Studious Soul Gifts

'What rhymes with D minus?'

"What I do is pick up the morning paper, go through it carefully, and then, depending on how I feel about things, I either say the Pledge of Allegiance, stand there and do nothing, or walk out of the classroom."

"Counsel for prose is overruled. Poetry, you may continue."

'Dr Hodges, here, is from England and he's been observing us for 14 years. Mr Ferrell, an American, has been here only 3 weeks. Monique Corveu, from Paris, has practically been living with us for about nine years...'

"My novel is not a doorstop!"

'The Questioner'

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

"I don't care if it is itty-bitty. Turn it off!"

"Hey! If you're here to marvel at the smallness of your existence within a glorious, vast and unknowable universe, there's a line!"

"Talking to your own reflection? Even your imagination is pathetic."

"Oh good, more time alone for quiet reflection."

That midnight hour when fleeting memories come home to roost.

'We studied the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper today. May I have an ice cream cone?'

"I figure I have about 20 years of school to go."

"Is this who I am?"

The older I get, the more introspective I get, or is that retrospective?'

'Funny, I thought a near-death experience would be different, somehow.'

"I feel like there's a chick in me trying to escape."

'Before you give us your surprise test, could we have a surprise study period?'

"Tia Carmen, I have a killer test tomorrow. Can you help?"

"Wonder if there's something wrong with you? Reality is for us all it's true..."

"It's such a nice day. Why don't you go outside and plagiarize something?"

"Well, if the test is multiple choice I choose not to take it."

Late-Onset Epiphany

"Date of birth?" "1989." "In 1989 I couldn't make ice... still can't." "Good lord, she could be my daughter! I'm so #!@* old." "That's the year my wife left me. Now I have a cold and I'm depressed!"

"Solitude is so much better if you have someone to share it with."

John Galsworthy

Planetary Science. What do we call the study of gas giants in space? Gastronomy.

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious day when you're ripe and not yet mealy?"

PastFuture.

"Why are we here?"

"To tell you the truth, I never thought downward mobility would be so, well, downward."

"Stop being stubborn and call the plumber!"

The big life questions that really get us thinking.

Sign by school library reads: 'Passing Lane'