Shamanic Short Quotes

To write a short story, you have to be able to stay up all night. ~ Lorrie Moore

I really wanted to find a piano for the farm house. There were so many free pianos on Craigslist, I thought, 'Let's get as many free pianos as we can and stick them all in the barn.' I got eight in a short period of time, only six of which were tunable, but it's still quite funny. ~ Neko Case

Then why are you still here?" I ask. I stand up and her gun follows me. I welcome its bullets just to see if I could survive.
"Masochism."
"I don't know what that means."
"It means I like my own pain."
"That doesn't make sense."
"I'm human. You think we ever make sense? ~ Tessa Maurer

And what a man he is. Tall, but not too tall. Five o'clock shadow. Late twenties, early thirties. Piercing blue eyes. Short, brown hair that juts forward, matching his angular face. He's wearing an untucked, button-down white shirt and dark-grey slacks. He looks disheveled in the best way possible. ~ Samantha Riley

He tried to carry himself like a major playa but he was far from it. On top of that he was short, thin with big eyes and black lips. He was the true definition of a creature. ~ George Sherman Hudson

The communication function of modern writers is akin to the ancient role fulfilled by tribal shamans. All writers ultimately perform a shamanistic role in society; their mythmaking voices speak to us from the underworld after their passage to the other side. Writers place themselves in a trance-like state where their unconscious mind dictates to them what to write. ~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Because you're very special, Brynne."
"How special, Ethan?" I whispered because I was a little frightened to hear. I was frightened of my own feelings for him already. In such a short time he'd possessed me.
"For me? As special as it gets, baby." He smiled his signature one side up twist and made my stomach flutter. ~ Raine Miller

The Laundry field operations manual is notably short on advice for how to comport one's self when being held prisoner aboard a mad billionaire necromancer's yacht, other than the usual stern admonition to keep receipts for all expenses incurred in the line of duty. ~ Charles Stross

Children are not only innocent and curious but also optimistic and joyful and essentially happy. They are, in short, everything adults wish they could be. ~ Carolyn Haywood

Exactly. You like me. The word you use was like. You'll find someone better than me. Someone you'll love and not just like. ~ Kristine Cuevas

Well, sir, I think it's just as well that they are being phased out of the war effort, and that we are now going to detonate the supernova bomb. In the very short time since we were released from the time envelope-'

'Get to the point'

'The robots aren't enjoying it, sir.'

'what'

'The war sir, it seems to be getting them down there's a certain world-weariness.'

'Well, that's all right, they're meant to be helping to destroy it.'

'yes, well they're finding it difficult, sir. They are afflicted with a certain lassitude. They're just finding it hard to get behind the job. They lack oomph.'

'What are you trying to say?'

'Well, I think they're very depressed about something, sir.'

'What on Krikkit are you talking about?'

'Well, in a few skirmishes they've recently, it seems that they go into battle, raise their weapons to fire and suddenly think, why bother? What, cosmically speaking, is it all about? And they just seem to get a little tired and a little grim.'

'And then what do they do?'

'Er, quadratic equations mostly, sir. Fiendishly difficult ones by all accounts. And then they sulk.'

'Sulk?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Whoever heard of a robot sulking?'

'I don't know, sir. ~ Douglas Adams

For a short time we lived quietly. But this could not last. White men had found gold in the mountains around the land of winding water. ~ Chief Joseph

Music Box has proven itself in a few short years to be a cutting edge distributor with a sophisticated understanding of both the market and cinema. ~ Ira Sachs

God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new[ ... ] It is your arms,
Jesus, which are the lift to carry me to heaven, And so there is no need for me to grow up. In fact, just the opposite: I must stay little and become less and less. ~ Therese Of Lisieux

Skipping works don't show your laziness, but an ability to do that in short time ~ Samar Sudha

The short amount of time I'm out on the runway is like going on a rollercoaster. It's such a happy, exciting feeling. I'm more like a racehorse ready to go - I just want to get out there. ~ Erin Heatherton

But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations. ~ John McCain

Our enemies had a tendency to take one look at Charlotte, with her short, slim figure and her pretty, delicate Asian features, and assume she was weak. A low level threat.
Ten seconds later, the look of surprise on his face as he lay on his back, winded, eyes rolled up and watching her support Kate towards the stairs, said he'd possibly learnt his lesson. Never judge a book by it's cover. ~ Violet Cross

Max's unflinching gaze never left that house.
"What do you think's going to happen?" Jules asked him quietly, "if you let yourself peel that giant S off your shirt and take a nap? If you let yourself spend an hour, an evening, screw it, a whole weekend doing nothing more than breaking and taking enjoyment from living in the moment? What's going to happen, Max, if - after this is over - you give yourself permission to actually enjoy Gina's company? To sit with her arms around you and let yourself be happy. You don't have to be happy forever - just for that short amount of time."
Max didn't say anything.
So Jules went on. "And then maybe you could let yourself be happy again the next weekend. Not too happy," he added quickly. "We wouldn't want that. But just happy in a small way, because this amazing woman is part of your life, because she makes you smile and probably fucks like a dream and yeah - see? You are listening. Don't kill me, I was just making sure you hadn't checked out."
Max was giving him that look. "Are you done?"
"Oh, sweetie, we have nowhere to go and hours til dawn. I'm just getting started."
Shit, Max said with his body language. But he didn't stand up and walk away. He just sat there.
Across the street, nothing moved. And then it still didn't move. But once again, Max was back to watching it not move.
Jules let the silence go for an entire minute and a half. "Just in case I didn't make myself clear," he said, "I believe ~ Suzanne Brockmann

Thus, words being symbols of ideas, we can collect ideas by collecting words. The fellow who said he tried reading the dictionary but couldn't get the hang of the story simply missed the point: namely, that it is a collection of short stories. ~ James Webb Young

The negative cautions of science are never popular. If the experimentalist would not commit himself, the social philosopher, the preacher, and the pedagogue tried the harder to give a short-cut answer. ~ Margaret Mead

My friends and I make short films. We pretended to rob the Dairy Queen where our friend worked, but someone thought we were real thieves and called the cops! Soon, the cops burst in with guns drawn! ~ Josh Hartnett

He's a hot bath, a short breath, five days of summer pressed into five fingers writing stories on my body. ~ Tahereh Mafi

On the Writing Process:
When in doubt, take it out., ~ Barbara DaCosta

Life's too short for anxious score-keeping ~ Teju Cole

It is always useful to ask: is there a more interesting way of doing this?
But sometimes the answer may be no. It is then that people need to learn to apply themselves: when there is a painful process or nothing of interest to learn from the task. This is where 'self-regulation' comes in. These are essential skills that we use to help ourselves when tasks are long, complex or unpleasant. These skills can be taught, and students who have mastered them do far better than those who haven't, both in the short run and in the long run. ~ Carol S. Dweck

Anything else you want to tell me?" I asked Valek as we stopped a few feet short of the castle's south entrance. "Did Ari and Janco set me up for Nix's attack? Do you have another test of loyalty for me up your sleeve? Maybe the next time, I'll actually fail. A prospect that seems appealing!" I pushed away Valek's supporting arm. "When you warned me that you would test me from time to time, I thought you meant spiking my food. But it seems there is more than one way to poison a person's heart, and it doesn't even require a meal. ~ Maria V. Snyder

In case you haven't noticed,rodeos are a serious business.Careless cowboys tend to break bones,or even their skulls,as hard as that may be to believe."
She stared down at the hand holding her wrist. Despite his smile,she could feel the strength in his grip. If he wanted to,he could no doubt break her bone with a single snap. But she wasn't concerned with his strength,only with the heat his touch was generating. She felt the tingle of warmth all the way up her arm.It alarmed her more than she cared to admit.
"My job is to minimize damage to anyone who is actually hurt."
"I'm grateful." He sat up so his laughing blue eyes were even with hers. If possible,his were even bluer than the perfect Montana sky above them. "What do you think? Any damage from that fall?"
Her instinct was to move back,but his fingers were still around her wrist,holding her close. "I'm beginning to wonder if you were actually tossed from that bull or deliberately fell."
"I'd have to be a little bit crazy to deliberately fell."
"I'd have to be a little bit crazy to deliberately jump from the back of a raging bull just to get your attention, wouldn't I?"
"Yeah." She felt the pull of that magnetic smile that had so many of the local females lusting after Wyatt McCord. Now she knew why he'd gained such a reputation in such a short time. "I'm beginning to think maybe you are. In fact,more than a little.A whole lot crazy."
"I figured it was the best possible way to get you ~ R.C. Ryan

Whether your life is destined to be short or to be long, along the way on that journey, if you access that inner power, not only will you change your life in a positive way, you'll ultimately help change other peoples lives. You will be carrying something forward. ~ Brad Willis

In short, I'm not very concerned with quantity and quality; I just want a reasonable entry for every day of my life, starting now. ~ Jordan Mechner

Life is too short to hate anything. I am too busy to love and enjoy everything. ~ Debasish Mridha

She curled her fingers into his chest instead of complying. "You're an incredibly handsome male," she said. "Perfect bone structure, pure blond hair, eyes so blue they should be impossible. Your only 'flaw' is this tattoo." She traced the three jagged lines on his right biceps. "It's an echo of the markings on your alpha's face." He gave a short nod. "A symbol of absolute loyalty." Her lips parted. "Knowing that just makes you even more dangerously beautiful. ~ Nalini Singh

It's funny: I put money into short films, and I put really good actors in it, and I write some stuff that's really funny, and I'll get, like, a million views. But to the right of me, there will be a video of a kitten that falls into a toilet bowl, and it's three seconds long, and it will get 25 million views. ~ Ben Schwartz

Night had fallen, and Diane admired the deep sky behind Steve's calm countenance. They looked into each other's eyes again and felt the spark and excitement of discovery. As if to celebrate the perfect, life-enabling distance of the earth from the sun, Diane and Steve kissed again."
"-The Grand Unified Story (a Short Story) from Stories and Scripts: an Anthology ~ Zack Love