Quotes from Seize the Night

Dean Koontz ·  464 pages

Rating: (24.4K votes)


“If we were always conscious of the fact that people precious to us are frighteningly mortal, hanging not even by a thread, but by a wisp of gossamer, perhaps we would be kinder to them and more grateful for the love and friendship they give to us.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“Her beauty is not just—or even primarily—physical. In her face, I see her wisdom, her compassion, her courage, her eternal glory. This other beauty, this spiritual beauty—which is the deepest truth of her—sustains me in times of fear and despair, as other truths might sustain a priest enduring martyrdom at the hands of a tyrant. I see nothing blasphemous in equating her grace with the mercy of God, for the one is a reflection of the other. The selfless love that we give to others to the point of being willing to sacrifice our lives for them, is all the proof I need that human beings are not mere animals of self-interest; we carry within us a divine spark, and if we chose to recognize it, our lives have dignity, meaning, hope. In her it is spark is bright, a light that heals rather than wounds me.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“He once told me that an August evening was "as hot as three toads in a Cuisinart," a comparison that left me blinking two days later.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“Hand-to-hand combat with three hundred pounds of screaming monkey menace is not my idea of a fair fight. My idea of a fair fight is one unarmed, toothless, nearsighted old monkey versus me with a Blackhawk attack helicopter.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“He's got a chloroform-soaked rag in one hand, and before Judy realizes what's happening, the dude is all over her like fat on cheese.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night



“We are the most alive and closest to the meaning of existence when we are most vulnerable, when experience has humbled us and has cured the arrogance which, like a form of deafness, prevents us from hearing the lessons that this world teaches.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“With friends, this is a cool world; without friends, it would be unbearably cold.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“To say that I am living on borrowed time would be
not merely a cliché but also an understatement. My
entire life has been a heavily mortgaged enterprise.
But so is yours. Eventual foreclosure awaits all of
us. More likely than not, I’ll receive my notice before
you do, though yours, too, is in the mail.
Nevertheless, until the postman comes, be happy.
There is no other rational response but happiness.
Despair is a foolish squandering of precious time.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“I must exist in shadows, while you live under exquisitely blue skies, and yet I don't hate you for the freedom that you take for granted-although I do envy you.
I don't hate you because, after all, you are human, too, and therefore have limitations of your own. Perhaps you are homely, slow-witted or too smart for your own good, deaf or mute or blind, by nature given to despair or to self-hatred, or perhaps you are unusually fearful of Death himself. We all have burdens. On the other hand, if you are better-looking and smarter than I am, blessed with five sharp senses, even more optimistic than I am, with plenty of self-esteem, and if you also share my refusal to be humbled by the Reaper. . . well, then I could almost hate you if I didn't know that, like all of us in this imperfect world, you also have a haunted heart and a mind troubled by grief, by loss, by longing.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“If we were always conscious of the fact that people precious to us are frighteningly mortal, hanging not even by a thread but by a wisp of gossamer, perhaps we would be kinder to them and more grateful for the love and friendship they give us.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night



“The cataract of grief is a longer drop than Niagara, and I guess I've not reached the river of acceptance at the bottom.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“Between a man and woman in love, no lie is small or harmless.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“There is no other rational response but happiness. Despair is a foolish squandering of precious time.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“I am my own worst enemy. This, more than any other trait, proves my fundamental humanity.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night


“This side of Eden, whether we realize it or not, we feel the stain on our souls, and at every opportunity, we try to scrub it away with steel-wool guilt.”
― Dean Koontz, quote from Seize the Night



About the author

Dean Koontz
Born place: in Everett, Pennsylvania, The United States
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“I suggest to you that, although you may have endeavored to gloss over the fact to yourself, you did deliberately set about taking your husband from your friend. I suggest that you felt strongly attracted to him at once. But I suggest that there was a moment when you hesitated, when you realized that there was a choice–that you could refrain or go on. I suggest that the initiative rested with you–not with Monsieur Doyle. … You had everything, Madame, that life can offer. Your friend’s life was bound up in one person. You knew that, but, though you hesitated, you did not hold your hand. You stretched it out and, like the rich man in the Bible, you took the poor man’s one ewe lamb.”
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“Fireflies in the Garden
By Robert Frost 1874–1963

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
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“Dear Forrest,
I am sorry there was no time for us to speech other before I left. The doctors made their decision quickly, and before I knew it, I was being taken away, but I asked if I could stop long enough to write you this note, because you have been so kind to me whileI was here.
I sense, Forrest, that you are on the verge of something very significant in your life, some change, or event that will move you in a different direction, and you must seize the moment, and not let it pass. When I think back on it now, there is something in your eyes, some tiny flash of fire that comes now and then, mostly when you smile, and , on those infrequent occasions, I believe what I saw was almost a Genesis of our ability as humans to think, to create, to be.
This war is to for you, old pal - nor me - and I am well out of it as I'm sure you will be in time. The crucial question is, what will you do? I don't think you're an idiot at all. Perhaps by the measure of tests or the judgement of fools, you might fall into some category or other, but deep down, Forrest, I have seen that glowing sparkle of curiosity burning deep in your mind. Take the tide, my friend, and as you are carried along, make it work for you, fight the shallows and the snags and never give up. You are a good fellow, forrest, and you have a big heart.
Your pal,
Dan”
― Winston Groom, quote from Forrest Gump


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