Quotes from Rage

“When you're five and you hurt, you make a big noise in the world. At ten you whimper. But by the time you make fifteen you begin to eat the poisoned apples that grow on your own inner tree of pain.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“There's a Mr. Hyde for every happy Jekyll face, a dark face on the other side of the mirror.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Then you can blame it on your parents,' I said, smiling. 'Won't that be a relief?”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Lunacy is when you can’t see the seams where they stitched the world together anymore.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“It's only a little secret, but having a secret makes me feel better. Like a human being again.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Craziness is only a matter of degree, and there are lots of people besides me who have the urge to roll heads. They go to stock-car races and the horror movies and the wrestling matches they have in Portland Expo. Maybe what she said smacked of all those things, but I admired her for saying out loud, all the same--the price of honesty is always high. She had an admirable grasp of the fundamentals. Besides, she was tiny and pretty.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“That's what a shrink is for; friends and neighbors; their job is to fuck the mentally disturbed and make them pregnant with sanity.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“I like to hang out clothes on windy days. Sometimes that's all I feel like. A sheet on a line.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Mr. Grace sounded like a very small child, helpless, hopeless. I had made him fuck himself with his own big tool, like one of those weird experiences you read about in the Penthouse Forum. I had taken off his witch doctor's mask and made him human. But I didn't hold it against him. To err is only human, but it's divine to forgive. I believe that sincerely.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“They understood that. They all understood it. This is not the same as comprehension, but it was good enough. When you stop to think, the whole idea of comprehension has a faintly archaic taste, like the sound of forgotten tongues or a look into a Victorian camera obscura. We Americans are much higher on simple understanding. It makes it easier to read the billboards when you're heading into town on the expressway at plus-fifty. To comprehend, the mental jaws have to gape wide enough to make the tendons creak. Understanding, however, can be purchased on every paperback-book rack in America.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“The lawn of Placerville High School is a very good one. It does not fuck around.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“It occurred to me that the man I really wanted to hurt was safely out of my reach, standing behind a shield of years.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“That was Dad's life, and I was the birdshit on his windshield.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Most kids don't give a hoot in hell for brains; they go a penny a pound, and the kid with the high I.Q. who can't play baseball or at least come in third in the local circle jerk is everybody's fifth wheel.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“One of the few things my father says when he's had a few that I agree with is that kids don't have much balls in this generation. Some of them are trying to start the revolution by bombing U.S. government washrooms, but none of them are throwing Molotov cocktails at the Pentagon.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Понякога се чувствам като кукла. Някак нереална. Познато ли ви е? Всичко ми се струва фалшиво. Сякаш ако пъхна глава през стената, ще видя другия край на сценичната площадка, където режисьорът и операторът се готвят да заснемат следващата сцена. Сякаш тревата и небето са нарисуван декор. Сякаш са фалшиви. Илюзия... —”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“What must it be like for a suicide coming down from a high ledge? I'm sure it must be a very sane feeling. That's probably why they scream all the way down.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Herk threw up the mouse, the hamburger he'd eaten for lunch, and some pasty glop that looked like tomato soup. He was just starting to ask his mother what was going on when she threw up. And there, in all that puke, that old dead mouse didn't look bad at all. It sure looked better than the rest of the stuff.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Sanity:
You can go through your whole life telling yourself that life is logical, life is prosaic, life is sane. Above all, sane. And I think it is. I've had a lot of time to think about that...
I think; therefore I am. There are hairs on my face; therefore I shave. My wife and child have been critically injured in a car crash; therefore I pray. It's all logical, it's all sane.
...there's a Mr. Hyde for every happy Jekyll face, a dark face on the other side of the mirror... You turn the mirror sideways and see your face reflected with a sinister left-hand twist, half mad and half sane.
...No one looks at that side unless they have to, and I can understand that.
...I'm the sane one.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“He was a heavy breather. You could hear him puffing and blowing into the mike up there like some large and sweaty animal. I don't like that, never have. My father is like that on the telephone. A lot of heavy breathing in your ear, so you can almost smell the scotch and Pall Malls on his breath. It always seems unsanitary and somehow homosexual.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Здравомислие:
Цял живот можеш да си повтаряш, че животът е логичен, животът е прозаичен, животът е разумен. Най-вече разумен. И струва ми се е именно такъв. Имал съм достатъчно време да мисля по този въпрос. Непрестанно се връщам към предсмъртното заключение на мисис Ъндерууд: „Така че, дори ако увеличим числото на променливите величини, самата аксиома остава непроменена“.
Наистина вярвам в това.
Мисля, следователно съществувам. Бръсна се, следователно имам брада. Жена ми и детето пострадаха тежко при автомобилна катастрофа — и затова се моля. Всичко това е логично, всичко е разумно. Живеем в най-добрия от всички възможни светове, от една страна ти пъхат „Кент“, от друга те преследват с „Будвайзер“, а легнеш ли пред телевизора и хоп — почва шоуто. Наслаждавай се на гладко смазания механизъм на Вселената. Логика и здрав разум. Истински — както се казва в рекламата за „Кока кола“.
Но както добре знаят „Уорнър брадърз“, Джон Д. МакДоналд и службата по почистване на канали в Лонг Айлънд, зад всяко щастливо лице на Джекил, се крие мрачният лик на мистър Хайд, от другата страна на огледалото. А той не е чувал нито за молитви, нито за логика, нито за Вселена. Погледни се отстрани в огледалото и ще видиш лицето си, преобърнато зловещо наопаки, лявото — дясно, дясното — ляво, едната половина — смахната, другата — разумна. Тази граница между светлината и мрака астрономите наричат терминатор.
Неразумната половина крещи, че Вселената има логиката на малко дете, облечено в карнавален каубойски костюм от празника на Вси светии, чийто черва са разпилени и примесени със стъпкани бонбони на няколко мили, по протежение на шосе №95. Това е логиката на напалма, параноята, на бомбата със закъснител, скътана в куфара на някой щастлив арабин, на зловещо дебнещия рак. Логика, която сама поглъща себе си. Която твърди, че животът е като завързана на прът маймуна, че животът се върти истерично и безсмислено като монета, хвърлена за да се види кой ще плати обяда.
Никой не поглежда към тази половина, освен ако не му се наложи и съвсем оправдано. Човек се сблъсква с нея като се качи на стоп и шофьорът, лъхащ на алкохол, започне да дрънка за това как го мами жена му, когато някой перко реши да изпостреля всички деца, яхнали велосипеди в Индиана, или пък когато собствената ти сестра рече: „Ще прескоча за минутка до магазина, батко.“ и миг по-късно научаваш, че са я сгазили на улицата. Откриваш тази половина, когато чуеш баща ти да казва, че е готов да сцепи носа на твоята родна майка.
Животът е като рулетка, но побеждава онзи, който твърди, че цялата игра е една голяма измама. Няма значение колко числа участват, принципът на тази малка, безупречно бяла топка остава непроменен. И не казвайте, че това е безумие. Това е съвсем логично и разумно.
Този чудат принцип не важи само навън. Той е в нас, във всеки миг, расте във вътрешния мрак като някаква гигантска вълшебна гъба. Наречете го „Чудовището в клетката“. Или „Обяд отнесен от вихъра“. Може и „Приспивните песни на смахнатите“. За мен, той е моят личен динозавър, огромен, лигав, тъп, препъващ се във вонящото блато на моето подсъзнание в търсене на дупка, където да се свре.
Но това съм аз, а исках да ви разкажа за тях — синеоките любимци на учителите, дето прескачат до магазина за мляко и се озовават във вихъра на някой въоръжен грабеж, при това в ролята на участници. Такива като мене са като зърно за вестникарската мелница. Хиляди репортери из всички кътчета на страната мечтаят да попаднат на дирите ми. В новините по телевизията ще ми отделят поне петдесет секунди, в „Тайм“ — най-малко две колонки. А ето ме, стоя пред вас и продължавам да твърдя, че съм напълно с всичкия си. Може някое от колелцата да се е поразтропало малко, но като цяло механизмът си трака нормално. Благодаря за вниманието.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Creo que ese momento terminó. De veras lo creo. No obstante a veces, en la oscuridad, pienso que ese espantoso momento fortuito y casual todavía dura, que la rueda aún gira, y que todo lo demás ha sido un sueño.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“You’re on, Ted,” I told him. “Your big chance, boy. Don’t blow it. Folks, this kid is going to dance his balls off before your very eyes.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“The deal is this. You be the hero. Come down here. Unarmed. Come inside with your hands on your head. I'll let everybody go. Then I'll blow your fucking head off. Sir. How's that for a deal? You buy it?”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Two years ago. To the best of my recollection, that was about the time I started to lose my mind.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“You've got a shitty habit, you know it? I've noticed it on all those TV drive-safely pitches that you do. You breathe in people's ears. You sound like a stallion in heat, Philbrick. That's a shitty habit. You also sound like you're reading off a teleprompter, even when you're not. You ought to take care of stuff like that. You might save a life.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“So sind die Dinge manchmal. Wenn alles am schlimmsten ist, dann wirft der Verstand alles in einen Papierkorb und geht für eine Weile nach Florida. Da ist ein Was-zur-Hölle-soll's?-Gefühl in einem, während man da-steht und über die Schulter zu der Brücke zurückblickt, die man soeben niedergebrannt hat.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Wenn man sich für jemanden verantwortlich fühlt, kann es sein, daß man ihn schließlich haßt.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Wenn die Intelligenten einen schlechten Charakter haben, so zeigt sich das, und wenn sie keinen schlechten Charakter haben, dann sind sie so leicht auszurechnen wie Quadratwurzeln.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

“Wahnsinn ist, wenn man nicht mehr die Nähte sehen kann, mit denen die Welt zusammengenäht ist.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Rage

About the author

Popular quotes

“You can't shame or humiliate modern celebrities. What used to be called shame and humiliation is now called publicity. And forget traditional character assassination; if you say a modern celebrity is an adulterer, a pervert and a drug addict, all it means is that you've read his autobiography.”
― P.J. O'Rourke, quote from Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer

“Guinevere grimaced. ‘Do you know how cloying love can be, Derfel? I don’t want to be worshipped. I don’t want every whim granted. I want to feel there’s something biting back.”
― Bernard Cornwell, quote from Excalibur

“The next thing I knew I was laying face first on the ground,”
― Jessica Sorensen, quote from The Underworld

“Ah, there's the feisty Alex i know. There's the spark i've been hoping for....”
― Indigo Bloome, quote from Destined to Play

“But what was the point of love if it didn't keep people from leaving you?”
― Dia Reeves, quote from Slice of Cherry

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

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.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.