Quotes About Engagement

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

Don't bring a spoon to a toothbrush fight

Lenson Ornill took in Grayland II's words, their intent and meaning, what they boded for the church as he understood it, his faith as he had developed it, and the genesis of his engagement with both, trapped in that small cabin, struggling to breathe, all those many long years ago. And then, quite without meaning to, he uttered the words to encapsulate what he was feeling about each, in this one epochal moment. "Well, fuck," he said.

The trick is not to find the story of the century. You won't miss that story when it happens. No one will miss it. The trick is to find the story of the day and for that day make whoever reads it or hears it care about it so intensely that it doesn't leave them. Then it becomes a story of their life. Maybe even the story of their life.

I'm saying you should come over." "Maybe I'm avoiding you." "You're doing a fucking poor job of it, then, standing in my office.

All right, first question. Where the fuck am I?" The person Kiva Lagos addressed sat at a small desk in a small room and appeared amused. "I thought your first question might be who the fuck am I." "All right, fine. Who the fuck are you?" "My name is Captain Robinette." "Hello, Captain Robinette. Charmed. Where the fuck am I?

so if you live in the United States, and you are reading this prior to November 2020, please do me a favor and (a) Register to vote, or check to make sure your registration is still valid, (b) Remember to vote on election day (or before if you take an early ballot) and (c) Try not to vote for anyone who is a whirling amoral vortex of chaos.

My job is to be your loyal opposition.

and Vice President Tony Su. Su's presence was unusual. The president had reverted to the formerly common practice of giving the Vice President absolutely nothing of any importance to do. Su spent most of his time vising elementary schools and working on his putting.

if you live in the United States, and you are reading this prior to November 2020, please do me a favor and (a) Register to vote, or check to make sure your registration is still valid, (b) Remember to vote on election day (or before if you take an early ballot) and (c) Try not to vote for anyone who is a whirling amoral vortex of chaos... John Scalzi October 31, 2019

Any parent who would force a two-year-old to stare at a computer when the kid would rather do something else deserves the rough side of a moving chainsaw blade.

Modifying the shuttle flight software to take the human presence out of the equation would not only require a substantial amount of time, but would also technically be classified as treason. Wilson preferred not to engage in treason if he could avoid it.

Passion in this context refers to a sustained and deep commitment to achieving our full potential and greater capacity for self-expression in a domain that engages us on a personal level.

our spiritual aim is not to retreat once or twice a day for meditation, but to learn how to live every moment of our lives in touch with our spiritual core.

When you serve a beer-cock an ear.

If a story is not about the hearer, he will not listen. And here I make a rule—a great and interesting story is about everyone or it will not last.

If a story is not about the hearer he [or she] will not listen . . . A great lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting--only the deeply personal and familiar.

There's a responsibility in being a person. It's more than just taking up space where air would be.

There's an awful lot of inactive kindness which is nothing but laziness, not wanting any trouble, confusion, or effort.

I've done my damndest to rip a reader's nerves to rags, I don't want him satisfied.

of course, people are interested only in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And I here make a rule - a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting - only the deeply personal and familiar.

Hazel used his trick. They got no starfish there? They got no ocean there said Doc. Oh! said Hazel and he cast frantically about for a peg to hang a new question on. He hated to have a conversation die out like this. He wasn't quick enough. While he was looking for a question Doc asked one. Hazel hated that, it meant casting about in his mind for an answer and casting about in Hazel's mind was like wandering alone in a deserted museum. Hazel's mind was choked with uncataloged exhibits. ...

And, of course, people are only interested in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And I here make a rule- a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting- only the deeply personal and familiar.

Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person – a real person you know, or an imagined person – and write to that one.