"The truth is always an insult or a joke, lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyones comfort" - Arturo Binewski."
— Katherine Dunn

"I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out. "
— Katherine Dunn

"They thought to use and shame me but I win out by nature, because a true freak cannot be made. A true freak must be born."
— Katherine Dunn (Geek Love: A Novel)

"But I think everybody should write. I think those people with stories who don't write should be stomped on. "
— Katherine Dunn

"There is neither happiness nor unhappiness in this world; there is only the comparison of one state with another. Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss. It is necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.....the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and Hope."
— Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo)

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."
— Joan Didion

"I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends."
— Joan Didion (Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays)