"

Castle in the Sky

[Jizzelbin]

"[Jimmy Page] said he wrote "Stairway" as a slow acceleration as a response to the iron law that you shouldn’t speed up when he was working as a session musician. Let the music build energy and speed."

— don't remember the source...some music thing!

[Elendil's Heir]

Dola: "Ah, what can I tell ya? They just really like dessert."

Castle in the Sky

[Jizzelbin]

"A small stompbox like a TC Flashback or a Line6 Echo Park will do all you want in a cheap and small box."

— snippet from a comment that might as well have been about various ex-girlfriends.

[Elendil's Heir]

Louis (clinging to the outside of a vehicle during an exciting chase): "I'd really prefer to be in the car, Mother!"

Castle in the Sky

[Jizzelbin]

"Tie me a sheepshank, boy!"

— movie about sharking

[Elendil's Heir]

Papa: "My poor little ship is gone forever! Boo hoo hoo hoo!"
Dola: "Stop with the cryin', ya big baby! I'll get you another ship!"
Papa (stops crying) "Okay."

Castle in the Sky