Arno Gruen Quotes

If people base their identity on identifying with authority, freedom causes anxiety. They must then conceal the victim in themselves by resorting to violence against others. ~ Arno Gruen

Hostility, malice, and sadism are the result of helplessness and self-loathing; that they are all produced by adaptation to a hypercritical social reality and are not attributable to innate aggression. ~ Arno Gruen

No matter how much lip service those committed to power (psychopaths) may pay to the principle of equality (empaths), they can never approach their fellow human beings on an equal footing; their relationships with others are defined solely in terms of power and weakness. Therefore, they must accumulate as much power as possible, with the aim of becoming invulnerable and proving this invulnerability. ~ Arno Gruen

Afterward she lies nestled against me, her hair tickling my face. I stroke her lightly, memorizing her body. I want her to melt into me, like butter on toast. I want to absorb her and walk around for the rest of my days with her encased in my skin. ~ Sara Gruen

When I'm late, and I'm late everywhere I go, it's not out of disrespect for where I'm going but out of respect for where I've been. ~ Arno Minkkinen

A decent human being is ashamed at being somebody's boss! ~ Arno Hintjens

Honey, I plan to marry you the moment the ink is dry on that death certificate. ~ Sara Gruen

...strangely alone in the most public of places. ~ Sara Gruen

Sometimes I think that if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I'd choose the corn. Not that I wouldn't love to have a final roll in the hay - I am a man yet, and something never die - but the thought of those sweet kernels bursting between my teeth sure sets my mouth to watering. It's fantasy, I know that. Neither will happen. I just like to weight the options, as though I were standing in front of Solomon: a final roll in the hay or an ear of corn. What a wonderful dilemma. Sometimes I substitute an apple for the corn. ~ Sara Gruen

Well, back to the drawing board. ~ Peter Arno

Afterward, I curl around her. We lie in silence until darkness falls, and then, haltingly, she begins to talk ... She speaks without need or even room for response, so I simply hold her and stroke her hair. She talks of the pain, grief, and horror of the past four years; of learning to cope with being the wife of a man so violent and unpredictable his touch made her skin crawl and of thinking, until quite recently, that she'd finally managed to do that. And then, finally, of how my appearance had forced her to realize she hadn't learned to cope at all. ~ Sara Gruen

I stare at her for a long moment. I want to kiss her. I want to kiss her more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. ~ Sara Gruen

Jon Spiro had not hired Pex and Chips for their debating sills. In the job interview, they had only been set one task. A hundred applicants were handed a walnut and asked to smash it however they could. Only two succeeded. Pex had shouted at the walnut for a few minutes, then flattened it between his giant palms. Chips had opted for a more controversial method. He placed the walnut on the table, grabbed is interviewer by the ponytail, and used the man's forehead to smash the nut. Both men were hired on the spot. They quickly established themselves as Arno Blunt's most reliable leiutenants for in-house work. They were not allowed outside Chicago, as this could involve map reading, something Pex and Chips were not very good at. ~ Eoin Colfer

Always carry a large flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and further, always carry a small snake. ~ Sara Gruen

If you don't want to be replaced by a machine, don't try to act like one! ~ Arno Penzias

With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not. ~ Sara Gruen

Beside London Bridge, the Ponte Vecchio at Florence seemed but a mere trifle in Guccio's memory, and the Arno a brook compared with the Thames. He said so to his companion. 'All the same we teach them everything,' the latter replied. ~ Maurice Druon

I am further back, surrounded on all sides by wailing men, their faces shiny with tears. Uncle Al promised three dollars and a bottle of Canadian whiskey to the man who puts on the best show. You've never seen such grief
even the dogs were howling. ~ Sara Gruen

I want to knit socks for the soldiers."
"It's not as easy as that," she said, looking at me strangely. "It's difficult to turn a good heel. There are competitions over it. ~ Sara Gruen

Is where you're from the place you're leaving or where you have roots? ~ Sara Gruen

I realize the blackness of sleep is circling my head. It's been there a while, biding its time and growing closer with each revolution. I give up on rage, which at this point has become a formality, and make a mental note to get angry in the morning. ~ Sara Gruen

After sixty-one years together, she simply clutched my hand and exhaled. ~ Sara Gruen

Well, back to the old drawing board. ~ Peter Arno

And August was a force. Charming, gregarious, ~ Sara Gruen

At this moment, the story in his head was perfect. He also knew from experience that it would degenerate the second he started typing, because such was the nature of writing. ~ Sara Gruen

A gaggle of old ladies is glued to the window at the end of the hall like children or jailbirds. They're spidery and frail, their hair as fine as mist. Most of them are a good decade younger than me, and this astounds me. Even as your body betrays you, your mind denies it.
There are five of them now, white headed old things huddled together and pointing crooked fingers at the glass. ~ Sara Gruen

Beneath it was a photograph of Hank alone, standing shirtless on the deck of a sailboat with his hands on his hips. ~ Sara Gruen

He only had the imperfect medium of words. ~ Sara Gruen

Should I get wind of another such rumor, I shall ruthlessly proceed against the person in question - not in a court of law, that is not my way. But I shall dedicate my next book to him ! : the economic and social consequences will teach him a lesson for the rest of his life ! ~ Arno Schmidt

In The Curtain, Milan Kundera writes, "Faced with the unavoidable defeat we call life, the only thing left to us is the attempt to understand it." I ~ Arno Geiger

I'm glad nothing requires my intervention, because I'm trying hard to maintain my composure. This is the first time I've ever seen a woman naked and I don't think I'll ever be the same. ~ Sara Gruen

His mother was exacting revenge because he'd dared to marry me, and his father - well, we weren't exactly sure. Either ~ Sara Gruen

Jacob: I've never seen so much manure. Wade: Baggage stock horses. They pack'em in 27 a car. Jacob: how do you stand the smell? Wade: what smell? ~ Sara Gruen

Violet was nothing if not sensible. She didn't even approve when we pulled entirely harmless pranks, like hiding someone's yacht in the wrong slip, or turning the racquet club's pool water purple. ~ Sara Gruen

I had my whole life planned.. I knew exactly where it was taking me.. ~ Sara Gruen

Change is rarely comfortable. ~ Arno Penzias

All I can do is put in time waiting for the inevitable, observing as the ghost of my past rattle around my vacuous present. They crash and bang and make themselves at home, mostly because there's no competition. I've stopped fighting them. They're crashing and banging around in there now. Make yourselves at home, boys. Stay awhile. Oh, sorry- I see you already have. Damn ghost. ~ Sara Gruen

My father felt it was his duty to continue to treat animals long after he stopped getting paid. He couldn't stand by and watch a horse colic or a cow labor with a breech calf even though it meant personal ruin. The parallel is undeniable. There is no question I am the only thing standing between these animals and the business practices of August and Uncle Al, and what my father would do - what my father would want me to do - is look after them, and I am filled with that absolute and unwavering conviction. No matter what I did last night, I cannot leave these animals. I am their shepherd, their protector. And it's more than a duty. It's a covenant with my father. ~ Sara Gruen

He's paragon schnitzophonic." "He's what?!" "Paragon schnitzophonic," repeats Uncle Al. "You mean paranoid schizophrenic? ~ Sara Gruen

When I first submerged my feet into frigid water, they hurt so badly I yanked them out again. I persisted, dunking them for longer and longer periods, until the cold finally blistered. ~ Sara Gruen

I came home poorer by several hundred dollars and richer by more books than I could carry. ~ Sara Gruen

Let the Word be preached, the truth taught, and error will be uncovered and souls delivered. ~ Arno C. Gaebelein

Revolution?" Arno laughed. "What happened wasn't a revolution. It was a deal. The creation of a new bunch of entrepreneurs who could be more easily manipulated by international capital. ~ Harry Kalmer

To be sure, I'm not perfect wife material: I'm neurotic. I'm compulsive. I speak before I think and can't cook worth a damn. I'm messy and germaphobic all at once, and it's not entirely unheard of for me to get hold of the wrong end of the stick and then hang there like a pitbull. ~ Sara Gruen

What else do I have to offer? Nothing happens to me anymore. That's the reality of getting old, and I guess that's really the crux of the matter. I'm not ready to be old yet. ~ Sara Gruen

It's quite clear : an outsider can, on principle, only value foreign literature that translates well; the truly great artists of language and the fecund experimenters are inaccessible to him; are usually unknown to him in fact ! ~ Arno Schmidt

When an important writer recommends a work to you -- whether by openly naming the title; or by shy=covert use of it (which perhaps is the greater praise) then go right ahead and follow his [sic!, etc] momentous hint ! A man with expertise and taste has done trusty spade-work for you : {pre=reading} and winnowing 1000 volumes of antiquated chaff for you. Not to make grateful use of such a hint would mean my thoughtless=arrogant shoving aside all the precious, irreplaceable hours that a venerable predecessor spent reading for me. ~ Arno Schmidt

And Flying Changes. Her works have been translated into forty-three languages and have ~ Sara Gruen