Neil Gaiman · 104 pages
Rating: (37.8K votes)
“On bad days I talk to Death constantly, not about suicide because honestly that's not dramatic enough. Most of us love the stage and suicide is definitely your last performance and being addicted to the stage, suicide was never an option - plus people get to look you over and stare at your fatty bits and you can't cross your legs to give that flattering thigh angle and that's depressing. So we talk. She says things no one else seems to come up with, like let's have a hotdog and then it's like nothing's impossible.
She told me once there is a part of her in everyone, though Neil believes I'm more Delirium than Tori, and Death taught me to accept that, you know, wear your butterflies with pride. And when I do accept that, I know Death is somewhere inside of me. She was the kind of girl all the girls wanted to be, I believe, because of her acceptance of "what is." She keeps reminding me there is change in the "what is" but change cannot be made till you accept the "what is.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The High Cost of Living Collected
“Over the last few hours I've allowed myself to feel defeated, and just like she said if you allow yourself to feel the way you really feel, maybe you won't be afraid of that feeling anymore.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The High Cost of Living Collected
“To be honest, I think love is complete bullshit. I don't think anyone ever loves anyone. I think the best people ever get is horny; horny and scared, so when they find someone who makes them horny, and they get too scared of the world outside, they stay together and they call it love.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The High Cost of Living Collected
“It always ends. That's what gives it value.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The High Cost of Living Collected
“There's this thing, they have in french: L'espirit d'escalier. The spirit of the stairway. I don't think we have a word for it in English. It means, well, the clever things to say that you only think to yourself when you're on the way out.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The High Cost of Living Collected
“Oh - that family, yes. There are still some photos of them around here. They look like nice people, don't they?"
They...'look like nice people'?"
Well, they do, don't they? Of course, they never actually existed - except maybe in the most tenuous and retrospective way - but still, it's nice to think they were good people."
Uh. Right. Gee, I suppose you must do a lot of drugs.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The High Cost of Living Collected
“If all I can say is I'm not in this swamp, I'm not in this swamp then there is not a rope in front of me and there is not an alligator behind me and there is not a girl sitting at the edge eating a hot dog and if I believe that, then dying would be the only answer because then Death couldn't come and say Peachy to me anymore and after all she has a brother who believes in hope.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The High Cost of Living Collected
“In't Frans bestaat zo'n uitdrukking: l'esprit d'escalier. De geest van de trap. Volgens mij hebben wij daar niet eens echt 'n goed woord voor.
'T betekent... Nou ja, alles wat je had kunnen zeggen, maar pas bedenkt als je alweer weg bent.
Al die bijdehante dingen die je toen eigenlijk had willen zeggen.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The High Cost of Living Collected
“Not all nine-fingered girls have hatchets, she said in Tradertalk. Some of us just tried to have a conversation with a snapping turtle.
(Sandry to Daja, referring to her conversation with Tris.)”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Sandry's Book
“Morning people use up their perky too early and end up being just plain grumpy.”
― P.C. Cast, quote from Divine By Mistake
“News flash: The whole thing is a huge mess and a giant nightmare and it’s all about to explode in your face and you have no idea what
you’ve gotten yourself into. Love is no game. People cut their ears off over this stuff. People jump off the Eiffel Tower and sell all their
possessions and move to Alaska to live with the grizzly bears, and then they get eaten and nobody hears them when they scream for help.
That’s right. Falling in love is pretty much the same thing as being eaten alive by a grizzly bear.
Believe me, I should know.”
― Jess Rothenberg, quote from The Catastrophic History of You and Me
“Numb, I took the perfectly browned puff. Okay. Let me see if I have this right. Al provokes me into defending myself. I nearly kill him. Then Newt tries to kill me, thinking I'm Ku'Sox. Al stops her, saving my life. And now we're all going to have s'mores together?”
― Kim Harrison, quote from Pale Demon
“Believe me, the real romantic person is him who ain't done anything but imagine. If you have actually participated in disasters, like me, you get conservative.”
― Thomas Berger, quote from Little Big Man
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