Black Mad Wheel Quotes

“Philosophy doesn’t travel at the same speed technology does. It takes a man forty years to realize what it took his father forty years to realize. And what’s worse, he resists the truths his father’s come to know, until he learns them himself. Meanwhile, technology doesn’t wait. All a man has to do is add another piece to his father’s technological puzzle and the machines, the weapons, the means, are stronger. In the end you have an army with the same philosophy of the cavemen, but with the weapons of ten billion artless minds.”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“Maybe it’s because people can’t see the end that they agree to begin.”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“If there’s one thing that stands out above all others in my research, it’s that history doesn’t sit still. Doesn’t sit silent. It makes noise.”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“How can any man know how serious he is about something he says he’s going to do until he does it?”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“There are five thousand species of insect and animal who are hidden, watching us, listening to us right now. And we figured out how to blend in with the trees. Is that our big achievement, Private Tonka? We’re finally as smart as the bugs?”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“Don’t get killed,” Marla says. “I won’t.” “Oh yeah?” “That’s not my story. Not how my story is gonna end.” “That’s just about the most naïve thing I’ve ever heard you say. You think anybody thinks their story is gonna end the way it does?”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“America doesn’t need you, son. America needs a psychiatrist.”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“Philosophy doesn’t travel at the same speed technology does. It takes a man forty years to realize what it took his father forty years to realize. And what’s worse, he resists the truths his father’s come to know, until he learns them himself. Meanwhile, technology doesn’t wait. All a man has to do is add another piece to his father’s technological puzzle and the machines, the weapons, the means, are stronger. In the end you have an army with the same philosophy of the cavemen, but with the weapons of ten billion artless minds. Do”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“By 1914 the world wised up. And you know what we got out of it? Do you know what thousands of years of military uniforms have delivered us? Camouflage. With the advent of camouflage came the inability to distinguish between armies. More soldiers died of friendly fire than at any point in military history. It was like a fun house out there, soldiers facing distorted images of themselves, firing half out of fright. It’d become a matter of hiding, surprise, not unlike using a deer blind to hunt. Surprise was the word of the day. And rightfully so. Everything was an ambush. Can you imagine meeting another army across an open battlefield today? Can you imagine waiting for our generals to formally inaugurate that battle? Shaking hands?! No. Now we hide. We hide because they hide, and they hide because we hide, and everybody’s hiding because nobody wants to be out in the open anymore. The End of Bright Colors.”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“Don’t dream of anything too horrible,” she says. “And if you do, just add a naked woman on roller skates. That always puts an end to a bad dream.”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“It’s the spaces between words, the downbeats in a conversation in which two people feel bad for having fought.”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“War is embarrassing, Mom would say. And none of this fighting will mean anything in ten years. Of course she was both right and wrong about that. Twelve years removed from the war, it did feel a lot less important. And yet . . . the world had changed. In many ways for the better. And if Ross were given the chance to contribute like that again . . . . . . shouldn’t he?”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel

“who once believed that a man was defined by how much awe he struck in others.”
― Josh Malerman, Black Mad Wheel