The Bazaar of Bad Dreams Quotes

“The reason fantasy fiction remains such a vital and necessary genre is that it lets us talk about such things in a way realistic fiction cannot.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Arr, reality’s a dirty place with no religion in it.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“It is the flush, Judge Beecher thinks, of a man who enjoys his tipple.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“If Pete Simmons had been twenty, he might have asked a lot of bullshit questions that didn’t matter.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“it’s always the end for now, and in real life, the only full stop is on the obituary page.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Freud offended me. He seemed to feel that any suggestion of depth in human nature was an illusion.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Life was a short shelf that came with bookends.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Life’s a great thing, but if you live long enough, it wears out before it runs out.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“A man’s life was five dogs long, Cortland believed.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Balzac once said, ‘Behind every great fortune there is a crime.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Sometimes the teacher is inside us.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Because – dig it – when it comes to death, what can you do but laugh?”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“She was a Florida snowbird archetype, about eighty, permed to perfection, and as darkly tanned as a cordovan shoe. She looked at me, looked away, then did a double take. “I know you,” she said. “You’re Stephen King. You write those scary stories. That’s all right, some people like them, but not me. I like uplifting stories, like that Shawshank Redemption.” “I wrote that too,” I said. “No you didn’t,” she said, and went on her way.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“I hate the assumption that you can’t write about something because you haven’t experienced it, and not just because it assumes a limit on the human imagination, which is basically limitless. It also suggests that some leaps of identification are impossible. I refuse to accept that, because it leads to the conclusion that real change is beyond us, and so is empathy. The idea is false on the evidence.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Billy Ederle’s leaning in the doorway, drinking a Nozzy.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“I want you to know: how glad I am, Constant Reader, that we’re both still here. Cool, isn’t it?”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Tommy died in 1969. He was a hippie with leukemia. Bummer, man.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“When they argue they’re like greyhounds chasing the mechanical rabbit. You go past the same scenery time after time, but you don’t see the landscape. You see the rabbit.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“There is a folk tale that before birth, every human soul knows all the secrets of life and death and the universe. But then, just before birth, an angel leans down, puts his finger to the new baby’s lips, and whispers ‘Shhh.’” Harris touches his philtrum. “According to the story, this is the mark left by the angel’s finger. Every human being has one.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“want you to know: how glad I am, Constant Reader, that we’re both still here. Cool, isn’t it?”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“A man and a woman rush up. The woman raises her own cell phone and takes a picture with it. Pauline Enslin observes this without much surprise. She supposes the woman will show it to friends later. Then they will have drinks and a meal and talk about the grace of God and how everything happens for a reason. God’s grace is a pretty cool concept. It stays intact every time it’s not you.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“The Echo was a rag specializing in yard sales, area sports, and town politics. The residents scanned those things, he supposed, but mostly bought the paper for the obituaries and Police Beat. Everybody liked to know which of their neighbors had died or been jailed.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“She had also grown up knowing you ate no shit—not about your hosses, your size, your line of work, or your sexual preferences. Once you started eating shit, it had a way of becoming your regular diet.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“quot libros, quam breve tempus—”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Here, sit down beside me. And do come a little closer. I don’t bite. Except . . . we’ve known each other for a very long time, and I suspect you know that’s not entirely true. Is it?”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Only, like most thieves who don’t get caught—our current governor might be a case in point—he called himself a businessman.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“Memory’s job was not only to recall the past but to burnish it.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“I hate the assumption that you can’t write about something because you haven’t experienced it, and not just because it assumes a limit on the human imagination, which is basically limitless.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“When it comes to writing fiction, long or short, the learning curve never ends. I may be a Professional Writer to the IRS when I file my tax return, but in creative terms, I’m still an amateur, still learning my craft. We all are.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

“I hate the assumption that you can’t write about something because you haven’t experienced it, and not just because it assumes a limit on the human imagination, which is basically limitless. It also suggests that some leaps of identification are impossible. I refuse to accept that, because it leads to the conclusion that real change is beyond us, and so is empathy.”
― Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams