Le Verbe Pouvoir Quotes

Houellebecq has created a new genre - the dystopian conversion tale. Submission is not the story some expected of an armed coup d'état, and no one in it expresses hatred or even contempt of Muslims. At one level it is simply about a man who through suffering and indifference finds himself slouching toward Mecca. At another level, though, it is about a civilization that after centuries of a steady, almost imperceptible sapping of inner conviction finds itself doing the same thing. The literature of civilizational decline, to which Zemmour's Le Suicide français is a minor contribution, is typically brash and breathless. Not so Submission. There is not even drama here - no clash of spiritual armies, no martyrdom, no final conflagration. Stuff just happens, as in all Houellebecq's fiction. All one hears at the end is a bone-chilling sigh of collective relief. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Whatever. ~ Mark Lilla

George, this is history," Lacon protested weakly. "This is not today. ~ John Le Carre

he asked, in a more tentative tone, "What's the ~ John Le Carre

I actually love shopping in vintage shops. What I do with the high street, I buy it, then keep it for a while and then wear it when everyone's not wearing it. So I do that: stock up, then keep it hidden! ~ Amber Le Bon

In the hands of politicians grand designs achieve nothing but new forms of the old misery ... ~ John Le Carre

Please go away, Monsieur le Comte," she said in a polite voice. "You must have tired of your absurd, inconsequential games by now."
"My games are never inconsequential, as long as they entertain me."
She closed her eyes in frustration for a brief moment. "This house is filled with beautiful women ... "
"Oh, not quite filled," he said frankly, leaning back. "The Revels won't start for another day. At this point there are no more than half a dozen beauties in residence."
"Then why don't you go bother one of them?"
"Because I don't want one of them, my sweet. I want you. ~ Anne Stuart

Time says "Let there be"
every moment and instantly
there is space and the radiance
of each bright galaxy.

And eyes beholding radiance.
And the gnats' flickering dance.
And the seas' expanse.
And death, and chance. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

What's surprising is that the people who fought against torture here are the communists. ~ Jean-Marie Le Pen

No problem exists in isolation, one must first reduce it to its basic components, then tackle each component in turn. ~ John Le Carre

When our time is over, I must return you the way I found you, pure and innocent. ~ Georgia Le Carre

The creative adult is the child who has survived. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

What is life without incompatible realities? ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

When all ways are lost the way is clear. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

Matt Le Tissier had firm views about Austria's reluctance to allow Turkey full membership of the EU last Saturday, I seem to recall. ~ Jeff Stelling

Arthur Braithwaite, known to Louisa and the children as God. And all right, strictly speaking Braithwaite did not exist. Why should he? Not every god has to exist in order to do his job. ~ John Le Carre

Everything in the world is true if you invent it hard enough and love the person it's for! ~ John Le Carre

They did not use the sonic stunners but the foray gun, the ancient weapon that fires a set of metal fragments in a burst. They shot to kill him. He was dying when I got to him, sprawled and twisted away from his skis that stuck up out of the snow, his chest half shot away. I took his head in my arms and spoke to him, but he never answered me; only in a way he answered my love for him, crying out through the silent wreck and tumult of his mind as consciousness lapsed, in the unspoken tongue, once, clearly, 'Arek!' Then no more. I held him, crouching there in the snow, while he died. They let me do that. Then they made me get up, and took me off one way and him another, I going to prison and he into the dark. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

Do you own this?"
"It's registered to the bank of Utah."
"But really it's yours?"
He shrugs. "Own nothing control everything. ~ Georgia Le Carre

Language is the most extraordinary invention in the history of humanity, the one which came before everything and which makes it possible to share everything. ~ J M G Le Clezio

It is no secret. All power is one in source and end, I think. Years and distances, stars and candles, water and wind and wizardry, the craft in a man's hand and the wisdom in a tree's root: they all arise together. My name, and yours, and the true name of the sun, or a spring of water, or an unborn child, all are syllables of the great word that is very slowly spoken by the shining of the stars. There is no other power. No other name. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

I have been able to attend many technology conferences around the world over the years, including some of the largest, like Google I/O, Microsoft's Developer Conference, Apple's WorldWide Developers Conference, Oracle World, Le Web, and more. ~ Megan Smith

This is a war," Lemas replied. "It's graphic and unpleasant because it's fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with a wastage of innocent life sometimes, I admit. But it's nothing, nothing at all besides other wars - the last or the next. ~ John Le Carre

The world is in balance . To light a candle is to cast a shadow. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

Ashe was typical of that strata of mankind which conducts its human relationships according to a principle of challenge and response. Where there was softness, he would advance; where he found resistance, retreat. Having himself no particular opinions or tastes he relied upon whatever conformed with those of his companion. He was as ready to drink tea at Fortnum's as beer at the Prospect of Whitby; he would listen to military music in St. James's Park or jazz in Compton Street cellar; his voice would tremble with sympathy when he spoke of Sharpeville, or with indignation at the growth of Britain's colored population. To Leamas this observably passive role was repellent; it brought out the bully in him, so that he would lead the other gently into a position where he was committed, and then himself withdraw, so that Ashe was constantly scampering back from some cul-de-sac into which Leamas had enticed him. ~ John Le Carre

We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

Our understanding of the human brain can be dramatically accelerated if we collect and share research data on an exponentially wider scale. ~ Tan Le

In the rapture of my enormous humiliation I live in your warm life, and you shall die - die sweetly die - into mine. ~ J. Sheridan Le Fanu

I don't know which I should fear more ... death or life. I wish I could be done with fear. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

Oh, don't get me started! I love fantasy, I read it for pleasure, even after all these years. Pat McKillip, Ursula Le Guin and John Crowley are probably my favorite writers in the field, in addition to all the writers in the Endicott Studio group - but there are many others I also admire. In children's fantasy, I'm particularly keen on Philip Pullman, Donna Jo Napoli, David Almond and Jane Yolen - though my favorite novels recently were Midori Snyder's Hannah's Garden, Holly Black's Tithe, and Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

I read a lot of mainstream fiction as well - I particularly love Alice Hoffman, A.S. Byatt, Sara Maitland, Sarah Waters, Sebastian Faulks, and Elizabeth Knox. There's also a great deal of magical fiction by Native American authors being published these days - Louise Erdrich's Antelope Wife, Alfredo Vea Jr.'s Maravilla, Linda Hogan's Power, and Susan Power's Grass Dancer are a few recent favorites.

I'm a big fan of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, and Anthony Trollope - I re-read Jane Austen's novels in particular every year.Other fantasists say they read Tolkien every year, but for me it's Austen. I adore biographies, particularly biographies of artists and writers (and particularly those written by Michael Holroyd). And I love books that explore the philosophical side of art, such as Lewis Hyde's The Gift, Carolyn Heilbrun's Writing a Woman's Life, or David Abram's Spell of the Sensuous.

(from a 2002 interview) ~ Terri Windling

O Voltaire! O humanity! O idiocy! There is something ticklish in "the truth," and in the SEARCH for the truth; and if man goes about it too humanely - "il ne cherche le vrai que pour faire le bien" - I wager he finds nothing! ~ Friedrich Nietzsche