Brandon > Brandon's Quotes

“Sometimes skulls are thick. Sometimes hearts are vacant. Sometimes words don't work. ”
― James Frey, A Million Little Pieces

“Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.”
― Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

“People don't get to change things. Things change people once in a while, but people don't change things.”
― Lawrence Block, In the Midst of Death

“It's a stark thought that when we die most of us will leave behind uneaten biscuits, unused coffee, half toilet rolls, half cartons of milk in the fridge to go sour; that everyday functional things will outlive us and prove that we weren't ready to go; that we weren't smart or knowing or heroic; that we were just animals whose animal bodies stopped working without any sort of schedule or any consent from us.”
― Steven Hall, The Raw Shark Texts

“Anything you can imagine is probably true. And the worst you can imagine is probably worth money.”
― Will Christopher Baer, Hell's Half Acre

“When it came to the dark fuckery of the human heart, there seemed to be no limit.”
― Stephen King, Full Dark, No Stars

“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
― Mark Twain

“In the end, I think the relationships that survive in this world are the ones where two people can finish each other's sentences. Forget drama and torrid sex and the clash of opposites. Give me banter any day of the week. ”
― Douglas Coupland, Hey Nostradamus!

“As honest as you can expect a man to be in a world where its going out of style.”
― Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

“You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that, oil and water were the same as wind and air to you. You just slept the big sleep, not caring about the nastiness of how you died or where you fell. Me, I was part of the nastiness now. Far more a part of it than Rusty Regan was.”
― Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

“Joel Cairo: You always have a very smooth explanation ready.
Sam Spade: What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon

“I'm all done with hating you. It's all washed out of me. I hate people hard, but I don't hate them very long.”
― Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake

“I'm going to drink his blood, I'm going to chew up his heart and spit it into the gutter for the dogs to raise a leg at. I'm going to peel the skin off him and rip out his veins and hang him with them.”
― Richard Stark, The Hunter

“Fuck you! I hope you die!"
"Everybody Dies," I said. "So fuck you.”
― Lawrence Block, Everybody Dies

“I'm calling it the Watney Triangle because after what I've been through, shit on Mars should be named after me.”
― Andy Weir, The Martian

“And the most dangerous place on earth— Is where you’re safe.”
― Don Winslow, The Power of the Dog

“Take care. It seems to me that people have only been saying that phrase on parting for the past few years or so. All of a sudden everyone started to say it, as if the whole country abruptly recognized that ours is a world which demands caution.”
― Lawrence Block, The Sins of the Fathers

“Eventually the Woodsman spoke. ‘We all have our routines,’ he said softly. ‘But they must have a purpose and provide an outcome that we can see and take some comfort from, or else they have no use at all. Without that, they are like the endless pacings of a caged animal. If they are not madness itself, then they are a prelude to it.’

The Woodsman stood and showed David his axe.

‘See here,’ he said, pointing with his finger at the blade. Every morning, I make certain that me axe is clean and keen. I look to my house and check that its windows and doors remain secure. I tend to my land, disposing of weeds and ensuring that the soil is watered. I walk through the forest, clearing those paths that need to be kept open. Where trees have been damaged, I do my best to repair what has been harmed. these are my routines and I enjoy doing them well.’

He laid a hand gently on David’s shoulder, and David saw understanding in his face. ‘Rules and routines are good, but they must give you satisfaction. Can you truly say you gain that from touching and counting?’

David shook his head. ‘No,’ he said, ‘but I get scared when I don’t do them. I’m afraid of what might happen.’

‘Then find routines that allow you to feel secure when they are done. You told me that you have a new brother: look to him each morning. Look to your father, and your stepmother. Tend to the flowers in the garden, or in the pots upon the window sill. Seek others who are weaker than you are, and try to give them comfort where you can. Let these be your routines, and the rules that govern your life.”
― John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things

“When it worked, reading could take away the burden of time.”
― Nic Pizzolatto, Galveston

“But when fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.”
― Stephen King, ’Salem’s Lot

“I feel simultaneously intensely insignificant and hyperaware of how important everyone is.”
― Emily R. Austin, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead