Quotes from The Shrinking Man

Richard Matheson ·  201 pages

Rating: (5.8K votes)


“It was more than a spider. It was every unknown terror in the world fused into wriggling, poison-jawed horror. It was every anxiety, insecurity, and fear in his life given a hideous, night-black form.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man


“To look at the entire journey all at once was stupidity. You thought of it in segments; that was the only way.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man


“Memory was such a worthless thing, really. Nothing it dealt with was attainable. It was concerned with phantom acts and feelings, with all that was uncapturable except in thought. It was without satisfaction. Mostly, it hurt…”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man


“Perhaps jungle life, despite physical danger, was a relaxing one. Surely it was free of the petty grievances, the disparate values of society. It was simple, devoid of artifice and ulcer-burning pressures.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man


“But now, in the final hours, even hope had vanished. Yet he could smile. At a point without hope he had found contentment. He knew he had tried and there was nothing to be sorry for. And this was complete victory, because it was a victory over himself.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man



“This, he knew, was courage, the truest, ultimate courage, because there was no one here to sympathize or praise him for it. What he felt was felt without the hope of commendation.”
― Richard Matheson, quote from The Shrinking Man


About the author

Richard Matheson
Born place: in Allendale, New Jersey, The United States
Born date February 20, 1926
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“...only more keenly aware of how her soul starved within her, its wings wasting with the despair of disuse.”
― Alison Croggon, quote from The Naming


“why can't you see i'm a kid', said the kid.
Why try to make me like you?
Why are you hurt when I don't cuddle?
Why do you sigh when I splash through a puddle?
Why do you scream when I do what I did?
Im a kid.”
― Shel Silverstein, quote from Falling Up


“And like a drowning woman who chooses the black sea instead of rescue, she did not take it.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Surgeon


“And no, it wasn't shame I now felt, or guilt, but something rarer in my life and stronger than both: remorse. A feeling which is more complicated, curdled, and primeval. Whose chief characteristic is that nothing can be done about it: too much time has passed, too much damage has been done, for amends to be made.”
― Julian Barnes, quote from The Sense of an Ending


“He was an abomination precisely because they saw his humanity, but degraded it and would not recognize it.”
― Jean M. Auel, quote from The Mammoth Hunters


Interesting books

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes
(5.3K)
Destiny Disrupted: A...
by Tamim Ansary
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
(14.2K)
The Nine: Inside the...
by Jeffrey Toobin
Trust Me
(2.1K)
Trust Me
by Lesley Pearse
The Black Moon
(4.8K)
The Black Moon
by Winston Graham
No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel
(1.8K)
No Lifeguard on Duty...
by Janice Dickinson
Naked
(4.8K)
Naked
by Megan Hart

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.