Quotes by Connie Willis

It is the end of the world. Surely you could be allowed a few carnal thoughts.

...then inn a conversational tone said, I slapped my Aunt Martha. When my fiancé died. She told me God needed him in heaven, and I hauled off and slapped her, a sixty year old woman....People say unbelievable things to you. They deserve slapping.

It was about a girl who helps an ugly old woman who turns out to be a good fairy in disguise. Inner values versus shallow appearances.

To do something for someone or something you loved- England or Shakespeare or a dog or the Hodbins or history- wasnt a sacrifice at all. Even if it cost you your freedom, your life, your youth.

She had been wrong in thinking Christ had been called up against his will to fight in a war. He didnt look - in spite of the crown of thorns - like someone making a sacrifice. Or even like someone determined to do his bit. He looked instead like Marjorie had looked telling Polly shed joined the Nursing Service, like Mr Humphreys had looked filling buckets with water and sand to save Saint Pauls, like Miss Laburnum had looked that day she came to Townsend Brothers with the coats. He looked like Captain Faulknor must have looked, lashing the ships together. Like Ernest Shackleton, setting out in that tiny boat across icy seas. Like Colin helping Mr Dunworthy across the wreckage.He looked ... contented. As if he was where he wanted to be, doing what he wanted

Good. Drink your tea, he ordered. It will make you feel better.Nothing will make me feel better, she thought, but she drank it down. It was hot and sweet. Mr. Humphreys must have put his entire months sugar ration into it.She drained the cup, feeling ashamed of herself. She wasnt the only one whod had a bad night.

Cats, as you know, are quite impervious to threats.

It was the Communists, it was the Mexicans, it was the government. And the only people who acknowledged their guilt werent guilty at all.

Youd help if you could, wouldnt you, boy? I said. Its no wonder they call you mans best friend. Faithful and loyal and true, you share in our sorrows and rejoice with us in our triumphs, the truest friend we ever have known, a better friend than we deserve. You have thrown in your lot with us, through thick and thin, on battlefield and hearthrug, refusing to leave your master even when death and destruction lie all around. Ah, noble dog, you are the furry mirror in which we see our better selves reflected, man as he could be, unstained by war or ambition, unspoilt by-

Wrong, and wrong agains, he said. The likeness is already there. The metaphor only sees it. And it is not a mere figure of speech. It is the very essence of our minds as we seek to make sense of our surroundings, our experiences, ourselves, seeing similarities, parallels, connections. We cannot help it. Even as the mind fails, it goes on trying to make sense of what is happening to it.

Management cares about only one thing. Paperwork. They will forgive almost anything else - cost overruns, gross incompetence, criminal indictments - as long as the paperworks filled out properly. And in on time.

Management is proving beyond a shadow of a doubt they dont have enough to do, she murmured back. So theyve invented a new acronym.

Thats what the movies do. They dont entertain us, they dont send the message: We care. They give us lines to say, they assign us parts: John Wayne, Theda Bara, Shirley Temple, take your pick.

Maybe the conference was an inversion layer of another kind, bringing me face-to-face with old friends and old places. With cancer and the Gap and the Old Man, railing about newfangled players and spicy food. Bringing me face-to-face early with death and old age and change.

One of the nastier trends in library management in recent years is the notion that libraries should be responsive to their patrons.

“Dont they know science doesnt work like that? You cant just order scientific breakthroughs. They happen when you are looking at something youve been working on for years and suddenly see a connection you never noticed before, or when youre looking for something else altogether. Sometimes they even happen by accident. Dont they know you cant get a scientific breakthrough just because you want one?”

“Thats what literature is. Its the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them!”