Graff Quotes & Sayings

I was the typical little sister who wanted to be just like her older brother. When I was growing up, my brother wrote phenomenal stories, so I wanted to write them, too. — Lisa Graff

Whatever nature gives us, we explore & we build on. — Laurence Graff

You get all the pleasures of the puppeteer. — Orson Scott Card

The Longstockings are eight children's and young adult writers. We all came out of the New School MFA program, and we meet regularly to critique each other's work. — Lisa Graff

Nonsense," said Graff. "Ender always has plans within plans. — Orson Scott Card

When there's an opportunity, some people pass it by. I've been lucky enough to recognise opportunities and every day, in my business, there's an opportunity somewhere - to buy, expand, design. — Laurence Graff

the weeks following the war's end, Truman announced a redesign of the presidential flag - the first since the Wilson years. Chief among the changes was the shifting of the eagle's head away from the arrows of war instead toward the olive branch of peace, reflecting the nation's desire for a universal peace. — Garrett M. Graff

Do not be disingenuous with me, Colonel Graff. Americans are quite apt at playing stupid when they choose to, but I am not to be deceived. — Orson Scott Card

We're like the wicked witch. We promise gingerbread, then eat the little brats alive. — Orson Scott Card

Sir, your baseball career may be over. You need to find a new profession. Gatewood answered, I've heard that before. (He had always come back. He would prove them wrong again.) (From Love and Death at the Encierro) — Hal Graff

The Bible was penned by men. The Epistles of Paul were penned by that evangelist salesman and his students, desperate to bring mystery and excitement into a quiet philosophy, turning it into a religion promising the secret of an afterlife, answers to questions that previously no one could answer. Always remember, words written by men have an agenda. Sometimes their agenda is for the better, but it's usually for the self, and that almost always leads down a dangerous path."

~Character Mark from The Awakening, book one of The Judas Curse series. — Angella Graff

You can't get where you're going without being where you've been. — Lisa Graff

My love of baking might have originated with my grandmother. She had a lemon tree growing in her backyard, and one of my favorite memories is of picking lemons together and then baking lemon bars. — Lisa Graff

There was a hint of something lingering in her mind. A memory, perhaps, although Jo could only catch the flavor of a few remaining tendrils. — Lisa Graff

One of the things I like to do during an 'overhaul' revision is bust out my highlighters and colored pens. Tools like these make me feel like a real writer. — Lisa Graff

He has a chance to make somebody move over on Mount Rushmore. He's working for his place on the coins and the postage stamps. — Henry Graff

Graff was floating on his back in the pool when George Wall and I went outside. His brown belly swelled above its surface like the humpback of a Galapagos tortoise. Mrs. Graff, fully clothed, was sitting by herself in a sunny corner. Her black dress and black hair seemed to annul the sunlight. Her face and body had the distinction that takes the place of beauty in people who have suffered long and hard. — Ross Macdonald

Life is the grandest adventure one can go on, isn't it?' said the giant kindly (he seemed to be a very friendly giant). 'What else could a person ask for than just to be alive?'

Will knew exactly what else a person could ask for. 'Monsters,' he said. 'And cake. — Lisa Graff

I'd like to have a perfect sense of direction. I could get lost with a GPS strapped to my arm. — Lisa Graff

Take me home, he said silently to Graff. In my dream you said you loved me. Take me home — Orson Scott Card

Kids are always told that they can be anything that they want. But what if you want to be a ballerina, and you're terrible at ballet? Or what if you're gifted at ballet, but you don't like doing it? — Lisa Graff

Don't get me started on the term literary fiction. I think the idea is that there are some books who know how to order from a wine list and some who don't. I like wine, but I prefer the company of beer drinkers any day. — Keir Graff

You made them hate me." Said Ender
"So? What will you do about it? Crawl in a corner? Start kissing their little backsides so they'll love you again? There's only one thing that will make them stop hating you. And that's being so good at what you do that they can't ignore you. I told them you were the best. Now you damn well better be." -Graff — Orson Scott Card

Graff had isolated Ender to make him struggle. To make him prove, not that he was competent, but that he was far better than everyone else. That was the only way he could win respect and friendship. It made him a better soldier then he would ever have been otherwise. It also made him lonely, afraid, angry, untrusting. And maybe those traits, too, made him a better soldier. — Orson Scott Card

Ender Wiggin isn't a killer. He just wins - thoroughly. — Orson Scott Card

I think, though, that people will read into a reporter's story a bias that they want to see in a reporter. — Garrett Graff

You're not crazy. You're not evil. But you can't stop. — Orson Scott Card

I know where The List is-my father has taken me to see it many times. Maybe for just this reason. And I know what it is: The List of Alien Outlaws on Terra Firma. And I know who I am: Daniel, son of Graff, son of Terfdon- The Alien Hunter. No last name, just Daniel X. — James Patterson

When you do choose to speak, she told me, speak truths. — Lisa Graff

I had the foolish idea that we should test for desirable and useful traits so that we could assemble ideally balanced teams to the colonies. [...] It's like those foolish attempts to control immigration to America based on the traits that were deemed desirable, when in fact the only trait that defines Americans historically is "descended from somebody willing to give up everything to live there. — Orson Scott Card

The Graff Hallucination is a sculptural masterpiece; a celebration of the miracle of coloured diamonds. For many years I have thought about creating a truly remarkable watch that illustrates our all-consuming passion for diamonds. The Hallucination has made my diamond dream a reality. — Laurence Graff

For me, emotion comes first. If I have to change a scene, invent a scene, change dialogue, or put Graff by the lake in order to feel that dynamic, and the end results feels like 'Ender's Game,' then hopefully it works. — Gavin Hood

You should do something because you love it, not just because you're good at it. — Lisa Graff

Sometimes memories hit like a wallop, all of a sudden, and hard. Other times, for no reason that anyone can explain, memories take much longer to sink in. They seem to meander a bit before choosing which mind to settle into. — Lisa Graff

Minutes are sometimes like eternities if they are let go. — Stephen Graff

I've been a children's book editor, a nanny, a camp counselor, a barista, a research lab assistant, and a movie theater ticket-taker. — Lisa Graff

Memory is a curious thing. Some details stick in our minds like peanut butter on crackers, and refuse to budge, as much as we might wish they would. Other memories - heavy ones sometimes, ones that seem unbudgeable - can be plucked right out when we least expect it. Lost memories leave remnants, of course, flavors that linger in the mind, but it's difficult to taste things when you don't know they're there — Lisa Graff

Being a writer can be a very lonely profession, but having a network of people who can sympathize with everything you're going through - from contract issues to the terror of changing your novel from past- to present-tense - is an invaluable asset. — Lisa Graff

Her favorite animal was sea lions. Mine was giraffes. Her favorite movie was Casablanca, which she said was old and black-and-white and very romantic. She tried to tell me what it was about, but it all sounded about as much fun as eating burned bread crusts. — Lisa Graff

Do you know why Satan is so angry all the time? Because whenever he works a particularly clever bit of mischief God uses it to serve his own Rigteous purposes."
"So God uses wicked people as his tools?"
"God gives us the freedom to to do great evil, if we choose, then He uses his own freedom to create goodness out of that evil, for that is what He chooses."
"So, in the long run, God always wins?"
"Yes, in the short run though it can be uncomfortable. — Orson Scott Card

Everyone deserves a sad day once in a while," Calista told me. "Sometimes things are too big for cheering up. Sometimes the best way to make things better is just to let yourself be sad for a little bit. — Lisa Graff

The influence of blogging is overall a very positive force in the media. — Garrett Graff

War is unlike life. It's a denial of everything you learn life is. And that's why when you get finished with it, you see that if offers no lessons that can't be bettered learned in civilian life. You are exposed to horrors you would sooner forget. — Robert Graff

And when thoughts wiggle their way in, sometimes it can be very difficult for them to wiggle out again. — Lisa Graff

We didn't install the [Code Red] patch on those DMZ systems because they were only used for development and testing. - Anonymous client, shortly after spending 48 continuous hours removing 2001's Code Red worm from internal corporate servers — Mark G. Graff

But the officer stood up and stepped across the room to Ender. He held out his hand. My name is Graff, Ender. Colonel Hyrum Graff. I'm director of primary training at Battle School in the Belt. I've come to invite you to enter the school. — Orson Scott Card

I have always had a ridiculous fear that I will walk into the bathroom one morning and find a python in my toilet. — Lisa Graff

He nodded, like that made sense. Then he said, "So why does it bother you when someone calls you a dummy?"...."I'm not going to say that other kids can't be mean sometimes. Sometimes people say things that are just awful." I looked down into my Kleenex. "But you know what to are, Albie. You know what you're worth. At least I hope you do." I folded the tissue over on itself once, then twice, then three times. "And you get to decide what words are hurtful to you. If you ask me, 'dummy' shouldn't hurt you one bit. — Lisa Graff

Graff had deliberately set him up to be separate from the other boys, made it impossible for him to be close to them. And he began now to suspect the reasons behind it. It wasn't to unify the rest of the group - in fact, it was divisive. Graff had isolated Ender to make him struggle. To make him prove, not that he was competent, but that he was far better than everyone else. — Orson Scott Card

At the Pentagon, for instance, in the NMCC's secure Emergency Actions room, military officials could find anyone in the Constitution's line of succession by checking the screen of a dedicated Zenith Z-150 Central Locator System computer. The CLS computers are protected by a special NSA protocol known as TEMPEST that shields them from electromagnetic snooping. II — Garrett M. Graff

I desperately want to visit the Galapagos and meet some giant tortoises. — Lisa Graff

Sister Carlotta, I'm on a leave of absence right now. That means I've been sacked, in case you don't understand how the I.F. handles these things."
"Sacked! A miscarriage of justice. You ought to be shot. — Orson Scott Card

Graff smiled a little Mona Lisa smile, if Mona Lisa had been a pudgy colonel. — Orson Scott Card

That's what Ender has to understand. There really is evil in the world, and wickedness, and every brand of stupidity. There's meanness and heartlessness and ... I don't even know which of them is me. - Hyrum Graff — Orson Scott Card

Colonel Graff: We won! That's all that matters.
Ender Wiggin: No. The way we win matters. — Orson Scott Card

Going to say it anyway," said Graff. "Poor fool of a boy. Pacifism only works with an enemy that can't bear to do murder against the innocent. How many times are you lucky enough to get an enemy like that? — Orson Scott Card

I am just a ballplayer on vacation. Why are these things happening to me ? — Hal Graff

But if you caught my informant,' said Achilles, 'why in the world would Chamrajnagar - or Graff, if it was him - launch the shuttle anyway? Was catching me doing something naughty so important they'd risk a shuttle and it's crew just to catch me? I find that quite ... flattering. Sort of like winning the Nobel Prize for scariest villain. — Orson Scott Card

And you couldn't be anywhere at all without having been almost there for a while. — Lisa Graff

Keep this in mind - it only works because what's between you, that's real, that's what matters. Billions of those connections between human beings. That's what you're fighting to keep alive. — Orson Scott Card

For now she is small. For now she still thinks in terms of that little town, her concepts stuck, rigid. Eight days, she thinks. Eight days and she will leave. Not a day sooner. Not a day later. She wouldn't want to risk ruining the possibility of all that her future may hold. All of it, for her, hanging on two rings on top of each other that when connected, she could trace forever. — J. Jason Graff

It's the way we deal with what Fate hands us that defines who we are. — Lisa Graff

Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Graff-'
'Not Graff,' the big man snapped, looking annoyed. 'The name is Garff-Garff!'
'Say, that's good,' the hunter said. 'Garff-Garff- that's even better than bow-wow. Do you know any other animal imitations? — Joe Millard

Truman's farewell address on January 15, 1953, delivered five days before he left the renovated White House, is to this day one of the best speeches of the Cold War, containing insightful analysis and a prediction of how, decades later, it would end. "I suppose that history will remember my term in office as the years when the 'Cold War' began to overshadow our lives," he told the American people, speaking late at night from the Oval Office. Winning the Cold War wouldn't be easy - or fast - but the United States, he firmly believed, would win simply by holding the line. — Garrett M. Graff

Kids know when you're pulling a fast one, storywise, and I think that even when they're being entertained, children want to hear the truth, just like adults do. — Lisa Graff

My assignment from Graff, thought Theresa, is to become an assassin in order to protect my son. And the truly horrifying thing is that I'm not questioning whether to do it, but how. And when. — Orson Scott Card

When I was in fourth grade, I had a lot of upheaval in my life. Both of my parents remarried, and we all got new houses. That was also the year my older brother got very sick. — Lisa Graff

You can go to Graff and buy a diamond that's flawless. You aren't going to be able to buy the same diamond at Fortunoff, but it's still a diamond you can enjoy. If fashion can allow you to have the Chanel mystique through a lipstick, then why shouldn't art allow you to have that through a sweatshirt that says 'Cremaster' on it? — Marc Jacobs

Some people aren't good at anything. Some people just really like donuts. — Lisa Graff

Find something you'd want to keep doing forever," she said, "even if you stink at it. And then if you're lucky, with lots of practice, then one day you won't stink so much. — Lisa Graff

...[T]he inherent polysemous character of language and the necessity of interpreting language according to one's personal understandings eliminate the possibility of infusing one's sentiments directly into the mind of another. At the same time, these characteristics of language and its interpretations suggest that no text ought ever to be thought complete. We can never manage to complete our ideas, to work out their full implications, to recognize their inadequacies, or to say what 'we really meant.' Further, since anything we say can be challenged, as Graff (1992b) points out, we can never manage to meet all the possible challenges. Such an idea may seem to be an unbearable problem. But we have always lived with these conditions. We have simply ignored them. — George Hillocks