"We must remember that one of the most insidious ways of keeping women and minorities powerless is to let them only talk about harmless and inconsequential subjects..."

“From my earliest memories I was fascinated by animals. I would explore my backyard for insects and gaze at anthills until my elbows became sore. When I was 8, my mother bought me a book of North American birds and I've been keen on birdwatching since.”

“Our mind is dark in some way, and so we use rhetoric as a kind of prop or foil.”

“Barbie's one of those fads whose popularity makes you lose all faith in the human race.”

Source : Connie Willis (1997). “Bellwether”, Spectra

“The simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity.”

“I certainly must,' said she. 'This sensation of listlessness, weariness, stupidity, this disinclination to sit down and employ myself, this feeling of everything's being dull and insipid about the house! I must be in love; I should be the oddest creature in the world if I were not.”

“Long ago life was clean, sex was bad and obscene, and the rich were so mean. Stately homes for the Lords, croquet lawns, village greens, Victoria was my queen.”

“There is a much more exact correspondence between the natural and moral world than we are apt to take notice of.”

Source : Joseph Butler, Samuel Hallifax (1848). “The Works of ... Joseph Butler ... to which is Prefixed: Sermons. Correspondence between Dr. Butler and Dr. Clarke”, p.21

“I never laugh until I've had my coffee.”

Source : "Fictional character: Babe Stewart". "No Man of Her Own", www.imdb.com. 1932.