The Breakfast Club

Dear Mr. Vernon,
we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice 
a whole Saturday in detention 
for whatever it was we did wrong.
But we think you're crazy to make an essay
telling you who we think we are.
You see us as you want to see us...
In the simplest terms, 
in the most convenient definitions.
But what we found out 
is that each one of us 
is a brain...
...and an athlete...
...and a basket case...
...a princess...
...and a criminal...
Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours,

The Breakfast Club.

Salieri's Speech (Amadeus)

Astounding! It was actually beyond belief. These were first and only drafts of music
yet they showed no corrections of any kind.Not one. Do you realize what that meant? He'd simply put down music already finished in his head. Page after page of it, as if he was just taking dictation. And music finished as no music is ever finished. Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase, and the structure would fall. It was clear to me. That sound I had heard in the Archbishop's palace had been no accident. Here again was the very voice of God! I was staring through the cage of those meticulous ink-strokes at an absolute, inimitable beauty.

From now on, we are enemies, you and I.
Because you will not enter me, with all my need for you;
because you scorn my attempts at virtue;
because you choose for our instrument
a boastful, lustful, smutty infantile boy
and give me for reward only the ability to recognize the Incarnation;
because you are unjust, unfair, unkind, I will block you!
I swear it!
I will hinder and harm your creature on earth
as far as I am able.
I will ruin your Incarnation!

Amadeus (1984), Milos Forman.

La Creación de los Anillos

En aquellos días los herreros de Ost—in—Edhil superaron todo cuanto habían hecho antes; y al cabo de un tiempo hicieron los Anillos del Poder. Pero Sauron guiaba estos trabajos, y estaba enterado de todo cuanto hacían; porque lo que deseaba era someter a los Elfos y tenerlos bajo vigilancia. Ahora bien, los Elfos hicieron muchos anillos, pero Sauron hizo en secreto un Anillo Único, para gobernar a todos los otros, cuyos poderes estarían atados a él, sujetos por completo a él, y durarían mientras él durase. Y gran parte de la fuerza y la voluntad de Sauron pasó a ese Anillo Único; porque el poder de los anillos élficos era muy grande, y el del que habría de gobernarlos tendría por fuerza que ser aún más poderoso; y Sauron lo forjó en la Montaña de Fuego en la Tierra de la Sombra. Y mientras llevaba el Anillo Único, era capaz de ver todo lo que se hacía por medio de los anillos menores, y podía leer y gobernar los pensamientos mismos de quienes los llevaban. Pero no era tan fácil atrapar a los Elfos. No bien Sauron se puso el Anillo Único en el dedo, se dieron cuenta; y supieron quién era, y que quería adueñarse de todos ellos y de todo cuanto hiciesen. Entonces, con enfado y temor, se quitaron los anillos. Pero él, al ver que lo habían descubierto, y que los Elfos no habían sido engañados, sintió gran cólera, y los enfrentó exigiéndoles que le entregaran todos los anillos, pues los herreros Elfos no podrían haberlos forjado sin la ciencia y el consejo con que él los había asistido. Pero los Elfos huyeron de él; así salvaron tres de los anillos, y se los llevaron, y los ocultaron. Ahora bien, eran esos Tres los últimos que se habían hecho, y los que tenían más grande poder. Narya, Nenya y Vilya se llamaban, los Anillos del Fuego, y del Agua, y del Aire, que tenían engarzados un rubí y un diamante y un zafiro; y eran de todos los anillos élficos los que Sauron más deseaba, pues quienes los poseyeran podrían evitar el deterioro f demorar la fatiga del mundo. Pero Sauron nunca los encontró porque fueron dados a los Sabios, que los ocultaron y nunca más se los pusieron a la luz, en tanto Sauron tuviera el Anillo Regente. De ese modo los Tres permanecieron incólumes, pues habían sido forjados por Celebrimbor tan sólo, y la mano de Sauron no los había tocado; no obstante también estaban sometidos al Único.

Desde esos días siempre hubo guerra entre Sauron y los Elfos; y Eregion fue arruinada, y Celebrimbor muerto, y las puertas de Moría se cerraron. En ese tiempo la fortaleza y refugio de Imladris, que los Hombres llamaron Rivendel, fue encontrado por Elrond Medio Elfo; y resistió largo tiempo. Pero Sauron recogió todos los Anillos del Poder que quedaban, y los repartió entre los otros pueblos de la Tierra Media, con la esperanza de tener así sometidos a todos los que desearan contar con un poder secreto, fuera de los alcances de su propia especie. Siete anillos dio a los Enanos; pero a los Hombres les dio nueve; porque los Hombres en esto, como en otros asuntos, demostraron ser los más dispuestos a someterse. Y todos los anillos que Sauron gobernaba, los pervertía, con bastante facilidad pues él mismo había contribuido a hacerlos, y estaban malditos, y traicionaron al final a todos quienes los llevaban. Los Enanos demostraron ser firmes y nada dóciles; no soportan de buen grado el dominio de los demás, y es difícil saber lo que en verdad piensan, y tampoco es fácil inclinarlos a las sombras. Sólo llevaban los anillos para la adquisición de riquezas; pero la ira y una abrumadora codicia de oro les encendió los corazones, mal del que luego Sauron obtuvo gran beneficio. Se dice que el principio de cada uno de los Siete Tesoros de los reyes Enanos de antaño fue un anillo de oro; pero todos esos tesoros hace ya mucho que fueron saqueados, y los dragones los devoraron, y de los Siete Anillos algunos fueron consumidos por el fuego y otros recuperados por Sauron.

Fue más fácil engañar a los Hombres. Los que llevaron los Nueve Anillos alcanzaron gran poder en su época: reyes, hechiceros y guerreros de antaño. Ganaron riqueza y gloria, aunque sólo daño resultó. Parecía que para ellos la vida no tenía término, pero se les hacía insoportable. Podían andar, si así lo querían, sin que nadie de este mundo bajo el sol llegara a descubrirlos, y podían ver cosas en mundos invisibles para los Hombres mortales; pero con no poca frecuencia veían sólo los fantasmas y las ilusiones que Sauron les imponía. Y tarde o temprano, de acuerdo con la fortaleza original de cada uno y con la buena o mala voluntad que habían tenido desde un principio, iban cayendo bajo el dominio del anillo que llevaban, y bajo la servidumbre del Único, que era propiedad de Sauron. Y se volvieron para siempre invisibles, salvo para el que llevaba el Anillo Regente, y entraron en el reino de las sombras. Eran ellos los Nazgúl, los Espectros del Anillo, los más terribles servidores del Enemigo; la oscuridad andaba con ellos, y clamaban con las voces de la muerte.

Tres Anillos para los Reyes Elfos bajo el cielo.
Siete para los Señores Enanos en palacios de piedra.
Nueve para los Hombres Mortales condenados a morir.
Uno para el Señor Oscuro,
sobre el trono oscuro
en la Tierra de Mordor
donde se extienden las Sombras.

Un Anillo para gobernarlos a todos.
Un Anillo para encontrarlos,
un Anillo para atraerlos a todos
y atarlos en las tinieblas en la Tierra de Mordor
donde se extienden las sombras.

J.R.R. Tolkien, El Silmarilion.
J.R.R. Tolkien, El Señor de los Anillos, La Comunidad del Anillo.

Einstein Quotes

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger,
more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage --
to move in the opposite direction.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z.
Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the the universe.

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought,
but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

Precious

Precious and fragile things need special handling.
My God what have we done to You?
We always try to share the tenderest of care.
Now look what we have put you through.

Things get damaged,
things get broken,
I thought we'd manage
but words left unspoken,
left us so brittle,
there was so little left to give.

Angels with silver wings shouldn't know suffering. I wish I could take the pain for you. If God has a master plan that only He understands, I hope it's your eyes he's seeing through. I pray you learn to trust. Have faith in both of us and keep room in your hearts for two.


Martin L. Gore, Playing the Angel.

Stain Boy

Of all the super heroes,
the strangest one by far,
doesn't have a special power,
or drive a fancy car.

Next to Superman and Batman,
I guess he must seem tame.
But to me he is quite special, and Stain Boy is his name.

He can't fly around tall buildings,
or outrun a speeding train,
the only talent he seems to have,
is to leave a nasty stain.

Sometimes I know it bothers him,
that he can't run or swim or fly,
and because of this one ability,
his dry cleaning bill's sky high.

Tim Burton, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other stories.

Dagobah

YODA
So certain are you.
Always with you it cannot be done.
Hear you nothing that I say?

LUKE
Master, moving stones around is one thing.
This is totally different.

YODA
No! No different! Only different in your mind.
You must unlearn what you have learned.

LUKE
All right, I'll give it a try.

YODA
No! Try not.
Do. Or do not.
There is no try.

LUKE
I can't. It's too big.

YODA
Size matters not. Look at me.
Judge me by my size, do you? Hm? Mmmm.
And well you should not.
For my ally in the Force.
A nd a powerful ally it is.
Life creates it, makes it grow.
Its energy surrounds us and binds us.

The Bad Beginning

If you are interested in stories with happy endings,
you would be better off reading some other book.
In this book, not only is there no happy ending,
there is no happy beginning
and very few happy things in the middle.
This is because not very many happy things happened
in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters.
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire were intelligent children,
and they were charming, and resourceful,
and had pleasant facial features,
but they were extremely unlucky,
and most everything that happened to them
was rife with misfortune, misery, and despair.
I’m sorry to tell you this, but that is how the story goes.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The Contest

JERRY
What's the matter?

GEORGE
My mother caught me.

JERRY
"Caught" you? Doing what?

GEORGE
You know. I was alone..

ELAINE
You mean..?!

GEORGE
Uh-huh.
KRAMER
(Laughing) She caught you?

JERRY:
Where?

GEORGE:
I stopped by the house to drop the car off,
and I went inside for a few minutes..
Nobody was there - they're supposed to be working.
My mother had a Glamour magazine,
I started leafing through it..

JERRY
"Glamour"?

GEORGE
So, one thing lead to another..

JERRY
So, what did she do?

GEORGE
First she screams,
"George, what are you doing?! My God!"
And it looked like she was gonna faint -
she started clutching the wall, trying to hang onto it.
I didn't know whether to try and keep her from falling,
or zip up.

JERRY
What did you do?

GEORGE
I zipped up!

ELAINE
So, she fell?

GEORGE
Yeah. Well, I couldn't run over there the way I was!
So, she fell, and then she started screaming,
"My back! My back!"
So, I picked her up and took her to the hospital.

ELAINE
How is she?

GEORGE
She's in traction.

ELAINE
Ok, I'm sorry.

GEORGE
It's not funny, Elaine.

ELAINE
(Stifling her laughter) I know. I'm sorry. I'm serious.

GEORGE
Her back went out.
She's gotta be there for a couple of days.
All she said on the way over in the car was,
"Why, George, why?!"..
I said, "Because it's there!"
Well, I'll tell you this, though -
I am never doing.. that , again.

ELAINE
What, you mean, in your mother's house, or all together?

GEORGE
All together.

ELAINE
Oh, gimme a break..

JERRY
Ohhh yeah.. right.

KRAMER
Oh, like you're gonna stop?

JERRY AND ELAINE
C'mon..

GEORGE
You don't think I can?

JERRY
No chance.

GEORGE
(Daring) You think you could?

JERRY
Well, I know I could hold out longer than you.

GEORGE
Care to make it interesting?

JERRY
Sure, how much?

GEORGE
A hundred dollars.

JERRY
You're on.

KRAMER
Wait a second, wait a second. Count me in on this.

JERRY
You?
You'll be out before we get the check.

ELAINE
I want to be in on this, too.

GEORGE AND JERRY
Ohh, no. No, no, no..

ELAINE
Why?

JERRY
It's apples and oranges..

ELAINE
What? Why?

JERRY
Because you're a woman!

ELAINE
So what?

JERRY
It's easier for a woman not to do it than a man.

ELAINE
(Sarcastic) Oh.

JERRY
We have to do it. It's part of our lifestyle.
It's like, uh.. shaving.

ELAINE
Oh, that is such bologna. I shave my legs.

KRAMER
(Making a point) Not everyday.

Women

You wanna know what men are really thinking?
'Cause I could tell you.
Would you like to know?
Alright, I'll tell you.
Nothing. We're not thinking anything.
We're just walking around, looking around.
This is the only natural inclination of men.
To just kinda check stuff out.
We work because they force us to,
but other than that,
this is really the only thing we wanna do.
We like women, we want women.
But that's pretty much as far as we've thought.

That's why we're honking car horns,
yelling from construction sites...
these are the best ideas we've had so far.

Honking the car horn amazes me!
This is gotta be just the last living brain cell
in this guys skull that comes up with this idea.
She's on the street, he's in the car.
Beep-beep.
"I think I made my point."
What is she supposed to do?
Kick off the heel, start running after the car?
Grab on to the bumper?
The car comes to a stop...
"It's a good thing you honked."
"I had no idea how you felt."

Why do men behave in these ways?
Why are we rude, obnoxious, getting drunk,
falling down, peeling rubber, making kissing...
Why are we like this?
I know what you ladies are thinking...
"No, no, not my guy.
I'm working with him, he's coming along."
No, he's not.
He's not coming anywhere.
We, men, know: no matter how poorly we behave,
it seems we will somehow end up
with women anyway.

Look around this room.
Look at all the men you see with lovely women.
Do you think these are special men?
Gifted men? One of a kind men?
They're the same jerks as any of the ones
that I'm talking about.
They're doing just fine.
Men, as an organization,
are getting more women than any other group
working anywhere in the world today.
Wherever women are,
we have men looking into the situation right now.

We explored the Earth looking for women.
We even went to the Moon
just to see if there were any women there.
That's why we brought that little car.
Why would you bring a car,
unless there's some chance of going on a date?
What the hell were they doing with a car
on the goddamn Moon?
You're on the Moon already!
Isn't that far enough?
There is no more male idea
in the history of the universe than:
"why don't we fly up to the Moon
and drive around?"

That is the essence of male thinking right there.
All men kinda think of themselves
like low-level super-heroes in their own world.
I'm not even supposed to be telling you this.
But when men are growing up and are reading
about Batman, Spiderman, Superman...
these aren't fantasies.
These are options.

Jerry Seinfeld, I'm telling you for the last time.

Puck's final speech

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

Act 5, Scene 1. William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

To a Skylark (extracto)

We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

Percy Shelley