Barry Lyga > Quotes

“See, forgiveness doesn't happen all at once. It's not an event -- it's a process. Forgiveness happens while you're asleep, while you're dreaming, while you're inline at the coffee shop, while you're showering, eating, farting, jerking off. It happens in the back of your mind, and then one day you realize that you don't hate the person anymore, that your anger has gone away somewhere. And you understand. You've forgiven them. You don't know how or why. It sneaked up on you. It happened in the small spaces between thoughts and in the seconds between ideas and blinks. That's where forgiveness happens. Because anger and hatred, when left unfed, bleed away like air from a punctured tire, over time and days and years. Forgiveness is stealth. At least, that's what I hope.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Anger and hatred, when left unfed, bleed away like air from a punctured tire, over time and days and years. Forgiveness is stealth.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“One time you told me that the opposite of love isn't hate. And I didn't understand that, but I think I do know. Because if you hate someone, you most still care, right? You have to care a little bit; otherwise you would just ignore them and forget they even live. Or lived.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“I just have an allergic reaction to lung cancer. Gives me tumors.”
― Barry Lyga, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

“. . . but there's a restraining order in place.' She speaks slowly, choosing her words carefully. 'I'm not supposed to be this close to you.'

You were never supposed to be this close to me,' I say, and I have no idea why.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“We can know what love is. It´s adults who have forgotten, so they cling to their poor substitute and yell at kids who dare to live with real love. Pure Love. Love without compromise or distraction.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“I do what I've trained my whole life to do. I watch the ball. I keep my eye on the ball. I never stop watching.
I watch it as it sails past me and lands in the catcher's mitt, a perfect and glorious strike three.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Josh Mendel has a secret.
Unfortunately, everyone knows what it is.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“(Man, I wish life had emoticons, you know? So that when your dad pisses you off you could like click a mental button or something and just show him one of those rolleyes. That would rock)
Anyway.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“You won't even know you've crossed the line until it's way back in your rearview mirror.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“And if it's locked, I'll knock it the hell down."
He thinks when he busts out "hell" I take him more seriously. Yeah. Insert eye roll here.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“What was the opposite of linkage blindness? What described being certain of something without any kind of evidence?

...The term was faith.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“Maybe Rachel was right all along. Maybe the past is past, history is history, and you just push it aside and look for the future.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Love makes you weak. This I know for sure.
Mom loved Roger. Roger loved Mom.And look what happpened there. She died. She thought her love made her strong. She kept telling me-after she was diagnosed-she ket telling me, "I'm going to beat this Kyra. I'm going to come out of it. I love you and I love your father and that love is my strength. You're my strength.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“You can't rely on love. Love will let you down every time. Every. Single. Time.
I don't love Jecca. I don't love Fanboy.
But...
God, the buts in life will kill you absolutely every time, won't they.
I don't love. But I need. I can admit that to myself.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“...called nine-one-one," Howie was saying, "and then I heard something in the alleyway, so I went back there and" --Howie coughed-- "and valiantly attacked his knife with my guts, to no avail."

"Did you get a good look at him? Could you describe him?"

Howie smiled wanly. "Yeah. He was about yay long" --he held up his hands, four inches apart-- "thin, made of steel. Pointy. Sharp.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“Medicine cabinets are dangerous. Those doors, man. They'll just spring on you like a ninja.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“I suddenly realize that I'm naked, which shouldn't bother me since it's the phone, but for some reason it does.

"How's it hanging?" Kyra asks and now I think I'm blushing. It's just an expression, but jeez!”
― Barry Lyga, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

“A river of images and thoughts and feelings, dirtied and polluted so that no one could drink from it without gagging.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“ I'm strong thanks to you, Kyra. You're my strength." And who the hell as she to put that burden on me? I was her strength? Then what did that mean as the cancer ate her from the inside out? What did that mean as she got weaker and weaker and weaker? When the cancer migrated her brain and made her forget things and space out randomly?
You can't rely on other people to be your strength.
You have to be your own strength.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“Don't be stupid. You're a child. You don't know what it means to be in love." And she flung open the car door as if she wished she had the strength to rip it from the hinges, and stalked off to the house through the rain.

That night, I lay in bed, troubled by what she'd said, blocking out the sounds of argument from my parents' room. Was love what my parents had? Yelling at eachother, worrying about money? Never smiling? Never happy? If that was love, then I didn't want it.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“And I think of nothing.
I think of nothing but Rachel.
What happens next is pure magic, and is for us and us alone.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“We can know what love is. It’s adults who have forgotten, so they cling to their poor substitute and yell at kids who dare to live with real love. Pure love. Love without compromise or distraction. Hell, when you’re a kid you’ve got all the energy and all the free time in the world. You’ll never have the chance to devote more to love ever again in your life.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Jazz hadn't given her many details of exactly what life in the Dent house had been like, but he'd told her enough that she knew it wasn't hearts and flowers. Well, except for the occasional heart cut from a chest. And the kind of flowers you send to funerals.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“He moved to run a hand through her cornrows, then pulled back remembering the one time he's tried that-Connie had lectured him on the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not touch thy black girlfriend's hair. Ever.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“Unreal. I'm feeling nostalgic for something that happened less than twenty-four hours ago. This has got to be a record.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“You don’t break up with someone just because of an argument, Josh. At least, I don’t.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Here’s the thing about baseball-it’s not the individual sport I thought it was. Turns out I was wrong about that.

Yeah, the batter is a lone man against the world. He stands in the batter’s box like a soldier and it’s up to him-and him alone-what happens next.

But here’s the thing I didn’t understand until I was forced to, until recently: In order to hit a home run…

Someone else has to pitch the ball.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“There was some kind of X-men emergency, so all the teachers were gone. This happens every now and then. It's one of the perks of having super heroes for your teachers - when the world is about to end (which is like at least twice a month), school gets canceled. Heck, three weeks ago there was a big chemistry final for the upperclassmen. Beast was the teacher - he's this big, burly guy who can do acrobatic stuff like a monkey, but he also happens to be a super-genius. He's, like, legendary for his tough finals, so there were kids walking through the halls, going, "Oh, God, please let Galactus try to eat the earth. Please please please let there be an alien invasion by the Skrulls!”
― Barry Lyga, Wolverine: Worst Day Ever

“[She] was made up of skin and bones and hate and crazy, and hate and crazy don't weigh anything.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“At the end of the day, it's a series of individual challenges played out against a team defense. It's a psersonal test every time I step into the batter's box: Can I do better than the last time? And that's why I love it.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Someone's on the rag," she chides, then grabs her crotch as if adjusting a cup. "And it's not me.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Homecoming's stupid." And it is. Buch of kids looking for excuses to grope eachother all night.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“You can't rely on love. Love will let you down every time. Every. Single. Time.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“...She's not buying [the lie], but there's nothing else on the shelves.”
― Barry Lyga, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

“You and your scars. Please! You don't kill youself like this!" I gesture, holding a wrist turned up to the ceiling, then pretending to cut across it with my other hand. "That's just a cry for help. That's just attention. Everbody knows that. Cutting across just gets you to the hospital. That's just from movies and TV shows and stuff like that. You didn't really try to kill yourself. you just wanted attention, but you screwed up. Try harder next time.”
― Barry Lyga

“When you feel like things are out of control, you take control.
Yeah, that's what you do. Take control.
So, yeah.
Oh, yeah.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“You don't swing at any pitch. You swing at the ones you can hit.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“And it's true. It's so true. All those years of loving Zik because he never asked about Eve... I never realized, I never understood. It was his job as my best friend not to ask.

But it was my job as his best friend to tell him without being asked.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“It's not an easy choice, but that's OK. Easy doesn't equal good. Difficulty doesn't equal bad.

It's just life, is all.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Mom's already dead!" I yelled at him. "Who the hell do you think you're saving?"
And he just gave me his Sad, Tired look. It's one of the three he's got, the other two being Pissed Off and Blised Out on ESPN.”
― Barry Lyga, Goth Girl Rising

“Are you stalking me, Mr. Fulton?" The idea both amused and horrified Jazz.”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers

“Psychologist: "This, ah, is a new sort of, ah, psychopathology that we're only now beginning to, ah, understand. These, ah, super-serial killers have no, ah, 'type' but, ah, rather consider everyone to be their 'type.'"
Gramma: "Did you hear that? Your daddy's a superhero!”
― Barry Lyga, I Hunt Killers - Free Preview (The First 10 Chapters): with Bonus Prequel Short Story "Career Day"

“In baseball, when you get into the batter's box, that's it. It's just you. It's one man against the world. All that matters in that moment is your individual achievement and your individual skill. There is literally nothing that anyone else on your team can do for you. Hell, they're all sitting on the bench, waiting to see what happens, just like the fans in the crowd! It's just you and your bat.

And the ball.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“I usually tug my helmet's brim once, then push it back up into position, but I'm not wearing a helmet. I'm embarrassed to find myself miming the action through sheer muscle memory.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“My heart went into triple time, like that burst you get when you realize the ball is going over the heads of all the outfielders.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Cars are little privacy cocoons that we take with us. If you could refuel while driving you could, theoretically, stay moving forever.”
― Barry Lyga, Boy Toy

“Kevin: 'Hey, Dad. How do you stop people from being stupid?'

Dad: 'You don't.'

Kevin: 'Really?'

Dad: 'I've tried to explain to people when they're being stupid, but then I realized something: Most people like being stupid.'

Kevin: 'I don't get it.'

Dad: 'Some people just prefer it. It makes their lives easier if they let other people think for them.'

Kevin: 'But that doesn't make sense. That's just stu...Oh...”
― Barry Lyga, Hero-Type

“He turns to the Council. 'Sounds like Foolish behavior to me, boys. I hereby nominate the human race for membership in the Council of Fools!' He raises both arms and shouts to the sky. 'Humanity! Join us! Join your masters! All opposed, say nay!"

And then nothing but silence and Flip's panting as he strains, listening.

'There are no dissenting votes!' he cries. 'I hereby admit humanity to the Council of Fools!' He punches the air in triumph. 'Dude,' he says, grinning, 'I just upped our membership by six billion. Not bad, huh?”
― Barry Lyga, Hero-Type

“ I don't know and I don't care anymore. I was supposed to have my way for once, just once in my life. I did everything right and I got nothing for it.
I want to kill them all. no, better yet, I want to die. No, even bettter than that: I want to kill them all then die.”
― Barry Lyga, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl