Ashasphere Quotes

The frame of the cave leads to the frame of man. ~ Stephen Gardiner

The times, the seasons, the signs may have been mythical; but the sufferings were not. I lay in the dark with the breathing of men around me and knew that then, at that selfsame moment, where dawn groped across the sea, my brethren lay bound in ships, one body atop another, smelling of their green wounds and faeces; I knew in dark houses, there was torture, arms held down, firebrands approaching the soft skin of the belly or arm; and still - there is screaming in the night; there is flight; mothers sob for children they shall not see again; girls feel the weight of men atop them; men cry for their wives; boys dangle dead in the barn; and we smoke their sorrow contentedly; and we eat their sorrow; and we wear their sorrow; and wonder how it came so cheap.
It was for this that we labored and fought, risking our very lives. ~ M.T. Anderson

We took a bus to the nearby monastery of one of the last great Tang dynasty Chan masters, Yun-men. Yun-men was known for his pithy "one word" Zen. When asked "What is the highest teaching of the Buddha?" he replied: "An appropriate statement." On another occasion, he answered: "Cake." I admired his directness. ~ Stephen Batchelor

I made a tape recording of a bridge collapsing and I wanted to play it suddenly and very loudly when people were walking over a big bridge in Belgrade. The council forbid it. Their imagination is tiny; mine is big. I want always to shake everything up. ~ Marina Abramovic

You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally they've got one heartbeat. Then you've got yourself a team. ~ Bear Bryant

Perfume companies ought to bottle the smell of crisp bacon. Forget pheromones. I'll bet a woman with a little spot of bacon grease behind her ears would attract every male within a five-mile radius. ~ Blaize Clement

We are each of us like our little blue planet, hung in black space, upheld by nothing but our mutual reassurances, our loving lies. ~ John Updike

There are some great writers who are great talkers, but there are more great writers who are not great talkers. People seem to think there is some connection between talking and writing, but I love to talk and if there were some connection between the two of them I would be the most prolific writer in the history of the world. ~ Fran Lebowitz

[...] Mom's not keeping me out because it's a dead friend, she's keeping me out because it's a dead sixteen-year-old girl with no clothes on'
'And that's officially the creepiest thing you've ever said,' said Lauren. She stopped typing, and then grimaced and shivered, like she'd just eaten something disgusting. 'Seriously – yuck.'
I smiled. 'I've got a live girlfriend – what do I need a dead one for?'
[…]
Lauren folded her arms. 'How do I know you're not just trying to get her out of the house for your own nefarious purposes?'
I smiled. 'What kind of trouble am I going to get into? The dead girl doesn't get here until tomorrow. ~ Dan Wells

It may be difficult to understand why a test comes our way, but we must never forget that the test is accomplishing refining and purification. ~ Billy Graham