Mercer Quotes

I'm livin' in times where my daughters are found around
Kids who can't afford thinking caps ...
But always found drinkin' raps and eatin' off beats,
Claimin' laws of the streets. But who made the laws?
Everybody playin' rebel with no sign of a cause. ~ Kelvin Mercer

No, thank you." Isis turned back to Mercer. "You should discuss this with him. He'll be at dinner, but I'd suggest bringing it up after, when you can catch him alone. You don't want a repeat of this morning. ~ Nick Thacker

You and Beatrix haven't known each other long enough to consider matrimony. A matter of weeks, to my knowledge. And what about Prudence Mercer? You're practically betrothed, aren't you?"
"Those are valid points," Christopher said. "And I will answer them. But you should know right away that I'm against the match."
Leo blinked in bemusement. "You mean you're against a match with Miss Mercer?"
"Well…yes. But I'm also against a match with Beatrix."
Silence fell over the room.
"This is a trick of some sort," Leo said.
"Unfortunately, it's not," Christopher replied.
Another silence.
"Captain Phelan," Cam asked, choosing his words with care. "Have you come to ask for our consent to marry Beatrix?"
Christopher shook his head. "If I decide to marry Beatrix, I'll do it with or without your consent."
Leo looked at Cam. "Good God," he said in disgust. "This one's worse than Harry."
Cam wore an expression of beleaguered patience. "Perhaps we should both talk to Captain Phelan in the library. With brandy."
"I want my own bottle," Leo said feelingly, leading the way. ~ Lisa Kleypas

The Shins is, in a way, a recording project that turned into a live band. So I don't really keep myself beholden to any rules when I'm in the studio for Shins. I just gotta get it done as best I can. ~ James Mercer

Could tell you a lot, but you've gotta be true to the code. Make it one for my baby and one more for the road. ~ Johnny Mercer

chances. I want to make sure that Dan Mercer never hurts anyone ever again." "By killing ~ Harlan Coben

Maybe it's just parenthood that puts you in a situation where you just have to develop a new attitude, I guess, about things. ~ James Mercer

I really know so little about recording, and I'm learning as I go. ~ James Mercer

The United States has already passed on as the world's economic leader. Having flouted Thomas Jefferson for too long, America has succumbed to public debt, the 'fore horse for oppression and despotism,' after which 'taxation will follow, and in its train wretchedness and oppression. ~ Ilana Mercer

A leader does not stand still and reject all paths forward. ~ James W. Mercer

Sophia Mercer," Elodie intoned, "we have come to induct you into our sisterhood. Say the five words to begin the ritual."
I blinked at her. "Are you freaking kidding me?"
Anna gave an exasperated sigh. "No, the five words are 'I accept you offer, sisters. ~ Rachel Hawkins

Lyrically, I think I'm frustrated with this whole process of trying to figure out what I believe about the world and life. I don't like to adopt a sort of guiding philosophy. ~ James Mercer

I suspect Dr. Robert L. Webb may be theologically a 'hyper-Calvinist' of the Jesse Mercer persuasion."


~R. Alan Woods [2013] ~ R. Alan Woods

I know what is in your mind and in the mind of the youth. I know that your mind has one purpose and his the same. I know what is in the mind of the earth and of the moon and of the sun. Yes, I know of this kingdom. it is farther then I have ever gone, but I will take you there if you will be brave, for you will not find a welcome with in that place. ~ Mercer Mayer

I think that once you start writing songs, you start developing a library of ideas that you can go and take from, so it gets easier as you go. ~ James Mercer

Antitrust laws ought to be deployed, not against business, but to bust this two-party monopoly, which subverts competition in government and rewards the colluding quislings with sinecures in perpetuity. ~ Ilana Mercer

There are just too many Americans grubbing for free stuff and a preponderance of Republicans eager to parcel it out in exchange for power. ~ Ilana Mercer

So you find Miss Mercer beautiful?"
The buzzing in Spencer's head formed the words, "'She walks in beauty like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies.'"
"My God, now you're quoting poetry."
Had he said that aloud? Bloody hell. Spencer brandished his empty mug at his brother. "I always quote verse when I'm foxed."
"You must be very foxed to quote that idiot Byron. Or very impressed by Miss Mercer's looks. ~ Sabrina Jeffries

Change is inevitable; our response to it defines who we are. ~ James W. Mercer

I'm fortunate that I'm employed. And if you're in show business, of course, every night you go to bed and go, oh my god, tomorrow I'll never, ever work again. ~ Rick Mercer

Logical thinking is a prerequisite to good choices. ~ James W. Mercer

From dwarf tossing to drug taking: The legislator has no place in voluntary exchanges between consenting adults, as dodgy and as dangerous as these might be. ~ Ilana Mercer

In the rare event that the Supreme Court refuses to play along there is always a perfectly legal, extra-constitutional, quasi-legislative, quasi-executive, quasi-judicial, 'independent' regulatory commission or executive agency to kill off or override constitutional protections. ~ Ilana Mercer

The Republican Party under Genghis Bush did the devil's work. Bar the sainted Ron Paul, not a dog of a Republican lifted his leg in protest of the unjust war on Iraq. ~ Ilana Mercer

I stared at our hands. "Am I ever going to see you again?"
"You better believe it," he said. "Didn't I promise you we could make out in a castle?"
Chuckling, I drew my hand back. "You did. And to take me on dates. Real dates with no swords or ghouls or angst."
"Well, there you go," he said. "As soon as we've saved the world from a demon invasion, it's you, me, and Applebee's."
I rolled my eyes, but I was grinning now. "Oh, the romance."
His smile slowly faded. "I will see you again," he said, serious this time. "I promise." He moved closer to me so that his translucent legs disappeared into the bed. "Mercer, I-"
And then, just like that, be blinked out and was gone. ~ Rachel Hawkins

William loathed his family,' Mercer said. 'With cause. ~ Garth Risk Hallberg

So happy that Broken Bells is a thing in my life and really cool in so many ways. Not only, like, as something to sell records and be a band and whatnot, but just to give me an outlet and give me a fresh approach on things. ~ James Mercer

A duck's nest was found today near the trail on the dry open prairie with as far as could be seen no water or marsh near. The bird flew off but could not tell what species. The eggs nine originally. ~ George Mercer Dawson

One thing that I've struggled with has been a certain amount of animosity toward the whole human race. ~ James Mercer

Friends: how many have 'em?
How long before they split like atoms?
Don't ask me, but what I do stand behind
Is someone havin' your back seems hard to find. ~ Kelvin Mercer

Horrible dates are when you're with people who are immature and can't really be comfortable in their own skin. ~ James Mercer

There is no such thing as absolute free speech; there are only absolute rights of private property. Speech is circumscribed by private property rights. You may deliver a disquisition in my virtual or actual living room only if I permit you to so do. ~ Ilana Mercer

When the sweet talkin's done, a man is a two face, a worrisome thing who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night. ~ Johnny Mercer

There's not a lot of thinking that I need to do away from the studio on Broken Bells stuff. ~ James Mercer

It takes more talent to write music, but it takes more courage to write lyrics. ~ Johnny Mercer

A balanced-budget requirement implies is that government has the constitutional right to spend as much as it takes in; that government is permitted to waste however much revenue it can extract from wealth producers, and that the bums must merely bring into balance what was stolen (taxes) with what is squandered (spending). ~ Ilana Mercer

Maybe the siren was was a fire truck? Mercer couldn't see one anywhere, but like some bounding St. Bernard of the metaphysical, he couldn't quite let go of the belief that there must be an objective reality out there, beyond his own head. ~ Garth Risk Hallberg

Quotas are a perfectly logical, if diabolical, extension of the regulation of private property courtesy of the Civil Rights Act, whereby in an attempt to shape American society in politically pleasing ways, people have been coerced into liking, hiring or renting against their will or better judgment. ~ Ilana Mercer

I'm real happy. I've been lucky in love, and I've got a wonderful kid now, and things have been going well. ~ James Mercer

As a child, I lived in Germany at the Ramstein air force base, where my dad sang at a nightclub in Kaiserslautern. My parents couldn't afford a babysitter, so when I was, like, ten or 11, I would go with them to the bar until two in the morning. ~ James Mercer

She's nobody's fool so I'm playing it cool as can be. I'll give it a whirl but I ain't for no girl catching me. ~ Johnny Mercer

The falling leaves drift by the window The autumn leaves of red and gold ... I see your lips, the summer kisses The sunburned hands, I used to hold Since you went away, the days grow long And soon I'll hear ol' winter's song. But I miss you most of all my darling, When autumn leaves start to fall. ~ Johnny Mercer

As ever in the family Goodman, someone would have to swallow feelings here, and it was easier that it be Mercer. ~ Garth Risk Hallberg

That day, my first day on the job, was September 11, 2001! I was actually being recognized by Switzerland the very day that the World Trade Center was hit. ~ Mercer Reynolds

Maybe he could convince Les that they needed to have sex for cover purposes. ~ Aldous Mercer

Johnny Mercer started Capitol Records, and he brought in Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole. He just let them sing whatever they wanted, and it became the best record company in America. ~ Tony Bennett

I sit and write songs alone and then get together with people to help me flesh it out into a recording. ~ James Mercer

Come rain or come shine. ~ Johnny Mercer

I know you saw something. Why else would you guys run? - Mr. Mercer ~ Sara Shepard

In 1979 I teamed up with my friend and business partner, Bill DeWitt, and together we formed an oil and gas company that invested through limited partnerships in oil and gas exploration. ~ Mercer Reynolds

You're right. We Mercer girls are alike... We're bitches you don't want to mess with. - Laurel, to Ethan ~ Sara Shepard

Being attached to America these days is like being in a pen with a wounded bull. ~ Rick Mercer

I wish I could do to you what you did to me, he wished. But it can't be done to an android because they don't care. If I had killed you last night, my goat would be alive now. There's where I made the wrong decision. Yes, he thought; it can all be traced back to that and to my going to bed with you. Anyhow, you were correct about one thing; it did change me. But not in the way you predicted.
A much worse way, he decided.
And yet I don't really care. Not any longer. Not, he thought, after what happened to me up there, toward the top of the hill. I wonder what would have come next, if I had gone on climbing and reached the top. Because that's where Mercer appears to die. That's where Mercer's triumph manifests itself, there at the end of the great sidereal cycle.
But if I'm Mercer, he thought, I can never die, not in ten thousand years. Mercer is immortal. ~ Philip K. Dick

On a serious note, we don't think we're trying to be so different, it's just that everyone else is trying to be same. ~ Kelvin Mercer

Fools rush in, where wise men never go,
But wise men never fall in love, so how are they to know? ~ Johnny Mercer

This is very interesting because the Liberal Party of Canada, heading into an election, at the last minute they always stand up and they say: We know there's people out there that want to vote NDP and God love you. ~ Rick Mercer

The original Constitution is a dead letter, having suffered decades of legislative, executive and judicial usurpation. The natural- and common law traditions, once loadstars for lawmakers, have been buried under the rubble of legislation and statute. However much one shovels the muck of lawmaking aside, natural justice and the Founders' original intent remain buried too deep to exhume. ~ Ilana Mercer

Way to tell what for."
"Maybe I shouldn't have told you - about it being electrical." She put her hand out, touched his arm; she felt guilty, seeing the effect it had on him, the change.
"No," Rick said. "I'm glad to know. Or rather - " He became silent. "I'd prefer to know."
"Do you want to use the mood organ? To feel better? You always have gotten a lot out of it, more than I ever have."
"I'll be okay." He shook his head, as if trying to clear it, still bewildered. "The spider Mercer gave the chickenhead, Isidore; it probably was artificial, too. But it doesn't matter. The electric things have their lives, too. Paltry as those lives are. ~ Philip K. Dick

I know that there are a lot of sort of silly things that one thinks as a music listener about bands. I am a fan of many bands. ~ James Mercer

He who saves you from war is better than he who sends you to war. ~ Ilana Mercer

Life is sad. People, you know, are going to pass, and you know that you will one day. ~ James Mercer

If the Bill of Rights was intended to place strict limits on federal power and protect individual and locality from the national government the 14th Amendment effectively defeated that purpose by placing the power to enforce the Bill of Rights in federal hands, where it was never intended to be. ~ Ilana Mercer

Like environmentalists, politicians generally privilege flora and fauna over folks. ~ Ilana Mercer

The US is our trading partner, our neighbour, our ally and our friend ... and sometimes we'd like to give them such a smack! ~ Rick Mercer

Think of lab rats racing through a maze, when you watch the sub-intelligent, dual-panel 'dialogue' ... Each rat runs with a designated, neatly bifurcated (Republican or Democratic) political orthodoxy. Each is a 'maze-bright' rat, and not the possessor and giver of any truth. ~ Ilana Mercer

You have to keep the recording process open. If you make too many decisions before you go in, you can lose out on those serendipitous moments that can really make a record, that I think are always required in the making of a really good record. ~ James Mercer

Do you think I did wrong?" he asked. "What I did today?"

"No."

"Mercer said it was wrong but I should do it anyhow. Really weird. Sometimes it's better to do something wrong than right."

"It's the curse on us," Iran said. "That Mercer talks about."

"The dust?" he asked.

"The killers that found Mercer in his sixteenth year, when they told him he couldn't reverse time and bring things back to life again. So now all he can do is move along with life, going where it goes, to death. And the killers throw the rocks; it's they who're doing it. Still pursuing him. And all of us, actually. ~ Philip K. Dick

There's no real reason for me to be so obsessed with trying to understand the true nature of things. You can live a perfectly happy life being utterly confused and not knowing. ~ James Mercer

Do the unexpected. Take 20 minutes out of your day, do what young people all over the world are dying to do: vote. ~ Rick Mercer

Rights give rise to legal claims. Ultimately, the more rights animals are granted, the greater the legal lien exercised on their behalf against the liberty and property of people. ~ Ilana Mercer

Ludwig von Mises referred to Ayn Rand as 'the most courageous man in America.' If that doesn't say it all about the economist's man-centric frame of reference, I don't know what does. ~ Ilana Mercer

Someone on my other side nudged my shoulder, and I shifted closer to Jenna to make room. And then a hand closed over mine.
Before I even turned my head, I knew.
"Mercer." Archer smiled down at me. "Fancy meeting you here."
As much as I wanted to, I couldn't just throw my arms around his neck and kiss the heck out of him. And I really wanted to. So I settled for lacing my fingers with his and pulling him slightly closer.
Archer here, safe, his hand in mine. And Jenna, pressed tight to my other side. My heart was so full, I could hardly breathe, and even though I tried to keep it light, my voice was strained when I said, "Of course. Everything going to hell, and you turn up. I should've know."
He shrugged, even though his eyes were burning with the same emotion currently racing through my veins. "Eh, Italy was getting boring. Figured I might as well see what you ladies were up to. ~ Rachel Hawkins

I remember once I asked Wayne for the time," Miller told Mercer. "He started talking to me about the cosmos and how time is relative." Miller and [Wayne] Shorter were waiting somewhere -- an airport, a train station, a hotel. The band's keyboardist, Joe Zawinul, who took charge of such matters as what the road crew was supposed to do and when, set Miller straight. "You don't ask Wayne shit like that," he snapped. "It's 7:06 p.m." [p.1] ~ Ben Ratliff

When we stand up and we sing O Canada, we pledge to stand on guard for thee. If that doesn't include our water, we might as well sit down and give up. ~ Rick Mercer

Like or dislike her, the British Queen is harmless. Her role is purely ceremonial. Conversely, life and death are in the hands of the monarch who sits in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. ~ Ilana Mercer

You're a wonderful dancer, Ria."
"Mademoiselle Geraldine's takes such things seriously."
"Ah. And how many ways do you know to kill me, while we dance?"
"Only two, but give me time."
"You have lovely eyes. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"What rot. They are a muddy green. What are you about, Lord Mersey?"
Felix sighed, looking genuinely perturbed. His air of ennui was shaken. "I am trying to court you. Truth be told, Miss Temminnick, you make it ruddy difficult!"
"Language, Lord Mersey." Sophronia felt her heart flutter strangely. Am I ready to be courted?
"See! ~ Gail Carriger

The sand stones had fragments of charcoal on some surfaces but found no recognisable fossils. ~ George Mercer Dawson

Mercer looked around. There was no way anyone could hear. But the walls could, and the earth, and the ghosts of horses, and the state of Georgia. ~ Garth Risk Hallberg

I tend to write a pretty half and half split of, like, slow, morose things and then sort of more upbeat stuff. ~ James Mercer

According to old frineds who grew up with Stanley Ann Dunham, she became a serious student of Communist and Marxist theories back in high school. One profile even named a few of her radical teachers and administrators at Mercer High, which Dunham attended, whose classrooms formed part of what was called "anarchy alley." What sounds strange is that this avante-garde, supposedly idealistic communist-thinking student of the left met a major oil company executive during the radical 1960s, and not only found him not to be a repulsively evil money-grubbing capitalist pig, but was so taken in by his Big Oil company/military charm that she married him.
Okay, so maybe that's not coincidence. Maybe that's just the power of love. ~ Mondo Frazier

This way I'm 'honored' without anyone having to actually do, concede, admit, sacrifice, or change anything significant. They just tack a few meaningless letters up on a wall, some self-important men say some forgettable words, a few people cheer without knowing why but do so because it's expected, and then everyone decides they're satisfied. That, Peto, is politics."
"That's rubbish!"
"Same thing. ~ Trish Mercer

Our unhappy trek through the wreck of the New South Africa begins with the facts, nothing but the facts. ~ Ilana Mercer

Once or twice, at night, he planted himself in front of the type-writer, trying to get back to the book he'd come to New York to write. It was supposed to be about America, and freedom, and the kinship of time to pain, but in order to write about these things, he'd needed experience. Well, be careful what you wish for. For now all he seemed capable of producing was a string of sentences starting, Here was William. Here was William's courage, for example. And here was William's sadness, smallness of stature, size of hands. Here was his laugh in a dark movie theater, his unpunk love of the films of Woody Allen, not for any of the obvious ways they flattered his sensibility, but for something he called their tragic sense, which he compared to Chekhov's (whom Mercer knew he had not read). Here was the way he never asked Mercer about his work; the way he never talked about his own and yet seemed to carry it with him just beneath the skin; the way his skin looked in the sodium light from outside with the light off, with clothes off, in silver rain; the way he embodied qualities Mercer wanted to have, but without ruining them by wanting to have them; the way his genius overflowed its vessel, running off into the drain; the unfinished self-portrait; the hint of some trauma in his past, like the war a shell-shocked town never talks about; his terrible taste in friends; his complete lack of discipline; the inborn incapacity for certain basic things that made you want to mother him, fuc ~ Garth Risk Hallberg

My attempt at really doing classic sort of songwriting is Shins stuff. ~ James Mercer

My name is Tess Mercer. I'm no longer weak or afraid or broken. I've taken control of my fate. I no longer need a tower or dark angels or help. I am fear. And I take your soul in penance for everything that was done to me. I take it for the women you've raped. I take it for the women you've sold. I take it for my master, soul-mate, and husband. I take you for me. ~ Pepper Winters

[G]lobal warming, that manufactured monomania. ~ Ilana Mercer

The spell is at its strongest in the center of the room," I added. "So whatever you want to hold, you wanna put it as close to dead center as you can."
"You must've been awesome at Memory as a kid," Archer mused.
I shrugged. "When you're perusing a book full of the most powerful dark magic ever, you pay attention."
Our gazes fell to the center of the room, where there was nothing but one of the cellar's bazillion shelves. And under that shelf, drag marks in the dirt.
We both moved to either end of the shelf. It took a minute (and a couple of impolite words from both of us), but we managed to move it several feet over. Then we stood there, breathing hard and sweating a little, and stared at the trap door in the floor.
"Whatever's down there," Archer said after a moment, "it's hard core enough that Casnoff went to all this trouble to hold it. Are you sure you want to do this, Mercer?"
"Of course I don't," I said, grabbing the iron ring affixed to the trap door. "But I'm gonna."
I yanked at the ring, and the door came up easily. Cool air, smelling faintly of dirt and decay, wafted up. A metal ladder was bolted to the side of the opening, and I counted ten rungs before it disappeared into the blackness below.
Archer made a move to stop into the hole, but I stopped him. "I'll go down first. You'll just look up my skirt if I go after you."
"Sophie-"
But it was too late. Trying to shake the feeling that I was stepping into a grave, I ~ Rachel Hawkins

If an all-powerful, benevolent God allows untold suffering, then that God is either not all-powerful or not benevolent. ~ James W. Mercer

Once upon a time the world was sweeter than we knew. Everything was ours; how happy we were then, but then once upon a time never comes again. ~ Johnny Mercer

It hurts, being human," I agreed sagely.
"Wouldn't wish that on anyone. Wouldn't want to give it up."
(Mordred) ~ Aldous Mercer

I do like talking with friends about big concepts, you know, the stuff that will ruin a party. To me, the party hasn't begun until we're talking about the nonexistence of God. ~ James Mercer

The neoconservative pseudo-conservatives speak like Tocqueville but act like Robespierre. ~ Ilana Mercer

Selenite occurs in abundance in well formed clear crystals of several inches in length. ~ George Mercer Dawson

There is no Demon addiction, no lie, no distance between you and I here. And I am telling you, I will spend the rest of eternity looking for you, and I will find you, wherever you are reborn."
(Mordred) ~ Aldous Mercer

In an effort to create reality on the ground - instead of reporting on it - the American media seem to color events by refracting them through a sickeningly sentimental prism. ~ Ilana Mercer

By the standards of honest, if unorthodox, accounting, government workers don't pay taxes, but are paid out of taxes. In other words, they pay taxes out of money confiscated from taxpayers, who, in turn, pay taxes twice: on their own income and on the income of members of the bureaucracy. At the very least, this should disqualify state workers from voting. ~ Ilana Mercer

See ya, Mercer."
Happiness flooded through me as warm and bright as sunlight. "See ya, Cross. ~ Rachel Hawkins

[M]embers of the media-monetary-military-congressional complex are immoral and have an allergy to the truth. ~ Ilana Mercer

On Sofia Coppola's 16th birthday, way back in 1987, I stole a lip gloss from her Sistine Chapel of a bedroom. Years later, I left a Chanel lip gloss in the reception of the Mercer Hotel for her. You know why? I believe that you've got to fix your karma. ~ Courtney Love

Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of Africa, is now its dust bowl. ~ Ilana Mercer