The Guncle Quotes

“Grief orbits the heart. Some days the circle is greater. Those are the good days. You have room to move and dance and breathe. Some days the circle is tighter. Those are the hard ones.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Guncle Rule number eight: Live your life to the fullest every single day, because every day is a gift. That’s why people die. To teach us the importance of living.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“need you to remember something. We’ll call it Guncle Rule sweet sixteen: I want you to really live. To live is the rarest of things. Most people merely exist.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Books should be an experience, he thought, not a trophy for having read them.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“People who love each other fight. The opposite of love isn’t anger. It’s indifference. When people stop fighting, that’s when you should be worried.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Normal is a terrible thing to aspire to,” Patrick had said. “Aim higher.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“What do we say in this house? Boys can do girl things and girls can do boy things. That’s not even a Guncle Rule, there shouldn’t even be boy things and girl things to begin with. People should just do what they want.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Why do you like boys?” Grant asked sourly, but with slightly more boredom than judgment.
“I don’t know, why do you like pizza?”
“Because it tastes good in my mouth.”
Patrick wasn’t about to go anywhere near that.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“The books were easy to restack, but he pulled a few titles to donate, anyhow. Books should be an experience, he thought, not a trophy for having read them.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“There are two tragedies in life: one is not getting what you want, the other is getting it.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.” —OSCAR WILDE”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Guncle Rule number seven: In this house we wear what we want, it doesn’t matter if it’s for boys or girls. Anything goes, anything you want, so long as it doesn’t have mean words printed on it and it’s not making fun of anyone else. We don’t worry about what others think. Deal?”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“What was the last day you were a child?”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Trying to say how much your mom loved you is like trying to describe the size of the universe. It can’t be quantified. Can’t be done. I’ll bet she finds a million ways to say hello. Your eyes just have to be open to seeing them.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Gay people, Christians always fighting over the symbolism when rainbows rightfully belonged to the leprechauns.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“You can’t spell nemesis without me, sis.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“So many nights Patrick had looked up at the desert night sky trying to find meaning, trying to locate himself. He would always come back to the same thing: stargazing was time traveling.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“The sky is not going to fall. That’s what I’m telling you. The pain you feel, the disaster you think is imminent. Those feelings fade. And some days you even miss it. Some days you miss the pain, because you’re afraid. Afraid that as the pain softens so do memories of the one you lost.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“When does it get easy?” He thought about lying, but what was the point? Greg didn’t send his children to Palm Springs to be lied to, and even if he had they deserved better. Instead, he squeezed her hand and said, “Any day now.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“What do you think gay people do? Have done for generations? We adopt a safe version of ourselves for the public, for protection, and then as adults we excavate our true selves from the parts we’ve invented to protect us. It’s the most important work of queer lives.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“We’re hyper-connected, but at the same time desperately lonely. We’re overstimulated by bright lights in our face all the time and the promise of more and more content, more and more people to follow, but we’re also numb, scrolling and scrolling past images we don’t even take the time to recognize, or form a cognizant thought about what they’re saying.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“I wish you total freedom from pain. Freedom from the body that failed you. I hope that you’re full of light, unconstrained, and that you can dance. Because I know how you loved to dance.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“I used to be scared of anger, and that's because I bottled it up inside. Not anymore! It's like vomiting after drinking too much. Sure, it's unpleasant in the moment, but then you feel so much better! Anger is beautiful if you express it just right. Let it out.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“I love you, he said silently in his head, to himself, to the kids, to Joe, to Sara, to no one. To everyone.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“How can you tell where you're going when you're always looking up at the past?”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“Bacon is pigs and pigs are our friends. Do you want to eat your friends?” Without hesitation. “If they taste like bacon.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“That’s what I’m telling you. The pain you feel, the disaster you think is imminent. Those feelings fade. And some days you even miss it. Some days you miss the pain,”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“I’m not gay professionally, Cassie. I maintain my amateur status to compete in the Gay Olympics.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“There was no cell reception here, but Maisie’s bullshit detector was pinging.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle

“He never wanted other people to see the sadness. He was so afraid people wouldn’t laugh if everyone knew how twisted he looked on the inside.”
― Steven Rowley, The Guncle