“The door dilated.”
This offhand mention has become the simplest (three words!) and often-quoted exposition of the wonders of a different world, where what would be novel today has become simply the way things work.
Source: Beyond This Horizon (1948; originally serialized in 1942), Chapter 1, “All of them should have been very happy—”, p. 5 and several other times
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Robert A. Heinlein557
American science fiction author 1907–1988Related quotes
“Toughest job I ever had: selling doors, door to door.”
Bill Bailey (1965) English comedian, musician, actor, TV and radio presenter and author
Is It Bill Bailey? (TV, 1998)
“The door was the way to… to… The Door was The Way.”
Douglas Adams book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
Source: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
Context: The door was the way to... to... The Door was The Way. Good. Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didn't have a good answer to.
“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.”
Stephen King (1947) American author
Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“It ain't always rocket science, sometimes a door is just a door.”
James Rollins book The Judas Strain
Source: The Judas Strain
“Unscrew the locks from the doors!
Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!”
Walt Whitman book Fulles d'herba
Source: Leaves of Grass
“A comedian is not a man who opens a funny door. He opens a door funny.”
Ed Wynn (1886–1966) American actor
Hedda Hooper, November 1 1960, “Comic Ed Wynn, Winning Still, Discusses Craft”, Buffalo (NY) Courier-Express, pg. 6, col. 1. Wynn was paraphrasing Fred Allen. “A comic says funny things; a comedian says things funny”, Barry Popik, November 10, 2015, January 7, 2017 http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/a_comic_says_funny_things/,
“I like to consider my mind an open door. It's just not a revolving door.”
J. Michael Straczynski (1954) American writer and television producer
[ATTN JMS: Are you a millionaire ?, J. Michael Straczynski, 2002-07-20, rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated, 20020720000422.11234.00000533@mb-fx.aol.com, http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated/msg/5d0fa989a5c65112]