“Some guys-- a lot of guys---don't believe what they are seeing, especially if it gets in the way of what they eat or drink or think or believe. Me, I don't believe in God. But if I saw him, I would. I wouldn't just go around saying 'Jesus, that was a great special effect.' The definition of an asshole is a guy who doesn't believe what he's seeing. And you can quote me.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“In many ways the world is nothing but a pile of shit. But it can also be very beautiful.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“But it's hard for a man to give up all his pleasures, even when they don't pleasure him no more.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“The definition of an asshole is a guy who doesn't believe what he's seeing.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“You were starting to sound a little like a Stephen King novel for a while there,”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“sure, we need the gypsies. we always have. because if you don't have someone to run out of town once in a while, how are you going to know you yourself belong there?”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“Things hurt more when you were alone, that was all.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“Pues bien, existe otra cosa en la que creo, William. Creo en lo que veo.
Y ésa es la razón de que sea un hombre relativamente rico. Y también
es el motivo de que sea un hombre vivo. La mayoría de la gente no cree
lo que ve. Yo no creo en Dios. Pero si le viese, creería. No iría por
ahí diciendo: Jesús vaya un efecto especial más estupendo. La definición
de imbécil es un tipo que no cree en lo que ve”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“You were starting to sound a little like a Stephen King novel”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“It just...it seems hard to say anything that isn't the wrong thing.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“Sometimes the gods give you a break.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“If you think someone is seriously on the prod for your ass, it keeps you awake.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“I feel that if I’m going through this hellish decline, you should be going through one also . . . misery loves company, and I guess we’ve all got a streak of one hundred percent gold-plated bastard in our natures, tangled up so tightly with the good part of us that we can never get free of it.”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“A vida inteira ele viveu perambulando, mandado embora de um lugar, assim que a "gente fina" comprava toda a maconha ou haxixe que quisesse, assim que houvesse perdido na roda da fortuna todas as moedas que queria. A vida inteira ele se ouviu sendo chamado de cigano sujo. A "gente fina" cria raízes; ele não tem nenhuma. Esse sujeito, Halleck, viu tendas de lona serem incendiadas por brincadeira, nos anos 30 e 40, e talvez houvesse bebês e velhos incendiados em algumas daquelas tendas. Ele viu suas filhas ou as filhas dos amigos serem atacadas, talvez violentadas, porque toda aquela "gente fina" sabe que ciganos trepam como coelhos e que um pouco mais não fará diferença — mas mesmo que faça, quem se importa? Ele talvez tenha visto seus filhos ou os filhos dos amigos serem surrados até quase a morte... e por quê? Porque os pais dos garotos que os surraram perderam algum dinheiro nos jogos de azar. É sempre a mesma coisa: você chega na cidade, a "gente fina" fica com o que quer e depois o manda embora. Às vezes, essa "gente fina" o condena a uma semana de trabalho na fazenda local de ervilhas ou um mês entre os trabalhadores da estrada local, como medida de ensinamento. E então, Halleck, para o cúmulo das coisas, vem o estalo final do chicote. O importante advogado de três queixos e bochechas de buldogue atropela e mata sua esposa na rua. Ela tem 70, 75 anos, é meio cega, talvez apenas se aventure no meio da rua depressa demais por querer voltar para sua gente antes de se mijar nas roupas — e ossos velhos quebram fácil, ossos velhos são como vidro, e você fica por ali, pensando que desta vez, apenas desta vez, haverá um pouco de justiça... um instante de justiça, como indenização por toda uma vida de miséria e...”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“Because if you don't have someone to run out of town once in a while, how are you going to know you yourself belong there?”
― Richard Bachman, quote from Thinner
“El hace que mi corazón deje de latir, me hace respirar superficialmente, hace que me den ganas de cantar.
Lo sé. Super cursi ¿Cierto?. Pero, Agh, es verdad.”
― Chelsea Fine, quote from Sophie & Carter
“A man was the sum of his limits; freedom only made him see how much so.”
― Gish Jen, quote from Typical American
“Wherever you go, you can never leave yourself behind. —Polish Proverb”
― James Conroyd Martin, quote from Push Not the River
“The hills below crouched on all fours under the weight of the rainforest where liana grew and soldier ants marched in formation. Straight ahead they marched, shamelessly single-minded, for soldier ants have no time for dreaming. Almost all of them are women and there is so much to do - the work is literally endless. So many to be born and fed, then found and buried. There is no time for dreaming. The life of their world requires organization so tight and sacrifice so complete there is little need for males and they are seldom produced. When they are needed, it is deliberately done by the queen who surmises, by some four-million-year-old magic she is heiress to, that it is time. So she urges a sperm from the private womb where they were placed when she had her one, first and last copulation. Once in life, this little Amazon trembled in the air waiting for a male to mount her. And when he did, when he joined a cloud of others one evening just before a summer storm, joined colonies from all over the world gathered fro the marriage flight, he knew at last what his wings were for. Frenzied, he flied into the humming cloud to fight gravity and time in order to do, just once, the single thing he was born for. Then he drops dead, having emptied his sperm into his lady-love. Sperm which she keeps in a special place to use at her own discretion when there is need for another dark and singing cloud of ant folk mating in the air. Once the lady has collected the sperm, she too falls to the ground, but unless she breaks her back or neck or is eaten by one of a thousand things, she staggers to her legs and looks for a stone to rub on, cracking and shedding the wings she will never need again. Then she begins her journey searching for a suitable place to build her kingdom. She crawls into the hollow of a tree, examines its walls and corners. She seals herself off from all society and eats her own wing muscles until she bears her eggs. When the first larvae appear, there is nothing to feed them, so she gives them their unhatched sisters until they are old enough and strong enough to hunt and bring their prey back to the kingdom. That is all. Bearing, hunting, eating, fighting, burying. No time for dreaming, although sometimes, late in life, somewhere between the thirtieth and fortieth generation she might get wind of a summer storm one day. The scent of it will invade her palace and she will recall the rush of wind on her belly - the stretch of fresh wings, the blinding anticipation and herself, there, airborne, suspended, open, trusting, frightened, determined, vulnerable - girlish, even, for and entire second and then another and another. She may lift her head then, and point her wands toward the place where the summer storm is entering her palace and in the weariness that ruling queens alone know, she may wonder whether his death was sudden. Or did he languish? And if so, if there was a bit of time left, did he think how mean the world was, or did he fill that space of time thinking of her? But soldier ants do not have time for dreaming. They are women and have much to do. Still it would be hard. So very hard to forget the man who fucked like a star.”
― Toni Morrison, quote from Tar Baby
“What a datum! I couldn't help thinking over and over.”
― Norman Rush, quote from Mating
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.
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