Quotes from When Gravity Fails

George Alec Effinger ·  288 pages

Rating: (5.6K votes)


“I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked awful, but I always look awful in the mirror. I keep myself going with the firm belief that my real face is much better looking.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“if I examine myself closely enough, I find hints of every objectionable quality known to man.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“Drugs are your friends, treat them with respect. You wouldn’t throw your friends in the garbage. You wouldn’t flush your friends down the toilet. If that’s the way you treat your friends or your drugs, you don’t deserve to have either. Give them to me. Drugs are wonderful things. I won’t listen to anybody trying to get me to give them up. I’d rather give up food and drink—in fact, on occasion, I have.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“It was one of those rare times of shared happiness, of perfect contentment. We had a feeling of expectation, that what was already wonderful would only get better and better as time went on. These moments are one of the rarest, most fragile things in the world. You have to seize the day; you have to recall all the rotten, dirty things you endured to earn this peace. You have to remember to enjoy each minute, each hour, because although you may feel like it's going to last forever, the world plans otherwise. You want to be grateful for every precious second, but you simply can't do it. It's not in human nature to live life to the fullest. Haven't your ever noticed that equal amounts of pain and joy are not, in fact, equal in duration? Pain drags on until you wonder if life will ever be bearable again; pleasure, though, once it's reached its peak, fades faster than a trodden gardenia, and your memory searches in vain for the sweet scent.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“The longer I observe the way people really act, the happier I am that I never pay attention to them.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails



“Drugs are your friends, treat them with respect. You wouldn’t throw your friends in the garbage. You wouldn’t flush your friends down the toilet. If that’s the way you treat your friends or your drugs, you don’t deserve to have either. Give them to me.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“I closed my eyes and wished I believed in something enough to pray to it.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“The longer I observe the way people really act, the happier I am that I never pay attention to them. The”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“After sex, all animals are sad; after any kind of pleasure, really. We’re not built for pleasure. We’re built for agony and for seeing things too clearly, which is often a terrible agony in itself. I loathed myself then, and I loathed myself now. Dr.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“The two women looked at me as if I were the Messiah returning with their personal salvations sealed in separate envelopes.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails



“I don't carry a weapon, Mr. Bogatyrev. Not usually. I've never been in a situation where I needed one. Either the other guy has one, and I do what he says, or he doesn't, and I make him do what I say.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“it is the nature of religions to put a higher premium on your proper attention to ritual than on your convenience.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


“I rolled over and faced the cracked green wall. I regretted that simple action immediately; it had felt like a slow-motion film with every other frame missing.”
― George Alec Effinger, quote from When Gravity Fails


About the author

George Alec Effinger
Born place: in Cleveland, The United States
Born date January 10, 1947
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“The kind where you know the person inside an dout. Where you can go through hell and back and still make it out okay.”
― Jessica Sorensen, quote from The Forever of Ella and Micha


“Sometimes, things need to change, because there just isn’t any way for them to stay the same.”
― Jay Crownover, quote from Jet


“Well,” he said with an affected sigh, “you have my approval, at least.”
“Why?” Hyacinth asked suspiciously.
“It would be an excellent match,” he continued. “If nothing else, think of the children.”
She knew she’d regret it, but still she had to ask. “What children?”
He grinned. “The lovely lithping children you could have together. Garethhhh and Hyathinthhhh. Hyathinth and Gareth. And the thublime Thinclair tots.”
Hyacinth stared at him like he was an idiot.
Which he was, she was quite certain of it.
She shook her head. “How on earth Mother managed to give birth to seven perfectly normal children and one freak is beyond me."
"Thith way to the nurthery.” Gregory laughed as she
headed back into the room. “With the thcrumptious little
Tharah and Thamuel Thinclair. Oh, yeth, and don’t forget
wee little Thuthannah!”
― Julia Quinn, quote from It's in His Kiss


“Most lives are not distinguished by great achievements. They are measured by an infinite number of small ones. Each time you do a kindness for someone or bring a smile to his face, it gives your life meaning. Never doubt your value, little friend. The world would be a dismal place without you in it. (tweaked version of a passage from Scandal in Spring)”
― Lisa Kleypas, quote from Scandal in Spring


“Luna was remote and ladylike. The only time anyone had ever seen Luna angry was when someone referred to her as 'African-American'.

"I'm an American," she had snapped, whirling on the offender. "I've never even been to Africa. I was born in California, my father was a major in the Marine Corps, and I'm not a hyphenated anything. I have a black heritage, but I also have a white one." She had held out one slim arm and studied the color of it. "Looks to me like I'm brown. We're all just different shades of brown,so don't try to set me apart.”
― Linda Howard, quote from Mr. Perfect


Interesting books

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
(6.6K)
Factory Girls: From...
by Leslie T. Chang
18 Things
(0.9K)
18 Things
by Jamie Ayres
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
(9.4K)
Highly Illogical Behavior
(10.2K)
Highly Illogical Beh...
by John Corey Whaley
The Girl in 6E
(13.7K)
The Girl in 6E
by A.R. Torre
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
(4.4K)
War Is a Force That...
by Chris Hedges

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.