Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
A Quatrain by Rumi, Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
Tag: Quick Quotes (Page 5 of 10)
“He often put frogs under his hat, letting them leap out as he saluted friends on the street, dropped snakes in water glasses at the dinner table, and hid odd creatures in the icebox.”
Lion in the White House, Aida D. Donald
“Ryan was watching something he had never seen before, men from two different places and two very different cultures trying to find common ground. Both sides were reaching out, seeking similarities of character and experience, building a foundation for understanding. This was more than interesting. It was touching. Ryan wondered how difficult it was for the Soviets. Probably harder than anything he had ever done – their bridges were burned. They had cast themselves away from everything they had known, trusting that what they found would be better. Ryan hoped they would succeed and make their transition from Communism to freedom. In the past two days he had come to realize what courage it took for men to defect. Facing a gun in a missile room was a small matter compared with walking away from one’s whole life. It was strange how easily Americans put on their freedoms. How difficult would it be for these men who had risked their lives to adapt to something that men like Ryan so rarely appreciated? It was people like these who had built the American Dream, and people like these who were needed to maintain it. It was odd that such men should come from the Soviet Union. Or perhaps not so odd, Ryan thought, listening to the conversation going back and forth in front of him.”
Jack Ryan, The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
“At Quantico he was taught to read maps, evaluate terrain, call in air and artillery strikes, maneuver his squads and fire teams with skill – and here he was, stuck in a … steel pipe three hundred feet under water, shooting it out with pistols in a room with two hundred hydrogen bombs!”
Jack Ryan, The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
“What about political education?” Kamarov asked.
Lieutenant Kamarov and Jack Ryan, The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
Ryan laughed. “Lieutenant, somewhere along the line somebody will take you aside to explain how our country works. That will take about two hours. After that you can immediately tell us what we do wrong – everybody else in the world does, why shouldn’t you? But I can’t do that now. Believe this, you will love it, probably more than I do. I have never lived in a country that was not free, and maybe I don’t appreciate my home as much as I should. For the moment, I suppose you have work to do.”
“Commander Ryan,” Ramius said, drawing himself to attention, “my officers and I request political asylum in the United States – and we bring you this small present.” Ramius gestured toward the steel bulkheads [of Red October].
Captain Ramius and Jack Ryan, The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
Ryan had already framed his reply. “Captain, on behalf of the president of the United States, it is my honor to grant your request. Welcome to freedom, gentlemen.”
“We have our differences, gentlemen, but the sea doesn’t care about that. The sea – well, she tries to kill us all regardless what flag we fly.”
Dr. Tait, The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
“He decided that the Russians were on some sort of fishing expedition. His job was to show them that the fish in these waters were dangerous.”
Commodore Zachary Eaton of the USS New Jersey, The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
Ramius chuckled. “Remember the incident on Lenin?” He referred to the nuclear-powered icebreaker that had spent two years tied to the dock, unusable because of a nuclear mishap. “A ship’s cook had some badly crusted pans, and a madman of an engineer suggested that he use live steam to get them cleaned. So the idiot walked down to the steam generator and opened an inspection valve, with his pots under it!”
Melekhin rolled his eyes. “I remember it! I was a staff engineering officer then. The captain had asked for a Kazakh cook – “
“He liked horsemen with his kasha,” Ramius said.
” – and the fool didn’t know the first thing about a ship. Killed himself and three other men, contaminated the whole… compartment for twenty months. The captain only got out of the gulag last year.”
“I bet the cook got his pans cleaned, though,” Ramius observed.
“Indeed Marko Aleksandrovich – they may even be safe to use in another fifty years.” Melekhin laughed raucously.
Captain Ramius and Engineer Melekhin, The Hunt for red october, Tom Clancy
This led the doctor on board to wonder at this phlegmatic conversation.
“After the clock had struck thirteen – ever since Sholmes gave it a wash and brush up it had worked overtime – the conversation turned on New Year’s resolutions.”
Dr Jotson, “Pinkeye’s New Year Resolution”, The Complete Casebook of Herlock SHolmes, circa 1921
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