Quotes from The Dark Half

Stephen King ·  469 pages

Rating: (103.5K votes)


“He didn’t know if that was really true or not, but he discovered something which was tremendously liberating: he didn’t care. He was very tired of thinking and thinking and still not knowing. He was also tired of being frightened, like a man who has entered a cave on a lark and now begins to suspect he is lost. Stop thinking about it, then. That’s the solution.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half


“But writers INVITE ghosts, maybe; along with actors and
artists, they are the only totally accepted mediums of our society. They make worlds that never
were, populate them with people who never existed, and then invite us to join them in their
fantasies. And we do it, don't we? Yes. We PAY to do it.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half


“Cut him. Cut him while I stand here and watch. I want to see the blood flow. Don't make me tell you twice.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half


“...he was after all, a novelist...and a novelist was simply a fellow who got paid to tell lies. The bigger the lies, the better the pay.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half


“The George George Stark George Starked over the Starky Stark.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half



“He sometimes believed that the compulsion to make fiction was no more than a bulwark against confusion, maybe even insanity. It was a desperate imposition of order by people able to find that precious stuff only in their minds . . . never in their hearts.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half


“I want to make sure I remember what real ugly is. I might want to tell my grandchildren someday.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half


“Stark lit a Pall Mall himself, picked up one of his Berols, opened his own notebook . . . and then paused. He looked at Thad with naked honesty. “I’m scared, hoss,” he said. And Thad felt a great wave of sympathy for Stark—in spite of everything he knew. Scared. Yes, of course you are, he thought. Only the ones just starting out—the kids—aren’t scared. The years go by and the words on the page don’t get any darker . . . but the white space sure does get whiter. Scared? You’d be crazier than you are if you weren’t. “I know,” he said. “And you know what it comes down to—the only way to do it is to do it.”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half


“«Sa, anch'io gioco un pochino a tennis, e pensavo...»
«Se lei gioca a tennis solo un pochino, allora probabilmente non è al mio livello.»”
― Stephen King, quote from The Dark Half


About the author

Stephen King
Born place: in Portland, Maine, The United States
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Popular quotes

“What win I, if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.
Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to get a toy?
For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?
Or what fond beggar, but to touch the crown,
Would with the sceptre straight be strucken down?”
― William Shakespeare, quote from The Rape of Lucrece


“I libri non resuscitano i morti, e non fanno di un idiota un uomo capace di ragionare, né di uno stupido un individuo intelligente: aguzzano lo spirito, lo destano, lo affinano e appagano la sua sete di conoscenza. Quanto a chi vuol sapere tutto, è meglio che la famiglia lo faccia curare, perché un simile desiderio non può che nascere da un turbamento dello spirito. Muto quando gli imponi il silenzio, eloquente quando lo fai parlare. Grazie al libro, puoi apprendere nello spazio di un mese quello che un'eternità non ti consentirebbe di apprendere dalle labbra di un sapiente, e questo senza farti contrarre debiti di sapere. Ti libera dall'imbarazzo, ti solleva dalle necessità di frequentare persone odiose e di avere rapporti con individui stupidi e incapaci di comprendere. Ti obbedisce di giorno come di notte, tanto in viaggio quanto nei periodi in cui sei sedentario. Se cadi in disgrazia, non per questo il libro rinuncia a servirti; se venti contrari soffiano contro di te, non ti si rivolta contro. Accade talvolta che il libro sia superiore al suo autore.”
― Denis Guedj, quote from The Parrot's Theorem


“...yelling doesn't make a thing any more possible.”
― Angie Sage, quote from Queste


“«E questo sentimento», si premette una mano sul petto, «per lui non durerà. Lo so come amano gli umani. Le loro passioni bruciano come una zolletta di zucchero… Bollenti e rapidissime. E appena il fuoco si spegne, vanno alla ricerca di una nuova fiamma. Preferiscono le scintille al rassicurante calore delle vecchie braci»”
― Melissa Landers, quote from Invaded


“When someone is pretending to be something, or hiding who they are or what they believe, they're really more...protecting themselves.”
― Kelsey Sutton, quote from Some Quiet Place


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