Riley Sager > Quotes

“There were no villains in this story. Nor were there heroes.
Just a neighborhood of flawed people, some more than others.”
― Riley Sager , Middle of the Night

“I have plenty of friends who are boys, most of them gay or too socially awkward to consider a romantic relationship.”
― Riley Sager, The Last Time I Lied

“You want to know if I’m as evil as everyone says I am. The answer is no. And yes.”
― Riley Sager, The Only One Left

“Instead of friends, I have acquaintances.”
― Riley Sager, Final Girls

“That is, after all, what I’m being paid to do. Live there. Occupy the place. Breathe life into it, as Leslie put it during that surreal interview.”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“He was, in many ways, a terrific dad, and not just because he spoiled me rotten. He was attentive and kind. He never talked down to me, like my mother did. And he never, ever underestimated me.”
― Riley Sager, Home Before Dark

“When someone shows a book this much love, they deserve a copy just for them.”
― Riley Sager, Middle of the Night

“God, she must think I'm insane. I'd think the same thing if I didn't know the reasons behind my recklessness.”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“I honestly have no idea how to respond. Do I feel relaxed after being suspended without pay six months ago? Is it refreshing being forced to sleep in my childhood bedroom and tiptoe around my silent, seething father, whose disappointment colors our every interaction?”
― Riley Sager, The Only One Left

“Even though a mere minute in her company has left me exhausted, I follow.”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“It sounds like a floorboard, emitting the faintest of creaks. I sit up and scan the room, looking for—well, I don’t know what to expect. An intruder? A burglar? The mansion beginning its inevitable slide into the Atlantic? But there’s nothing to see.”
― Riley Sager, The Only One Left

“No visitors? Even prisons allow visitors!”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“I’m surprised, until I notice her wan and tired appearance.”
― Riley Sager, The Last Time I Lied

“There’s no such a thing as too much sweetness, Quincy”, he told me. “All the best bakers know this. There needs to be a counterpoint. Something dark. Or bitter. Or sour. Unsweetened chocolate. Cardamom and cinnamon. Lemon and lime. They cut through all the sugar, taming it just enough so that when you do taste the sweetness, you appreciate it all the more.”
― Riley Sager, Final Girls

“I've grown accustomed to those dark, quiet hours in the middle of the night, when it feels like I'm the only man in the world not asleep.”
― Riley Sager, Middle of the Night

“Instead of making a right, I go left, accidentally taking a few steps toward a door at the end of the hallway. It’s wider than the others, locked in place with a deadbolt.”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“Because I was tired of strangers vaguely recognizing it when I was introduced to them. Because I hated the way their features froze, if only for a second, when their memories clicked. Because it made me sick knowing my name and His will forever be associated. Coop ultimately talked me out of it. He said I should hold on to my name as a stubborn point of pride. Changing it wouldn’t separate the name Quincy Carpenter from the horrors of Pine Cottage. Keeping it could, if I moved on and made something of myself.”
― Riley Sager, Final Girls

“That's the real reason I love the book so much. It's the happy ending Jane deserved. Not the grim one she in all likelihood received.”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“Definitely. Scary enough to make him want to turn around and go the other way? Absolutely.”
― Riley Sager, Middle of the Night

“I’m not an alcoholic. I can quit at any time. I just don’t want to.”
― Riley Sager, The House Across the Lake

“I want Sam to witness firsthand the formula behind baking and to experience its safety; I want her to see how it’s helped me become more than just a girl screaming through the woods away from Pine Cottage.”
― Riley Sager, Final Girls

“My heart’s too shattered to melt, and there’s no such thing as happily ever after. There’s only happy for a short period of time before everything falls apart.”
― Riley Sager, The House Across the Lake

“Because here’s the thing about being poor—most people don’t understand it unless they’ve been there themselves.”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“I once made out with an altar boy in the confessional during Christmas mass.”
― Riley Sager, The Last Time I Lied

“I exhale, releasing the breath I hadn’t known I was holding in.”
― Riley Sager, Middle of the Night

“I won’t stay long. Never impose. That’s a bit of advice many from your generation should heed more often.”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“There’s surprise in his voice, as if women are somehow incapable of boldness. Or maybe his surprise stems from the fact that, in person, I’m anything but bold. Compared with other outsize personalities in the art world, I’m positively demure. No all-purple ensemble or flashy footwear for me. Tonight’s little black dress and black pumps with a kitten heel are as fancy as I get. Most days I dress in the same combination of khakis and paint-specked T-shirts. My only jewelry is the silver charm bracelet always wrapped around my left wrist. Hanging from it are three charms—tiny birds made of brushed pewter”
― Riley Sager, The Last Time I Lied

“What I can’t understand is why. If he wanted to talk, he could have revealed himself. Instead, he continued to creep between the Hawthorne Institute and my backyard, usually with a baseball in hand.”
― Riley Sager, Middle of the Night

“And as I watched my mother's casket lowered into the ground, the main thought running through my head was how much I regretted being such a little [brat] about something as innocuous as cereal”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“worry is a by-product of love.”
― Riley Sager, Middle of the Night