Contemplative Fiction Quotes

Without bridges, there are no connections. Without bridges, there are only chasms. Without bridges, there are only longings. We cannot wait for the land to flatten and the stream to narrow before we seek to cross. ~ Thomas Lloyd Qualls

A dream is not to be taken lightly. A dream is a powerful ally, coming to your aid. A magic tale, written in invisible ink. A golden thread, tying together the worlds. ~ Thomas Lloyd Qualls

At one time or another we are all called to leave the safety of our homes, the certainty of what we know, the illusions of who we are. Not everyone will heed this call, of course. And those who do will risk losing themselves completely. But if we choose to ignore the invitation, we risk never knowing who we might have become. We risk dying without knowing what it is to live. ~ Thomas Lloyd Qualls

The viewpoint character in each story is usually someone trapped in a living nightmare, but this doesn't guarantee that we and the protagonist are at one. In fact Woolrich often makes us pull away from the person at the center of the storm, splitting our reaction in two, stripping his protagonist of moral authority, denying us the luxury of unequivocal identification, drawing characters so psychologically warped and sometimes so despicable that a part of us wants to see them suffer. Woolrich also denies us the luxury of total disidentification with all sorts of sociopaths, especially those who wear badges. His Noir Cop tales are crammed with acts of police sadism, casually committed or at least endorsed by the detective protagonist. These monstrosities are explicitly condemned almost never and the moral outrage we feel has no internal support in the stories except the objective horror of what is shown, so that one might almost believe that a part of Woolrich wants us to enjoy the spectacles. If so, it's yet another instance of how his most powerful novels and stories are divided against themselves so as to evoke in us a divided response that mirrors his own self-division.

("Introduction") ~ Francis M. Nevins Jr.

Star Trek wouldn't die. There were a whole lot of young people who were touched by the thought process of science fiction. If you watched a cop show, there wasn't anything that was going to stimulate your mind. ~ Gary Lockwood

Lost Cactus is a cornucopia of sights, sounds and inhabitants completely foreign to a little squirrel like Sammy, but attempting to set him straight will only complicate matters. ~ John Hopkins

No one person is the cause for or consequence of all that happens. I am just the tenth man, the threshold, the turn in the tide. I stand here on the shoulders of humanity, a mere instrument of Time.
– Govinda Shauri ~ Krishna Udayasankar

Death. Life. They are in the air, the water, the earth, and the fire that surround us. They co-mingle like a dance of weeping and rejoicing. The joy and pain become one. We are of a dualistic nature." ---Jennifer Mills ~ Dianne Bright

Mr. Yeats makes great poetry out of what he calls his unhappiness about me, and he is happy in that. - Maud Gonne ~ Orna Ross

the influence of organised crime reaches into the economy, our politics and everyday life- dongri to dubai ~ S. Hussain Zaidi

You know, like that old Catch 42 expression that stands for the meaning of life is that in the end you always get screwed. ~ Jack Campbell

What did one see if one looked in any depth into the world of this writer's fiction? Elegant self-control concealing from the world's eyes until the very last moment a state of inner disintegration and biological decay; sallow ugliness, sensuously marred and worsted, which nevertheless is able to fan its smouldering concupiscence to a pallid impotence, which from the glowing depths of the spirit draws strength to cast down a whole proud people at the foot of the Cross and set its own foot upon them as well; gracious poise and composure in the empty austere service of form; the false, dangerous life of the born deceiver, his ambition and his art which lead so soon to exhaustion
~ Thomas Mann

What determines how we remember history and which elements are preserved and penetrate the collective consciousness? If historical novels stir your interest, pursue the facts, history, memories, and personal testimonies available. These are the shoulders that historical fiction sits upon. When the survivors are gone we must not let the truth disappear with them. Please, give them a voice. ~ Ruta Sepetys

We need the wisdom of women, and the experience of married people and parents, and the depth of the contemplative if we are to be formed as preachers. ~ Timothy Radcliffe

Is freedom a lateral component, or a vertical one? ~ Rick Bass

I have written about some truly great writers - John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner. Faulkner and Frost were the very peaks of American poetry and fiction in the 20th century. ~ Jay Parini

I spent several years acquiring the obsessive, day-to-day discipline that's needed if you want to write professionally, then several more, highly valuable years studying fiction writing at the University of Iowa. ~ John Dalton

Tom Farrell had always wished Hell on his boss. On New Years Eve ... Hell sent someone.
-Along For The Ride- ~ Thomas Amo

That sense of entitlement is precisely where we want them because the right to happiness is directly opposed to one of The Adversary's greatest curatives - gratitude. ~ Geoffrey Wood

Forget romantic fiction, a survey has found that most women would rather read a good book than go shopping, have sex, or sleep. ~ Janet Street-Porter

Many of my short fictions use theatre as a metaphor for situations in which characters find themselves estranged from the larger, uncontrollable world that may or may not lie beyond the proscenium arch. ~ Norman Lock

It seems to me that you might create any sort of character in a novel and there would be at least one person in the world just like him. We humans are simply incapable of imagining non-human actions or behavior. It's the writer's fault if we don't believe in his characters as human beings. ~ Natsume Sōseki

I am the only one who can create the missing piece of the wing. I have created it, and now - I am whole. ~ Charlena E. Jackson

He's lived a fiction. And, of course, he thinks that if you love someone enough, they will love you. And that if you steer things enough, things will, under your control, come right. And this is the fiction of the controller: a controller thinks that they can control their life into being what they want it to be. But their life will never be what they want it to be until they stop controlling, and that is their journey. ~ Julian Fellowes

To me, it's science fiction for me to do the things I've been blessed to do in this industry. ~ Will Smith

God does not shout; He whispers, and in that whisper is the way." Chyna Shepard in "Intensity ~ Dean Koontz

I don't know how the Wolfman knows all this, but he's not wrong. My warm cheeks turn scalding hot.
"Your shame is a good sign. You may break sooner than I thought. The breaking is good. It purifies. ~ Carolyn Lee Adams

I've devoted a lot of my time and effort during the past few years to developing my advertising copywriting business to the point of where I can support my family and don't have to depend on writing fiction for my income. ~ George Stephen

He would never forget her. The distance he forced had done nothing to soothe his aching soul. It had done nothing to diminish that she was his. He tried to deny it at first, thinking it nothing more than a cosmic mistake, but after a month without a glimpse of her, there was no question.
She belonged to him. ~ J.L. Sheppard

Besides, these box-checking Christians having such a majority is largely in our favor. Their ubiquity is inversely proportional to their efficacy. ~ Geoffrey Wood

Well, here we are.
Sometimes a statement of the bloody obvious was the only appropriate way forward. As if to give life ceremonious permission to proceed. ~ Michel Faber

Haftor was the Easer to the Easers. This was the most powerful man in Creation. Peder knew trouble was coming, but knew not what it was or how to deal with it. ~ Paul W.S. Bowler

I'm not above using unsavory beings to kick the Gods' asses, but the Phantoms are too unpredictable for my taste, I said. ~ Laura Kreitzer

My friend asked me recently, "Do you find it weird that you are now the property of other people's imaginations?" I hadn't thought about that before, this passionate following, with fan fiction and artwork. At first it felt like an invasion of privacy, but then I realized it's nice that the character can be shared. ~ Alycia Debnam Carey

Fantasy writing must be grounded in both truth and life experience if it is to work. It can be as inventive and creative as the writer can make it, a whirlwind of images and plot twists, but it cannot be built on a foundation of air. The world must be identifiable with our own, must offer us a frame of reference we can recognize."
"Fantasy stories work because the writer has interwoven bits and pieces of reality with imagination to form a personal vision. ~ Terry Brooks

The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse. ~ Charles Williams

In terms of size, mammals are an anomaly, as the vast majority of the world's existing species are snail-sized or smaller. It's almost as if, regardless of your kingdom, the smaller your size & the earlier your place on the tree of life, the more critical is your niche on Earth: snails & worms create soil, & blue-green algae create oxygen; mammals seem comparatively dispensable, the result of the random path of evolution over a luxurious amount of time. ~ Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Dream sets us on fire.
Dream gives us direction.
Dream betters our potential.
Dream helps us prioritize.
Dream adds value to our work and
life.
Dream colors our future. ~ Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

He rolled his eyes. "Fiction lies for the truth. ~ Kristine Grayson

I am not capable of love. - Felix ~ Donna Galanti