Keith Scheessele > Keith's Quotes

“Only a small section of the box’s interior had been left visible by the original muralist, but it was here, in a dark corner of the chest, that a second artist had come along and inscribed a single word, Hope.”
― Nikki Erlick, The Measure

“The truth is, it didn’t matter what or how hard we yelled. Nothing was coming back to us.”
― Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead

“He who gets behind in a race must forever remain behind or run faster than the man in front.”
― Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys

“But it was one thing to allow someone to kill for you and another to let him live next door.”
― Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys

“The world had whispered its rules to him for his whole life and he refused to listen, hearing instead a higher order.”
― Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys

“living taught you that you didn’t have to live the way you’d been taught to live.”
― Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle

“President Theodore Roosevelt once trekked up there and hailed his hike as “the trip that bankrupts the English language.”
― Joe Kenda, All Is Not Forgiven

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
― David Koepp, Aurora

“There but for the grace of God go I,”
― David Koepp, Aurora

“Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, and the experience of the billions who came before us, it’s still hard to get our heads around the idea that we are going to die.”
― David Koepp, Aurora

“Hewey called it “heiliger Schauer,” the holy shiver of being caught in a predator’s gaze.”
― Daniel Kraus, Whalefall

“TAK Sperm whale clicks are the loudest sounds ever made by a living thing.”
― Daniel Kraus, Whalefall

“Truth never outweighs mercy.”
― Daniel Kraus, Whalefall

“The simple sharing of hope, its weight not so heavy after all, is a wonder.”
― Daniel Kraus, Whalefall

“No one carries the best parts of themselves. The best parts are those held inside of others.”
― Daniel Kraus, Whalefall

“A single life is nothing but a spark. The explosion is everything after death, the generations of reverberation. Every consumed morsel of your body, your wisdom, your kindness, your art, is another bid for perfection, a chance to get it right this time, or next time, or the time after that. There is no death.”
― Daniel Kraus, Whalefall

“To be a human was to continually dumb the world down into an understandable story that keeps things simple.”
― Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

“There was no escape from the past. The struggle against it only entangled him deeper in the fear of the future. There was no place for him to go. No place he could hide. No place where his enemy didnt exist. No escape from unconscious wakefulness. There was no rest.”
― Hubert Selby Jr., The Room

“A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.”
― John Marrs, The Passengers

“I believe that to pursue the American Dream is not only futile but self-destructive because ultimately it destroys everything and everyone involved with it. By definition it must, because it nurtures everything except those things that are important: integrity, ethics, truth, our very heart and soul. Why? The reason is simple: because Life/life is giving, not getting.”
― Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream

“Theres sorrow and pain in everyones life, but every now and then theres a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot soup and a soft bed.”
― Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream

“There was a voice, loud and clear, saying they were hooked, but good, and they tried to shrug it away but it persisted, more as a feeling than a voice, that permeated their every cell just as the dope they were addicted to had already done, and they tried combating it with another voice saying so what, it was no big deal, they could stop any time they wanted to, it was no big thing and what else was there?”
― Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream

“this new word torments me unceasingly, returns again and again, takes up my thoughts, and makes me serious. I had fully formed an opinion as to what it should not signify, but had come to no conclusion as to what it should signify.”
― Knut Hamsun, Hunger

“I fondled this thought sentimentally, and each time I still hoped for a possible succour I whispered repudiatingly: "You fool, you have already begun to die.”
― Knut Hamsun, Hunger

“The nightmare wasnt always exactly the same but after it was over it always seemed as if it had been. Year after year Harry would bolt up in bed occasionally, near dead with terror, trying to shove the weight off his chest so he could breathe and then slowly some familiar object would be seen and he would know he was finally awake.”
― Hubert Selby Jr., Last Exit to Brooklyn

“He had another cup of coffee, another cake, gulping them down, still looking at the clock every few minutes feeling a need to rush, no thought from what or to where, but only a vague yet crushing pressure of time, time that seemed to wrap itself around him like a python.”
― Hubert Selby Jr., Last Exit to Brooklyn

“After the slow ages of nothing, I craved a hideous din.”
― Michael S.A. Graziano, The Divine Farce

“Don’t swim with the dolphins during a labor dispute. No matter how much they try to convince you otherwise.”
― John Scalzi, Starter Villain

“I went to Northwestern,” I said, only a little defensively. “Oooooh, Northwestern,” Who Gives a Shit said. “Fucking doormat of the Big Ten, you must be very proud.”
― John Scalzi, Starter Villain

“I went to Northwestern,” I said, only a little defensively. “Oooooh, Northwestern,” Who Gives a Shit said. “Fucking doormat of the Big Ten, you must be very proud.” “Doormat! Doormat!” “You’re forgetting about Rutgers,” I said, but then looked back at Livgren. “Still a fairly esoteric bit of information for a sea creature.”
― John Scalzi, Starter Villain