Knockemstiff Quotes

“I'm beginning to believe that anything I do to extend my life is just going to be outweighed by the agony of living it.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“A lot of people get the wrong impression, think there's something romantic or tragic about hitting bottom.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“When you first heard him talking about it, you'd figure he was batshit crazy, but really, he was just trying to fill up his days so he didn't have to think about what a fucking mess he had made of everything. It's the same for most of us; forgetting our lives might be the best we'll ever do.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“Look, girls don't care how many push-ups you can do. They just want to get high and wear flowers in their hair. Maybe steal a car.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“I don't know,' Del said. 'I read this book. I guess you could say we were looking for a better life.'
'Did you find it?' the Fish Stick Girl asked.
'No, it was just a goddamn book. I ain't read one since.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“Because of who we were, I already knew what we would do.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“The Oxys filled holes in me I hadn't realized were empty. It was, at least for those first few months, a wonderful way to be disabled. I felt blessed.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“A damp, gray sky covered southern Ohio like the skin of a corpse.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“The glass door swung open and two big, homely women walked in looking guilty. They were the kind of women who, out of sheer loneliness, end up doing kinky stuff with candy bars and wake up with apple fritters in their hair.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“Six months ago, her old doctor at the Henry J. Hamilton Rehabilitation Centee had put her back on all her medications after somebody disguised in a paper bag had tried to strangle her in front of the Tobacco Friendly. Though she described the sack perfectly, even drew a picture of it down at the station, the cops never found a single suspect.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“It was just what my old man always claimed about my mother after she took off- "If she had all of 'em stickin' out of her that's been stuck in her, she'd look like a fuckin' porcupine.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“Pressed into the gray scum of the tub, our boot prints looked like those fossil feet frozen in rocks that my crazy cousins said the Devil had planted all over the world to trick people into believing that we came from frog shit and monkeys.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“You can't be a pussy all your life Todd. Someday you're just gonna have to say fuck it.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“Jimmy's eyes would turn as red and sticky as candy, and his head would fall back against the seat in a dream. If he were lucky tonight, maybe he would see something that he hadn't seen before. And then it would be my turn.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“I lapped the blood off my knuckles. The dried flakes dissolved in my mouth, turning my spit to syrup. Even after I’d swallowed all the blood, I kept licking my hands. I tore at the skin with my teeth. I wanted more. I would always want more.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“It seemed that I always talked about shit that I didn’t want to talk about, but could never say the things I wanted to say.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“The Oxy filled holes in me I hadn’t even realized were empty. It was, at least for those first few months, a wonderful way to be disabled. I felt blessed. In reality, though, my life was now on a downward course. Under the influence of the Oxy, I lost even the ambition to steal other people’s belongings.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“To make matters worse, she kept bugging the shit out of him with these fish sticks she reeled up from the bottomless pond of a plastic purse. They were cold and greasy, feathered with gray lint. And even though she was probably the best woman Del Murray had ever been with—gobs of bare-knuckle sex, the latest psychotropic drugs, a government check—he was still embarrassed to be seen with her in public. Anyone who’s ever dated a retard will understand what he was up against.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“I found myself wishing I had a loved one who would die and leave me their barbiturates, but I couldn’t think of anyone who’d ever loved me that much.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“Somebody had etched WILL WORK FOR DOPE across the grime of the window with a shaky finger. Del turned away satisfied that he would never get that bad.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“It was the kind of place that Del would always gravitate toward later on, the kind of dump where something always happens that nobody wants to admit happened.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“Though I won’t go so far as to say I hate him, I guess I wouldn’t mind if he dropped over dead right now.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“Ever since his wife died back in the spring, the old man has kept his front door open, even at night. Animals and insects congregate there like fat people at a free dinner.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff

“I wake up with a sick headache from all the Blue Ribbon. It’s the kind of fucking headache that almost makes me wish I’d taken my mother’s advice and knocked up a Christian girl who’d lay down the law.”
― Donald Ray Pollock, Knockemstiff