Years ago, fairy tales all began with Once upon a time… now we know they all begin with, If I am elected. ~ Carolyn Warner
We don’t need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do’s and don’ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever. ~ Philip Pullman
There was no “before” the beginning of our universe, because once upon a time there was no time. ~ John D. Barrow
One hundred years ago, if someone said, ‘damn,’ people would take notice. Now, you can say almost anything. Secrets are the same way. Once upon a time when a secret was revealed, people paid an enormous amount of attention to it. ~ Paul Levinson
Once upon a time, we saw ourselves as gatekeepers … but you can’t do that now. You want to get people in the doors … you have to show your value. You can’t just sit back and say, ‘We have all the knowledge in the world, come here if you want.’ We have to do more than that. ~ Don Buckley
Once upon a time, there were only three or four dominant women. Now, there are 10 to 15 who can vie for a Grand Slam. ~ Stephane Simean
Once upon a time, there was a clear set of choices that people made. Now there are so many choices of how to think, how to define ourselves. ~ Tamar Jacoby
Once upon a time, business solved its problems by raising prices. Now, they solve their problems by cutting costs and getting better productivity. It reflects that productivity but doesn’t force pricing, doesn’t constrict profit margins. It’s what an economy’s supposed to do. ~ Neal Soss
Once upon a time we were just plain people. But that was before we began having relationships with mechanical systems. Get involved with a machine and sooner or later you are reduced to a factor. ~ Ellen Goodman
Once upon a time we did not focus on a president’s private life. ~ Tom Ford
Once upon a time there was what there was, and if nothing had happened there would be nothing to tell. ~ Charles de Lint
Once upon a time there was a politician who made an especially conspicuous ass of himself and didn’t say the newspapers misquoted him. ~ Robert Elliott Gonzales
Once upon a time there was a girl who was special. This is not her story. Unless you count the part where I killed her. ~ E.J.Anderson
Once upon a time there was a girl I knew, who lived across the street. Brown hair, brown eyes. When she smiled, I smiled. When she cried, I cried. Every single thing that ever happened to me that mattered, in some way had to do with her. That day Winnie and I promised each other that no matter what, that we’d always be together. It was a promise full of passion and truth and wisdom. It was the kind of promise that can only come from the hearts of the very young. ~ The Wonder Years
Once upon a time the world was sweeter than we knew. Everything was ours; how happy we were then, but then once upon a time never comes again. ~ Johnny Mercer
Once upon a time only Washington’s face was on our money, now Washington’s hands are on it too. ~ Author Unknown
Once upon a time is now. ~ Emilie Autumn
Once upon a time … the only autonomous intelligences we humans knew of were us humans. We thought then that if humankind ever devised another intelligence that it would be the result of a huge project … a great mass of silicon and ancient transistors and chips and circuit boards … a machine with lots of networking circuits, in other words, aping–if you will pardon the expression–the human brain in form and function. Of course, AIs did not evolve that way. They sort of slipped into existence when we humans were looking the other way. ~ Dan Simmons
Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
Had I been brighter, the ladies been gentler, the Scotch been weaker, had the gods been kinder, had the dice been hotter, this could have been a one-sentence story: Once upon a time I lived happily ever after.~ Mickey Rooney
