This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Tom Robbins, fully Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins
I'll never write another novel on an electric typewriter. I'd rather use a sharp stick and a little pile of dogshit.
All is but toys: renown, and grace, is dead; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of
A heavier task could not have been imposed than I to speak my griefs unspeakable. Comedy of Errors, Act i, Scene 1
A young woman in love always looks like patience on a monument smiling at grief.
A sceptre snatched with an unruly hand must be as boisterously maintained as gained, And he that stands upon a slippery place Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up.
All is whole; not one word more of the consumed time. Let's take the instant by the forward top; for we are old, and on our quick'st decrees th' inaudible and noiseless foot of time steals ere we can effect them. All’s Well That Ends Well, Act v, Scene 3
And simple truth miscalled simplicity, and captive good attending captain ill.
And you all know security is mortals' chiefest enemy.
Along with them they brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-faced villain, a mere anatomy, a mountebank, a threadbare juggler and a fortune-teller, a needy, hollow-eyed, sharp looking wretch, a living dead man. Comedy of Errors, Act v, Scene 1
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And it is very much lamented, Brutus, that you have no such mirrors as will turn your hidden worthiness into your eye.
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All the other gifts appertinent to man, as the malice of this age shapes them, are not worth a gooseberry.
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But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears. Macbeth, Act iii, Scene 4
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But, poor old man, thou prun'st a rotten tree that cannot so much as a blossom yield In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry. As You Like It, Act ii, Scene 3
Certainly my conscience will serve me to run from this Jew my master. The fiend is at mine elbow and tempts me, saying to me, 'Gobbo, Launcelot Gobbo, good Launcelot,' or 'good Gobbo,' or 'good Launcelot Gobbo -- use your legs, take the start, run away.' My conscience says, 'No. Take heed, honest Launcelot; take heed, honest Gobbo,' or as aforesaid, 'honest Launcelot Gobbo -- do not run; scorn running with thy heels.' Well, the most courageous fiend bids me pack. 'Fia!' says the fiend; 'away!' says the fiend. 'For the heavens, rouse up a brave mind,' says the fiend, 'and run.' Well, my conscience hanging about the neck of my heart says very wisely to me, 'My honest friend Launcelot, being an honest man's son' -- or rather 'an honest woman's son,' for indeed my father did something smack, something grow to; he had a kind of taste -- Well, my conscience says, 'Launcelot, budge not.' 'Budge,' says the fiend. 'Budge not,' says my conscience. 'Conscience,' say I, 'you counsel well.' 'Fiend,' say I, 'you counsel well.' To be ruled by my conscience, I should stay with the Jew my master who, God bless the mark, is a kind of devil; and to run away from the Jew, I should be ruled by the fiend who, saving your reverence, is the devil himself. Certainly the Jew is the very devil incarnation; And in my conscience, my conscience is but a kind of hard conscience to offer to counsel me to stay with the Jew. The fiend gives the more friendly counsel. I will run, fiend; my heels are at your commandment; I will run. Merchant of Venice, Act ii, Scene 2
Q: What is your single most important cooking tool? A: A spoon. The most indispensable kitchen tool is also the most basic, and often the most misused. I'm particular about the spoons used at both Blue Hills — we use one kind, and I think it's the right-size spoon for plating and the right-size spoon for tasting. It's not too big; it's not too small. I want everyone to have the same consistency, because the spoon — whether you're flipping a piece of fish, or you're stirring rice, or you're tasting a sauce — becomes an extension of your hand.
Conversation | Enough | Hate | Life | Life | Need | Truth | Will | Afraid |
Dry up in her the organs of increase, and from her derogate body never spring. A babe to honor her. King Lear, Act i, Scene 4
Come, wilt thou see me ride? And when I am a'horseback, I will swear I love thee infinitely. Henry IV, Act ii, Scene 3
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Crabbed age and youth cannot live together; Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care; Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare. Youth is full of sport, age's breadth is short; Youth is nimble, age is lame; Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Youth is wild, and age is tame. Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee. The Passionate Pilgrim