Sharp Objects Quotes

“being conflicted means you can live a shallow life without copping to being a shallow person.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“I hope you’re feeling better about yourself too, Camille. That’s an important thing, liking oneself. A good attitude infects just as easily as a bad one.” “Enjoy the horses.” “I always do.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Sometimes if you let people do things to you, you’re really doing it to them,”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“There was just me, left wretched in my childhood bed.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Reporters are like vampires, Curry likes to say. They can't come into your home without your invitation, but once they're there, you won't get them out till they've sucked you dry.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“No wedding ring. I wondered when I began to notice such things.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Most sows are repeatedly inseminated, brood after brood, till their bodies give way and they go to slaughter. But while they’re still useful, they’re made to nurse—strapped to their sides in a farrowing crate, legs apart, nipples exposed. Pigs are extremely smart, sociable creatures, and this forced assembly-line intimacy makes the nursing sows want to die. Which, as soon as they dry up, they do.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Angie’s house looked like a child’s drawing of a mansion: It was so generic it was barely three-dimensional.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“What are you doing here?” asked the prettiest. Her flushed face had the roundness of a girl barely in her teens and her hair was parted in ribbons, but her breasts, which she aimed proudly outward, were those of a grown woman. A lucky grown woman.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“I’ve always been partial to the image of liquor as lubrication - a layer of protection from all the sharp thoughts in your head.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“We have some great museums. You'd love the lake."
"I don't know that I can enjoy any kind of water anymore."
"Why not?" I already knew.
"After that little girl, little Ann Nash, was left in the creek to drown." She paused to take a sip of her iced tea. "I knew her, you know."
Amma whined and began fidgeting in her seat.
"She wasn't drowned though," I said, knowing my correction would annoy her. "She was strangled. She just ended up in the creek."
"And then the Keene girl. I was fond of both of them. Very fond." She stared away wistfully, and Alan put his hand over hers. Amma stood up, released a little scream the way an excited puppy might suddenly bark, and ran upstairs.
"Poor thing," my mother said. "She's having nearly as hard a time as I am."
"She actually saw the girls every day, so I'm sure she is," I said peevishly in spite of myself. "How did you know them?"
"Wind Gap, I need not remind you, is a small town. They were sweet, beautiful little girls. Just beautiful."
"But you didn't really know them."
"I did know them. I knew them well."
"How?"
"Camille, please try not to do this. I've just told you that I am upset and unnerved, and instead of being comforting, you attack me."
"So. You've sworn off all bodies of water in the future, then?"
My mother emitted a quick, creaky sound. "You need to shut up now, Camille." She folded the napkin around the remains of her pear like a swaddling and left the room. Alan followed her with his manic whistling, like an old-time piano player lending drama to a silent movie.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“A child weaned on poison considers harm a comfort”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“stared at me a few beats with his watery”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Lately, I’ve been leaning toward kindness.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Lately, I’ve been leaning toward kindness”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“I believe it. Could I trouble you for a glass of water?” Another time-honored ploy: A woman is less likely to throw you out if she’s offered her hospitality. If you have allergies or a cold, asking for a tissue is even better. Women love vulnerability. Most women.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“I remember the shock of hearing my college roommate talk to her mother on the phone: The detailed minutia, her lack of censorship seemed decadent.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Questions are discouraged, considered prying.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“I’m here, I said, and it felt shockingly comforting, those words. When I’m panicked, I say them aloud to myself. I’m here. I don’t usually feel that I am. I feel like a warm gust of wind could exhale my way and I’d be disappeared forever, not even a sliver of fingernail left behind.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Poor thing,” my mother said. “She’s having nearly as hard a time as I am.” “She actually saw the girls every day, so I’m sure she is,” I said peevishly in spite of myself. “How did you know them?” “Wind Gap, I need not remind you, is a small town. They were sweet, beautiful little girls. Just beautiful.” “But you didn’t really know them.” “I did know them. I knew them well.” “How?” “Camille, please try not to do this. I’ve just told you that I am upset and unnerved, and instead of being comforting, you attack me.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Natalie was buried in the family plot, next to a gravestone that already bore her parents' names. I know the wisdom, that no parents should see their child die, that such an event is like nature spun backward. But it's the only way to truly keep your child. Kids grow up, they forge more potent allegiances. They find a spouse or a lover. They will not be buried with you. The Keenes, however, will remain the purest form of family. Underground.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Alan was sitting on the front porch reading a large, leather-bound book entitled only Horses.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“For the sake of full disclosure, I should add that my mother owns the whole operation and receives approximately $1.2 million in profits from it annually. She lets other people run it.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“A few quick cuts and cunt becomes can’t, cock turns into back, clit transforms to a very unlikely cat, the l and i turned into a teetering capital A.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Women get consumed. Not surprising, considering the sheer amount of traffic a woman’s body experiences.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“We were near my mother’s house now, and my high was in full bloom. My hair swished on my shoulders like warm water and I swayed side to side to no particular music. A snail shell lay on the edge of the sidewalk and my eyes looped into its curlicue.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“The waiting room had the false homey feel of a dentist’s office;”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“I’m not sure I understood what you said. Who was wearing a nightgown?” I kept my eye on the bouncing ball. “The woman who took Natalie.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“No, no. I could barely stand, much less give speeches. I can’t believe you can’t remember these things, Camille. I’d think you’d be embarrassed to have forgotten so much.” “I was only thirteen when she died, Momma. Remember, I was young.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

“Only two men were needed to carry the shiny white coffin. Any more and they would have been bumping into each other.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects