“I am a collection of oddities, a circus of neurons and electrons: my heart is the ringmaster, my soul is the trapeze artist, and the world is my audience. It sounds strange because it is, and it is, because I am strange.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Every great character, Iz, be it on page or screen, is multidimensional. The good guys aren't all good, the bad guys aren't all bad, and any character wholly one or the other shouldn't exist at all. Remember this when I describe the antics that follow, for though I am not a villain, I am not immune to villainy.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“When you were born, you cried while the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries while you rejoice.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“I'm feeling reckless - or honest, maybe. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“I swear the older I get, the more I value bad examples over good ones. It's a good thing too, because most people are egotistical, neurotic, self-absorbed peons, insistent on wearing near-sighted glasses in a far-sighted world. And it's this exact sort of myopic ignorance that has led to my groundbreaking new theory. I call it Mim's Theorem of Monkey See Monkey Don't, and what it boils down to is this: it is my belief that there are some people whose sole purpose of existence is to show the rest of how not to act.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“You spend you life roaming the hillsides, scouring the four corners of the earth, searching desperately for just one persons to fucking get you. And I’m thinking, if you can find that, you’ve found home.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“As simple as it sounds, I think understanding who you are—and who you are not—is not the most important thing of all Important Things.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“You know–I think my best course of action is to just let the ridiculousness of that sentence marinate.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“I swear, the longer I live, the less things make sense.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Life can be a real son of a bitch sometimes, bringing things back around long after you've said good-bye.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Home is hard. Harder than Reasons. It's more a storage unit for your life and its collections. It's more than an address, or even the house you grew up in. People say home is where the heart is, but I think maybe home is the heart. Not a place or a time, but an organ, pumping life into my life. There may be more mosquitos and stepmothers than I imagined, but it's still my heart. My home.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Sometimes, things are more embarrassing when you're alone. I guess when no one's around to hear your stupidity, you're forced to bear the brunt of it.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“I think about how quickly things have changed for me. But that’s the personality of change, isn’t it? When it’s slow, it’s called growth; when it’s fast, it’s change. And God, how things change: some things, nothings, anythings, everything… all the things change.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Life, it seems, delivers the best punch lines only after we've forgotten we were part of a joke.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Sometimes a thing doesn’t seem real until we say it out loud.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“I wish wishing were enough, but it's not. Sometimes you need a thing.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Remember that, Iz. Be a kid of honesty. Wave it like a banner for all to see. Also, while I'm thinking about it - be a kid who loves surprises. Squeal with delight over puppies and cupcakes and birthday parties. Be curious, but content. Be loyal, but independent. Be kind. To everyone. Treat every day like you're making waffles. Don't settle for the first guy (or girl) unless he's the right guy (or girl). Live your effing life. Do so with gusto, because my God, there's nothing sorrier than a gusto-less existence. Know yourself. Love yourself. Be a good friend. Be a kid of hope and substance. Be a kid of appetite, Iz. You know what I mean, don't you? (Of course you do. You're a Malone.) Okay, that's all for now. Catch you on the flip side.
Blimey, get ready.
Signing off,
Mary Iris Malone,
Your Big Sister”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Sometimes you walk into a room one person, and when you come out the other side, you're someone else altogether.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“I have limited experience, but I know this: moments of connection with another human being are patently rare. But rarer still are those who can recognize such a connection when they see one.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“What if … what if … what if … I play the What If? game all the time. But it’s rigged, is the thing. Impossible to win. Asking What If? can only lead to Maybe Things Could Have Been Different, via Was It My Fault?”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“My Reasons may be hard, but my Objectives are quite simple.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“But that’s the personality of change, isn’t it? When it’s slow, it’s called growth; when it’s fast, it’s change.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“He wraps an arm around me, and I swear we were once a single unit, a supercontinent divided millions of years ago - like my fifth grade science project - now reunited into some kaleidoscopic New Pangea. "I'm Madagascar," I say, sleepily. "You're what?" "I'm Madagascar. And you're Africa." He squeezes my shoulder, and - I think he gets it. I bet he does.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Exactly why I don't have a boyfriend," I whisper, turning to the window. Because you've referenced The Lord of the Rings twice before lunch, or because you're talking to yourself? I have to admit, I've got me there.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Pain makes people who they are.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“So I float in silence, watching the final touches of this perfect moonrise, and in a moment of heavenly revelation, it occurs to me that detours are not without purpose. They provide safe passage to a destination, avoiding pitfalls in the process.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Do so with gusto, because my God, there's nothing sorrier than a gusto-less existence.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“Closing his eyes again, Beck repositions his head on the back of his seat, and in one sure movement, reaches over and grabs my hand. Even with his eyes closed, he knew where to find me. I want to cry for a thousand reasons, laugh for a thousand others; this is my anomalous balance, the place where Beck and I can let the ridiculousness of our collective sentences marinate, and other things, too. It’s a singular moment of clarity between two people, and rare or not, I’m not about to let go.
I’m done roaming hillsides.
I’ve scoured the corners of the earth.
And I’ve found my people.
God, I’m almost jealous of myself.
Holding Beck’s hand in my lap, I find a courage I never knew I had and drop my head on his shoulder.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“She never said so out loud, but some things speak loud enough on their own.”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
“You ever have the feeling you lost something important, only to discover it was never there to begin with?”
― David Arnold, quote from Mosquitoland
David Arnold
Born place: in The United States
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“. Nature's so terribly good. Don't you think so, Mr. Stanhope?"
Stanhope was standing by, silent, while Mrs. Parry communed with her soul and with one or two of her neighbours on the possibilities of dressing the Chorus. He turned his head and answered, "That Nature is terribly good? Yes, Miss Fox. You do mean 'terribly'?"
"Why, certainly," Miss Fox said. "Terribly--dreadfully--very."
"Yes," Stanhope said again. "Very. Only--you must forgive me; it comes from doing so much writing, but when I say 'terribly' I think I mean 'full of terror'. A dreadful goodness."
"I don't see how goodness can be dreadful," Miss Fox said, with a shade of resentment in her voice. "If things are good they're not terrifying, are they?"
"It was you who said 'terribly'," Stanhope reminded her with a smile, "I only agreed."
"And if things are terrifying," Pauline put in, her eyes half closed and her head turned away as if she asked a casual question rather of the world than of him, "can they be good?"
He looked down on her. "Yes, surely," he said, with more energy. "Are our tremors to measure the Omnipotence?”
― Charles Williams, quote from Descent into Hell
“We have nothing in this life of suffocating obligation but our motherfucking impudence!”
― Mark Leyner, quote from The Tetherballs of Bougainville
“Sooner or later even the most ambitious glutton must crawl away and seek the solace of the vomitorium.”
― Clive Barker, quote from Coldheart Canyon
“I remind myself that not everything is a sign, that some things simply are what they appear to be and should not be analyzed, deconstructed, or forced to bear the burden of metaphor, symbol, omen, or portent.”
― Diane Schoemperlen, quote from Our Lady of the Lost and Found: A Novel of Mary, Faith, and Friendship
“Chrisfield looked straight ahead of him. He did not feel lonely any more now that he was marching in ranks again. His feet beat the ground in time with the other feet. He would not have to think whether to go to the right or to the left. He would do as the others did.”
― John Dos Passos, quote from Three Soldiers
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