The delicate sensitivity of a frightened rattlesnake.
Ross Macdonald
» Ross Macdonald - all quotes »
No one in the history of the written word, not even William MacGonagall, or Spike Milligan or D. H. Lawrence, is so wide open to damaging quotation. Try this, more or less at random: 'A murderer in the moment of his murder could feel a sense of beauty and perfection as complete as the transport of a saint.' Or this: Film is a phenomenon whose resemblance to death has been ignored for too long. His italics.
On every page Mailer will come up with a formulation both grandiose and crass. This is expected of him. It is also expected of the reviewer to introduce a lingering 'yet' or 'however' at some point, and say that 'somehow' Mailer's 'fearless honesty' redeems his notorious excesses. He isn't frightened of sounding outrageous; he isn't frightened of making a fool of himself; and, above all, he isn't frightened of being boring. Well, fear has its uses. Perhaps he ought to be a little less frightened of being frightened.Martin Amis
"I'm not used to sensitivity any more. When I see people cry when I lose, save your tears. I don't know how to handle people crying any more. I lost my sensitivity like that. Please, you embarrass me when you cry because I don't know what to do when you cry. I don't know what to say."
Mike Tyson
"My father was frightened of his mother. I was frightened of my father and I am damned well going to see to it that my children are frightened of me."
George V of the United Kingdom
I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.
John Cage
Macdonald, Ross
MacDonogh, Patrick
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