Home > Author > Michael D. O'Brien
1 " Yet he saw that in all places there was originality, resulting from the human efforts at decoration and ingenious methods of survival. "
― Michael D. O'Brien , The Father's Tale
2 " Social pressure is the fascism of the democracies. Fascism is the democracy of the ruthless. Social engineering is the opiate of romantic intellectuals. "
― Michael D. O'Brien , The Island of the World
3 " The mountains are intimations of transcendence, which he is now free to pursue, and the walking writes messages in every cell of his body, telling him that he is not locked inside a cement box, nor in a water drum, but is moving forward. "
4 " Children need to see that they are part of a history and that the story of their family is a living thing. God tells it, a new story in each generation, and each must hold hands across the sea of time, joining together the ones who went before and the ones who come after. It is given from above. Little do we understand this in the beginning, but time teaches us many things we did not expect to learn. That is life. It is the same everywhere. "
― Michael D. O'Brien , Theophilos
5 " Tell me, Anna, if man is capable of projecting his belief onto the cosmos, isn't it possible by the same token, that he can project his unbelief onto the cosmos? "
― Michael D. O'Brien , Father Elijah: An Apocalypse (Children of the Last Days, #4)
6 " When his wife died, for a while it was the end of the world, because part of him had died with her. As the long, slow recovery proceeded, he had gratefully and guiltily accepted the return of equilibrium. But he had not paid attention to a parallel phenomenon: his reversion to what he had been before his marriage. Though changed by whatever he had learned during their years together, and by whatever healing had taken place, he had fallen back into the old patterns of withdrawal. Nursing the dreadful wound of her absence, he had failed to notice the subtler void opening up within himself. "
― Michael D. O'Brien
7 " The poet who sees himself as a hero or a prophet, or a priest of the socio-political forces to which he is loyal, which he believes are the historical necessities of his times, too easily becomes a puppet. He has no external measure with which to assess reality. Whether he submits to the forces or rejects them, he becomes a parody of himself, and then without knowing it submits his gifts to the demons of his era. He loses his place in the continuity of time. He becomes dependent on social affirmation and the drug of exalted feelings common to all revolutionaries. He destroys, even as he thinks he creates. "
8 " No true love is possible, Lewis demonstrates, until we abandon our claims, our rights, our grievances. Until then we will be trapped in the obscurity of our heart's mixed motives, our will to possess, to control, to be our own gods. "
― Michael D. O'Brien , A Landscape With Dragons: The Battle for Your Child's Mind
9 " [T]he reason why Shakespeare and Pushkin were great writers was because from the time when they were boys they stood like policemen over their thoughts and didn't allow one small insincerity to creep in. "
10 " So far beyond rational thought is your attitude, that nothing I can say will change it. A lifetime of reasoning with you would not alter your amazing inability to comprehend reality. "
11 " Automobiles are unreliable and dangerous slaves. They frequently revolt and kill their masters. I hate them. "
12 " Men are accustomed to making objective assessments of devastating situations, as long as they are not immersed in them. Rare is he who maintains objectivity in the midst of personal affliction. "
― Michael D. O'Brien , The Fool of New York City: A Novel
13 " Mislila sam da ću umaknuti tamnomu oblaku uspomena - zato sam se prijavila na ovo putovanje. Sada vidim da svijet nosimo sa sobom kamo god da krenemo. Znam da se moramo tome oduprijeti. Je li to moguće? Nadam se jest - ne, nadam se da jest! Svaki je čovjek svijet za sebe, čitav svemir, zapravo. "
― Michael D. O'Brien , Voyage to Alpha Centauri: A Novel
14 " - Veća stopa rasta. Peteljke i listovi okreću se malo-pomalo prema zvučnicima, kao da žude za izvorom.- Sigurni ste da to nije samo vaš umišljaj? Biljke ne mogu uživati u klasičnoj glazbi.- Biljke svakako nemaju osobnost, no uvjeravam vas da reagiraju pozitivno. Sve je to uvjetovano biologijom, naravno.- Svakako.Zastao je, neko vrijeme razmišljao, a zatim rekao: - I mi smo uvjetovani biologijom. "
15 " Kakva bi utjeha bila imati vlastite organske prijatelje i brinuti se za njih u ovomu usamljenom svemiru. Poput ljudi, oni su kombinacija trnja i zvijezda. "
16 " ...life without coffee is not really life. "
17 " Solitude is the natural dwelling place of truth…It is there you will wrestle. It is there you will be tested by fire and by darkness. "
18 " Life without coffee is not really life. "
19 " [About the main character approaching death in old age, observed by her husband . . .] He saw that she had already laid down a large portion of her life long ago. Piece by piece she had given it away as she wrestled with existence, as her self was absorbed as nourishment into his life and the life of the children and the community. And laid down most piercingly, as she abandoned, one by one, the shapes of the dreams she had planned. Only to take them up again in other forms. "
― Michael D. O'Brien , Strangers and Sojourners (Children of the Last Days #1)
20 " Man projects his wounds upon the world, my friend. He judges everything, and in the judging he reveals himself. "
