Mel > Mel's Quotes

“He has a chronic condition. They found the stick up his ass when we were just kids and the doctors said we couldn't remove it without killing him. Naturally, we all tried as hard as we could to pull it out, but the stubborn bastard never gave us an inch. See, he's a tight-ass, too. It's tragic, really, when you think about it. Sometimes I lay awake at night trying to figure out which came first… The stick, or the tight ass.”
― Penelope Bloom, His Banana

“We were a society dying, said Aunt Lydia, of too much choice.”
― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale

“It scares you, though. Let me tell you, don't be scared…of anything. It's not good. It's the root of everything bad—everything. Anger, hate, violence, it all comes from fear. It gums up the world machine, complicates the universe.”
― John F.D. Taff, Earth & Ember

“The short answer to what's going on is that the world is resetting itself, like a computer or an errant piece of machinery. First it purges the problem, then it resets and continues." "What's the problem?" "Fear. Simple as that. Fear. There's so much of it that it's gumming up the system,
obstructing the world from its true purpose.”
― John F.D. Taff, Earth & Ember

“Humanity had spread like a virus, replicating itself again and again until there was no room left for anything else. Sacrifices needed to be made for the rest of the planet to survive. “Time’s up,” the trees sneered.”
― April A. Taylor, Sinkhole

“It never makes any sense, you know? Being mean never makes any sense.”
― Nora Roberts, The Rise of Magicks

“He always said the same thing, no matter what book they were reading. He always opened it and brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply and said, “Ugh. I love this book.” “You say that about every book,” Jane would say, giggling. “Because I love every book! Don’t you just love books, Janie? I love books so much I could eat them.”
― Katrina Leno, Horrid

“She nods, seemingly pleased with herself. “I already knew your name. Girls scream it so loud it practically makes my bedroom wall quake in orgasm along with them.” The hell did she just say?”
― J.B. Heller, Pink Bits

“If you say so. You know your hobby is a bit strange, right?” “I do. But so what? It makes me happy.” It struck a chord, the way something so simple could make her happy.”
― Vi Keeland, The Invitation

“Ever since I was a child, I have preferred to inhabit the fictional lives of others, hiding in stories that have happier endings than my own; we are what we read.”
― Alice Feeney, I Know Who You Are

“We are all conditioned and fine-tuned to our own unique brand of normal; we wear it like a fingerprint. We’re taught to fit in with others and learn what is expected of us from the moment we are born. Everything we ever do is an act.”
― Alice Feeney, I Know Who You Are

“You can’t allow the past to steal your present, but if you siphon off just the right amount, it can help fuel your future.”
― Alice Feeney, I Know Who You Are

“We rarely deserve the lives we lead. We pay for them however we can, be it with money, guilt, or regret.”
― Alice Feeney, His & Hers

“Sometimes I find the only way to ease the worst forms of pain is to damage myself in a different way. Distract my attention from the things that can and will break me. A little hurt to help me heal.”
― Alice Feeney, His & Hers

“I mean, is translating experience into words an achievement at all? Or is it just the cause of all our unhappiness? Is it our tragedy and our ongoing conceit? The world gets carried away with words, phrases, and elaborate paragraphs. One word leads to another and soon enough you have affairs, wars, genocide and the Anthropocene.”
― Richard Flanagan, The Living Sea of Waking Dreams

“I think sometimes in life we have to go for the gusto, and if people don’t think we’re acting ridiculous, then we’re not trying hard enough.”
― Vi Keeland, Dirty Letters

“Do not be a fool when the moment requires you to be something else.”
― Dan Alatorre, An Angel On Her Shoulder

“When I wonder how I became the zombie I am now, how I could have gotten so lost, it always traces back to that moment—the moment I put my soul on the shelf to make room for the devil.”
― Chevy Stevens, Still Missing

“Miranda would have a stack of textbooks open on her passenger seat, because she was so nerdy that her idea of texting and driving involved chemistry books instead of a cell phone.”
― Penelope Bloom, Anyone But Rich

“I told myself that when I grew up, I wasn’t going to let that happen to me. And I managed for a while. But then something unexpected happened, and I had to dig myself a little hole of debt to deal with it. Then to fill in that hole, I had to dig another, this one a little bigger. After a while, there were so many holes that I was bound to fall into one and not be able to get out. It’s hard. Life is hard. And too damn expensive.”
― Riley Sager, Lock Every Door

“Sometimes I wonder if women actually commit more crimes, it’s just the men who always get caught. Women are so much cleverer.”
― J.R. Erickson, Dark River Inn

“There is something soothing about the act of writing, a drug that lures you into another world, but then forgets to stop, and sometimes carries you all of the way into sleep.”
― A.R. Torre, The Ghostwriter

“What I know is less important than what the world sees,” Kit said. “Allow me to indulge in a little allegory. Art. Art is not one great act of creation, but many small ones. When you read one of my poems, you fail to see the weeks of careful work it took me to build it—the thinking, the scratched-out words, the pages I burned in disgust. All you see, in the end, is what I want you to see. Such is politics.”
― Samantha Shannon, The Priory of the Orange Tree

“The slate stones have pitched up, their edges peeking out of the ground, and they wiggle under her feet like loose baby teeth.”
― Paul Tremblay, A Head Full of Ghosts