“She was fascinated with words. To her, words were things of beauty, each like a magical powder or potion that could be combined with other words to create powerful spells.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“Envy, envy eats them alive. If you had money, they’d envy you that. But since you don’t, they envy you for having such a good, bright, loving daughter. They envy you for just being a happy man. They envy you for not envying them. One of the greatest sorrows of human existence is that some people aren’t happy merely to be alive but find their happiness only in the misery of others.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“But once an idea for a novel seizes a writer...well, it’s like an inner fire that at first warms you and makes you feel good but then begins to eat you alive, burn you up from within. You can’t just walk away from the fire; it keeps burning. The only way to put it out is to write the book.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“In tragedy and despair, when an endless night seems to have fallen, hope can be found in the realization taht the companion of night is not another night, that the companion of night is day, that darkness always gives way to light, and that death rules only half of creation, life the other half.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“There were two types of survivors in life: those, like her, who found the requisite strength in having once been loved with great intensity; and those who, having not been loved, learned to thrive on hatred, suspicion, and the meager rewards of revenge.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“She would have thought that working and living in continuous happiness, harmony, and security day after day would lead to mental lethargy, that her writing would suffer from too much happiness, that she needed a balanced life with down days and miseries to keep the sharp edge on her work. But the idea that an artist needed to suffer to do her best work was a conceit of the young and inexperienced. The happier she grew, the better she wrote.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“That was the splendid thing about life: Though it was cruel, it was also mysterious, filled with wonder and surprise; sometimes the surprises were so amazing that they qualified as miraculous, and by witnessing those miracles, a despondent person could discover a reason to live, a cynic could obtain unexpected relief from ennui, and a profoundly wounded boy could find the will to heal himself and medicine for melancholy.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“I'd accept defeat. fighting doesn't preclude enduring.I can fight, and if fighting fails I can still endure.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“Adversity breeds toughness, and the tough succeed. And survive.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“She blinked, sat up, and saw Chris in the bathroom doorway. He'd just gotten out the shower. His hair was damp, and he was dressed only in his briefs. The sight of his thin, boyish body - all ribs and elbows and knees - pulled at her heart, for he looked so innocent and vulnerable. He was so small adn fragile that she wondered how she could ever protect him, and renewed fear rose in her.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“She was plagued again by the feeling that the room in which she stood, the earth on which it was built, and the universe in which it turned were as insubstantial as smoke, subject to sudden change. (pg. 249)”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“there were two types of survivors in life: those, like her, who found the requisite strength in having once been loved with great intensity; and those who, having not been loved, learned to thrive on hatred, suspicion, and the meager rewards of revenge. They were at once scornful of the need for human feeling and envious of the capacity for it.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“What’s gotten into you today? All evening”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“In the film industry, especially in the TV branch, there is a widespread contempt for the viewing public, which explains why the great majority of films are boring and stupid.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“Understanding wasn't always necessary, as long as you believed.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“Envy, Bob. Envy eats them alive. If you had money, they’d envy you that. But since you don’t, they envy you for having such a good, bright, loving daughter. They envy you for just being a happy man. They envy you for not envying them. One of the greatest sorrows of human existence is that some people aren’t happy merely to be alive but find their happiness only in the misery of others.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“One of the greatest sorrows of human existence is that some people aren’t happy merely to be alive but find their happiness only in the misery of others.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“The fifth was a blond man wearing a navy peacoat and standing with his hands in his pockets. He did not smile or point or make faces. He was staring at Laura. After a few minutes during which the stranger’s gaze did not shift from the child, Bob became concerned. The guy was good looking and clean-cut but there was a hardness in his face, too, and some quality that could not be put into words but that made Bob think this was a man who had seen and done terrible things. He began to remember sensational tabloid stories of kidnappers, babies being sold on the black market. He told himself that he was paranoid, imagining a danger where none existed because, having lost Janet, he was now worried about losing his daughter as well. But the longer the blond man studied Laura, the more uneasy Bob became. As if sensing that uneasiness, the man looked up. They stared at each other. The stranger’s blue eyes were unusually bright, intense. Bob’s fear deepened. He held his daughter closer, as if the stranger might smash through the nursery window to seize her. He considered calling one of the crèche nurses and suggesting that she speak to the man, make inquiries about him. Then the stranger smiled. His was a broad, warm, genuine smile that transformed his face. In an instant he no longer looked sinister but friendly. He winked at Bob and mouthed one word through the thick glass: ‘Beautiful.’ Bob”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“Upon my death, when the stains on my soul are read by He who sits in judgment, I'll be given my own small space in hell.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“Fighting doesn’t preclude enduring. I can fight, and if fighting fails, I can still endure.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
“A fanatic is a nut who has something to believe in.” 5”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Lightning
Dean Koontz
Born place: in Everett, Pennsylvania, The United States
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“Thanks to ideology, the twentieth century was fated to experience evildoing on a scale calculated in the millions. This cannot be denied, nor passed over, nor surpressed. How, then, do we dare insist that evildoers do not exist? And whi was it that destroyed these millions? Without evildoers there would have been no Archipelago.
There was a rumor going the rounds between 1918 and 1920 that the Petrograd Cheka, headed by Uritsky, and the Odessa Cheka, headed by Deich, did not shoot all those condemned to death but fed some of them alive to the animals in the city zoos. I do not know whether this is truth or calumny, or, if there were any such cases, how many were there. But I wouldn't set out to look for proof, either. Following the practice of the bluecaps, I would propose that they prove to us that this was impossible. How else could they get food for the zoos in those famine years? Take it away from the workibg class? Those enemies were going to die anyway, so why couldn't their deaths support the zoo economy of the Republic and thereby assist our march into the future? Wasn't it expedient?
That is the precise line the Shakespearean evildoer could not cross. But the evildoer with ideology does cross it, and his eyes remain dry and clear.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, quote from The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956
“I’m fine, Mom. Thanks for asking.”
...
“Of course you’re fine.” She keeps walking. “You’re the devil’s bride and these are his creatures.”
...
“I’m not the devil’s bride.”
“He carried you out of the fire and is letting you visit us from the dead. Who else would have those privileges except his bride?”
― Susan Ee, quote from World After
“We're going to see Ragnak," Halt told him. "He's going to have to promise to free every slave who fights for Hallasholm."
Will shook his head doubtfully. "He won't like that," he said. Halt turned and looked at him, a faint grin touching the corner of his mouth.
He'll hate it," he agreed.”
― John Flanagan, quote from The Battle for Skandia
“What if I forgave myself? I thought. What if I forgave myself even though I'd done something I shouldn't have? What if I was a liar and a cheat and there was no excuse for what I'd done other than because it was what I wanted and needed to do? What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time I wouldn't do anything differently than I had done? What if I'd actually wanted to fuck every one of those men? What if heroin taught me something? What if yes was the right answer instead of no? What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?”
― Cheryl Strayed, quote from Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
“To be able to say: I loved this person, we had a hell of a nice time together, it’s over but in a way it will never be over and I do know that I for sure loved this person, to be able to say that and mean it, that’s rare, señor. That’s rare and valuable.”
— Ernest Hemingway, from The Complete Short Stories ”
― Ernest Hemingway, quote from The Complete Short Stories
Jo's Boys
Flesh and Blood
Eugénie Grandet
The Renegade Hunter
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