
“Nobody taught me how to say no when a beautiful naked woman begs me to take my clothes off.”
Source: The Laundry Files, The Jennifer Morgue (2006), Chapter 7, “Nightmare Beach” (p. 144)
Source: Wild Ducks Flying Backward (2005), Liner notes for the Leonard Cohen tribute album Tower of Song (1995).
Context: Nobody can say the word “naked” as nakedly as Cohen. He makes us see the markings where the pantyhose have been.
“Nobody taught me how to say no when a beautiful naked woman begs me to take my clothes off.”
Source: The Laundry Files, The Jennifer Morgue (2006), Chapter 7, “Nightmare Beach” (p. 144)
“You gotta be careful: don't say a word to nobody about nothing anytime ever.”
“Now you're gone, and nobody says a word
about your troubled and exalted life.”
In Memory of M. B.
Context: Now you're gone, and nobody says a word
about your troubled and exalted life.
Only my voice, like a flute, will mourn
at your dumb funeral feast.
“Nobody ever says, "Can I have your beets?”
Se l'arte dell'eloquenza è l'arte di persuadere, non vi è altra eloquenza che quella di dire sempre il vero, il solo vero, il nudo vero. Le parole, onde è necessità di nostra inferma natura di rivestire il pensiero, saranno tanto più potenti, quanto più atte al fine, cioè più nudo lasceranno il vero, che è nel pensiero.
Platone in Italia
“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.”
Variant: I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.
Source: The Character of Physical Law (1965), chapter 6, “Probability and Uncertainty — the Quantum Mechanical View of Nature,” p. 129
“Everybody's word is worth Nobody's taking.”
"That what Everybody Says must be True".
Sketches from Life (1846)