Quotes from Brief Lives

“I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend...”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“You know the best thing about aeroplanes? Apart from the peanuts in the little silver bags, I mean.

It's looking out of the windows at the clouds, and thinking, maybe I could go walking in there. Maybe it's a special place where everything's okay.

Sometimes I do go walking in the clouds, but it's just cold and wet and empty. But when you look out of a plane it's a special world... and I like that.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“She said we all not only could know everything. We do. We just tell ourselves we don't to make it all bearable.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“I like airplanes. I like anywhere that isn't a proper place. I like in betweens.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Touched by her fingers, the two surviving chocolate people copulate desperately, losing themselves in a melting frenzy of lust, spending the last of their brief borrowed lives in a spasm of raspberry cream and fear.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“You got a lifetime. No more. No less.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Delirium: "What's the name of the word for the precise moment when you realize that you've actually forgotten how it felt to make love to somebody you really liked a long time ago?"
Dream: "There isn't one."
Delirium: "Oh. I thought maybe there was.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“The stuff you bring back from dreams is free.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Have you ever spent days and days and days making up flavors of ice cream that no one's ever eaten before? Like chicken and telepone ice cream? Green mouse ice cream was the worst. I didn't like that at all.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Change. Change. Change. Change … change. Change. Chaaange. When you say words a lot they don't mean anything. Or maybe they don't mean anything anyway, and we just think they do.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Do you know why I stopped being Delight, my brother? I do. There are things not in your book. There are paths outside this garden.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“One cannot begin a new dream without abandoning the last [one].”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Is there a word for forgetting the name of someone when you want to introduce them to someone else at the same time you realize you've forgotten the name of the person you're introducing them to as well?"
"No.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“There are a number of paths that lead to this place. I have been avoiding them for some small time, now.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“When you dream, sometimes you remember. When you wake, you always forget.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“I walk across the dreaming sands under the pale moon: through the dreams of countries and cities, past dreams of places long gone and times beyond recall.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“DESTRUCTION: Our sister [Death] defines life, just as Despair defines hope, or Desire defines hatred, or as Destiny defines freedom.

MORPHEUS: And what do I define, by this theory of yours.

DESTRUCTION: Reality, perhaps.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Hey, that's life, flick it off if you can't take a joke.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, the're always flaring up and caving in and going out.
But from here, I can pretend...
I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments.
Gods come, and Gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade.
Worlds don't last, and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust.

But I can pretend.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“What's the name of the word for the precise moment when you realize that you've actually forgotten how it felt to make love to somebody you really liked a long time ago?”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“You can indeed become lost, in dreams. And you may not always find yourself when you wake up.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“I like the stars. It’s the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they’re always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend… I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and Gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don’t last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Delirium: Um. What’s the name of the word for things not being the same always. You know. I’m sure there is one. Isn’t there? There must be a word for it… the thing that lets you know time is happening. Is there a word?
Dream: Change.
Delirium: …I was afraid of that.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“It always rains on the unloved-wet dreams-a fishing expedition-she kisses wyverns (the disneyland analogy)-dinner etiquette and chocolate lovers-desire swears by the first circle-"things are changing"-what can possibly go wrong?”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“It's just that I get distracted, and I get Lost kind of easily, and sometimes I have really bad days....
....When, you know, I just want to Hide or Scream or Bleed or something, and.....All that...”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“To bite off your shadow is neither easy nor painless. It demands a single-mindedness that is almost unknown in this day.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“Of course, the truth is that no one likes change. People in hell not only refuse to leave it, they invite you in, too. Even people who have blasted the other lives that touched their own blasted lives proudly declare in old age that they would not change a thing -- all that cursing and screaming was their life, by God, and it is not possible to imagine any other. Change introduces unpredictability, uncertainty, a universe of disorder. Right before an amoeba splits in two, it says to itself, uh uh, no way, I ain't gonna do that, nope.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

“So what I want to know is, when I'm asleep, do I really remember how to fly? And forget how when I wake up? Or am I just dreaming I can fly?"

"When you dream, sometimes you remember. When you wake, you always forget."

"But that's not fair!"

"No.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Brief Lives

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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