“
We'll never be as young as we are tonight.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Medium clever,” Simon acknowledged. “Like a cross between George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven and those MythBusters guys, but, you know, better-looking.”
“I’m always so glad I have no idea what you’re vacantly chattering about,” said Jace. “It fills me with a sense of peace and well-being.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
“
In a world where billions believe their deity conceived a mortal child with a virgin human, it's stunning how little imagination most people display.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
The future you have, tomorrow, won't be the same future you had, yesterday.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
I'm very scared, Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing what's yours until you've thrown it away.
”
”
Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories)
“
Life's greatest comfort is being able to look over your shoulder and see people worse off, waiting in line behind you.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Rant would tell people: 'You're a different human being to everybody you meet.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
What if reality is nothing but some disease?
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
By the time you read this, you'll be older than you remember.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
You grow up to become living proof of your parents' limitations. Their less-than masterpiece.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
With Finn, Vic, and Maeve shooting darts at him, Buster thought better of bellyaching and took off down the street with Finn.
”
”
A.G. Russo (The Cases Nobody Wanted (O'Shaughnessy Investigations Inc. Mystery Series Book 1))
“
Never never never compare yourself to the beautiful girls. There's always someone gorgeous who will make you feel like you're not. It's a total confidence buster!
”
”
Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift Songbook: Guitar Recorded Versions)
“
Some people are just born human, the rest of us, we take a lifetime to get there.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
The big reason why folks leave a small town,' Rant used to say, 'is so they can moon over the idea of going back. And the reason they stay put is so they can moon about getting out.'
Rant meant that no one is happy, anywhere.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
We all have this moment, when your folks first see you as someone not growing up to be them.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Mylife might be little and boring, but at least it’s mine - not some assembly-line, secondhand, hand-me-down life.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
After a good-looking boy gives you rabies two, three times, you'll settle down and marry somebody less exciting for the rest of your life
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
She doesn’t look like a Buster,” I declared, “more like a Princess Fancy Pants.”
Tate was bent and pulling a skilled out of a cupboard. His head tipped back and his eyes locked on mine.
“You call my cat Princess Fancy Pants, Ace, we got problems.
”
”
Kristen Ashley (Sweet Dreams (Colorado Mountain, #2))
“
I bet you thought you were very clever, sneaking off like that." "Medium clever, "Simon acknowledged. "Like a cross between George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven and those MythbBusters guys, but, you know, better-looking.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
“
Also consider that someday, when you’re dead and rotted, kids with their baby teeth will sit in their time-geography class and laugh about how stupid you were.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
History is nothing except monsters or victims. Or witnesses.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Music is crucial. Beyond no way can I overstress this fact. Let's say you're southbound on the interstate, cruising alone in the middle lane, listening to AM radio. Up alongside comes a tractor trailer of logs or concrete pipe, a tie-down strap breaks, and the load dumps on top of your little sheetmetal ride. Crushed under a world of concrete, you're sandwiched like so much meat salad between layers of steel and glass. In that last, fast flutter of your eyelids, you looking down that long tunnel toward the bright God Light and your dead grandma walking up to hug you--do you want to be hearing another radio commercial for a mega, clearance, closeout, blow-out liquidation car-stereo sale?
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
To repeat, the way you get to the huge, impossible yes is, you start collecting a lot of easy, small yeses.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (The Oral History of Buster Casey)
“
I came to Party Crashing because accidents happen. People you love will die. Nothing you treasure will last forever. And I need to accept and embrace that fact.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
God forbid I should bleed to death, eh? Then you'd have to cart around my rotting corpse. (Kyrian)
Could you be any more morbid? Jeez, who was your idol growing up? Boris Karloff? (Amanda)
Hannibal, actually. (Kyrian)
You're trying to scare me, aren't you? Well, it won't work. I grew up in a house with an angry poltergeist and two sisters who used to conjure demons just to fight them. Buster, I've seen it all and your gallows humor isn't working on me. (Amanda)
”
”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (Night Pleasures (Dark-Hunter #1))
“
This is how fast your life can turn around. How the future you have tomorrow won't be the same future you had yesterday.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
I do have some leftover chicken and pasta. (Grace)
And wine?...That’s acceptable (Julian)
Look, buster, I’m not your cooking wench. Mess with me and I’ll feed you Alpo. (Grace)
”
”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (Fantasy Lover (Hunter Legends, #1))
“
Ask yourself: What did I eat for breakfast today? What did I eat for dinner last night? You see how fast reality fades away?
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Every high school has its Romeo and Juliet, one tragic couple. So does every generation.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
you ever been trapped in a world where you're everyone's worst nightmare?
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Picture the moment when your mom and dad first saw you as something other than a pretty, tiny version of them. You as them, but improved. Better educated. Innocent. Then picture when you stopped being their dream.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Kids grow up connected to nothing these days, plugged in and living lives boosted to them from other people.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
PMS? You're damned right I have PMS! It stands for Pass My Shotgun, which means you'd better sleep with one eye open, buster.
”
”
Jane Graves (Heartstrings and Diamond Rings (Playboys, #4))
“
Silence is of the gods; only monkeys chatter.
”
”
Buster Keaton
“
A cash-bought merit badge ain't worth shit.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Mothers were much too sharp. They were like dogs. Buster always sensed when anything was out of the ordinary, and so did mothers. Mothers and dogs both had a kind of second sight that made them see into people's minds and know when anything unusual was going on.
”
”
Enid Blyton (The Mystery of the Hidden House (The Five Find-Outers, #6))
“
Buster was queer as a cat fart.
”
”
John Irving (A Prayer for Owen Meany)
“
One man's trash is another man's treasure is a third man's raw materials for their planet-buster earthquake machine.
”
”
Seanan McGuire
“
I used to think that looking across a pillow into the fabulous face of Buster Keaton would be a more thrilling destiny than any screen career.
”
”
Anita Loos (Cast of Thousands)
“
How folks lay claim to a loved one is they give you a name of their own. They figure to label you as their property.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
If you look at old pictures, Irene Casey is so pretty. Not just young, but pretty the way you look when your face goes smooth, the skin around your eyes and lips relaxed, the pretty you only look when you love the person taking the picture.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Jace: Back from you breakfast meeting, I see. I bet you thought you were very clever, sneaking off like that.
Simon: Medium clever. Like a cross between George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven and those MythBusters guy, but, you know, better-looking.
Jace: I'm always so glad I have no idea what you're vacantly chattering about. It fills me with a sense of peace and well-being.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
“
Love is a skill you learn.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Beginning with Santa in infancy, and ending with the Tooth Fairy as the child acquires adult teeth. Or, plainly put, beginning with all the possibility of childhood, and ending with an absolute trust in the national currency.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
You’re not gonna touch or kiss me for a week are you?” I said, letting him know I knew what he was doing.
He turned to look at me poignantly.
“Absolutely not.”
“We’ll see about that,” I countered.
“You need time to heal-”
“Oh no. I’m going this way and not listening.” I pointed toward the commons room. “In my book, you just issued me a challenge, buster. And I accept.
”
”
Shelly Crane (Catalyst (Collide, #3))
“
Nothing threatens a corrupt system more than a free mind.
”
”
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
“
You see, life only turns out good or bad for only a little bit. And then it turns out some other way.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
No shit, there's worse ways to be dead than dying.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
It’s a fun playtime. Please, don’t kill it with big words.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
No matter what happens, it’s always now.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
And then I stand in front of God's Throne squinting up at His blazing glory and He says, 'You had your opportunities, boy. But did you listen? No. You went on heedlesly reading that garbagey magazine with pictures of naked girls in it. How juvenile! I gave geese more sense than that.'
Please, God. I'm only fourteen years old. A teenager. Have mercy. Be loving.
I was,' says God. 'For eons. And look at what it got me. You.'
God turns in disgust, just the way Daddy does. 'Sorry, but I'm the Creator. I take it personally. There are slugs and bugs and night-crawlers I feel better about having created - I mean, there are sparrows - I've got my eye on one right now. Is that sparrow consumed with lust? No. He mates in the spring and that's the end of it. Consider the lilies. Do they think about lily tits all the time? No. They look not and they lust not, and yet I say unto you that you will never be half as attractive as they. Therefore, I say unto you, think not about peckers and boobs and all that nonsense and your Heavenly Father will see that you meet a good woman and marry her, just as I do for the sparrow and walleye - yea verily, even the night-crawler and the eelpout. But I've told you this over and over for nineteen centuries. And now, verily, it's too late. Time's up, buster. Lights out! Game's over!
”
”
Garrison Keillor
“
The government says Rant's alive because they need a villain. The kids say he's alive because they need a hero.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Folks build a reputation by attacking you while you’re alive - or praising you after you ain’t.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
I knew it! I knew you'd hate my body!" She slammed her hands on her hips, marched over to the bed, and glared down at him. "Well, for your information, mister, all those cute little sex kittens in your past might have had perfect bodies, but they don't know a lepton from a proton,and if you think that I'm going to stand here and let you judge me by the size of my hips and because my belly's not flat, then you're in for a rude awakening." She jabbed her finger at him. "This is the way a grown woman looks, buster! This body was designed by God to be functional, not to be stared at by some hormonally imbalanced jock who can only get aroused by women who still own Barbie dolls"
"Damn. Now I've got to gag you." With one swift motion, he pulled her down on the bed, rolled on top of her, and covered her lips with his own.
”
”
Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Nobody's Baby But Mine (Chicago Stars, #3))
“
A clear purpose will unite you as you move forward, values will guide your behavior, and goals will focus your energy.
”
”
Kenneth H. Blanchard (Collaboration Begins with You: Be a Silo Buster)
“
A child who is disillusioned abruptly, by his peers or siblings, being ridiculed for his faith and imagination, may choose never to believe in anything- tangible or intangible- again. To never trust or wonder.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Beginning with Santa Claus as a cognitive exercise, a child is encouraged to share the same idea of reality as his peers. Even if that reality is patently invented and ludicrous, belief is encouraged with gifts that support and promote the common cultural lies.
The greatest consensus in modern society is our traffic systems. The way a flood of strangers can interact, sharing a path, almost all of them traveling without incident. It only takes one dissenting driver to create anarchy.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Buster was Rant was Buddy. Chester was Chet was Dad. Irene was Mom was Reen. How folks lay claim to their loved ones is they give you a name of their own. They figure to label you as their property.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Some mythological fat asswipe drives our national economy.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
I don't act, anyway. The stuff is all injected as we go along. My pictures are made without script or written directions of any kind
”
”
Buster Keaton
“
The way Mom saw it, women should let menfolk do the work because it made them feel more manly. That notion only made sense if you had a strong man willing to step up and get things done, and between Dad's gimp, Buster's elaborate excuses, and Apache's tendency to disappear, it was often up to me to keep the place from falling apart. But even when everyone was pitching in, we never got out from under all the work. I loved that ranch, though sometimes it did seem that instead of us owning the place, the place owned us.
”
”
Jeannette Walls (Half Broke Horses)
“
Helen and Buster got down and started praying with Mom, but I just stood there looking at them. The way I saw it, I was the one who'd saved us all, not Mom and not some guardian angel.
”
”
Jeannette Walls (Half Broke Horses)
“
Don't believe everything she says, okay? Don't leave without talking to me."
I turned around, and said, fiercely, "Never. Not even if I talk to you first. You aren't getting away now, buster."
He dove for my mouth. And when he was finished ensuring that neither of us was going to get much sleep for a while, he said, "Remember that. We're both likely to be clinging to that thought by the time this is over.
”
”
Patricia Briggs (Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8))
“
Whatever the blessing, the talent, or technology, we can still find some way to fuck it up.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Laughter is the stubborn reward of grim times.
”
”
Edward McPherson (Buster Keaton: Tempest In A Flat Hat)
“
Listen up. Rant would tell people: ‘You’re a different human being to everybody you meet.’
Sometimes Rant said, ‘You only ever is in the eyes of other folks.’
If you were going to carve a quote on his grave, his favorite saying was: ‘The future you have tomorrow won’t be the same future you had yesterday.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
By first believing in Santa Claus, then the Easter Bunny, then the Tooth Fairy, Rant Casey was recognizing that those myths are more than pretty stories and traditions to delight children. Or to modify behavior. Each of those three traditions asks a child to believe in the impossible in exchange for a reward. These are stepped-up tests to build a child's faith and imagination. The first test is to believe in a magical person, with toys as the reward. The second test is to trust in a magical animal, with candy as the reward. The last test is the most difficult, with the most abstract reward: To believe, trust in a flying fairy that will leave money.
From a man to an animal to a fairy.
From toys to candy to money. Thus, interestingly enough, transferring the magic of faith and trust from sparkling fairy-dom to clumsy, tarnished coins. From gossamer wings to nickels... dimes... and quarters.
In this way, a child is stepped up to greater feats of imagination and faith as he or she matures. Beginning with Santa in infancy, and ending with the Tooth Fairy as the child acquires adult teeth. Or, plainly put, beginning with all the possibility of childhood, and ending with an absolute trust in the national currency.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Rant goes, "Really, truly with her whole entire heart, does Echo hate somebody?"
I go, doesn't Rant mean "love"?
And Rant shrugs and says, "Ain't it the same thing?
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Rant said that view of time was set up so folks won't live forever. It's the planned obsolescence we've all agreed to...'Nothing says you have to swallow this,' Rant told me. 'You can always just die.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
When people don't know what’s going on, it’s human nature for them to imagine a version that’s ten times worse than the truth!
”
”
Kenneth H. Blanchard (Collaboration Begins with You: Be a Silo Buster)
“
Down through the years my face has been called a sour puss, a dead pan, a frozen face, The Great Stone Face, and, believe it or not, "a tragic mask." On the other hand that kindly critic, the late James Agee, described my face as ranking "almost with Lincoln's as an early American archetype, it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful." I can't imagine what the great rail splitter's reaction would have been to this, though I sure was pleased.
”
”
Buster Keaton (My Wonderful World of Slapstick)
“
You study any pretty democracy, from the ancient Greeks forward, and you'll see that the only way each system functions is with a working class of slaves. Peons to haul the garbage so the upper crust can campaign and vote.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
I have leveled with the girls - from Anchorage to Amarillo.
I tell them that all marriages are happy
It's the living together afterward that's tough.
I tell them that a good marriage is not a gift,
It's an achievement.
that marriage is not for kids It takes guts and maturity.
It separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls.
I tell them that marriage is tested dily by the ability to compromise.
Its survival can depend on being smart enough to know what's worth fighting about.
Or making an issue of or even mentioning.
Marriage is giving - and more important, it's forgiving.
And it is almost always the wife who must do these things.
Then, as if that were not enough, she must be willing to forget what she forgave.
Often that is the hardest part.
Oh, I have leveled all right.
If they don't get my message, Buster,
It's because they don't want to get it.
Rose-colored glasses are never made in bifocals
Because nobody wants to red the small print in dreams.
”
”
Ann Landers
“
Ask yourself: What did I eat for breakfast today? What did I eat for dinner last night?
You see how fast reality fades away?
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
If you never been rabid, you ain't never lived.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
I stepped into the back of a cab and simply told the driver, "Follow the blue Christmas tree...
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Typhoid Mary or Ted Bundy or Sharon Tate. History is nothing except monsters or victims. Or witnesses.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Some of the greatest advances happen when people are bold enough to speak their truth and listen to others speak theirs.
”
”
Kenneth H. Blanchard (Collaboration Begins with You: Be a Silo Buster)
“
You won't benefit from diverse perspectives if you aren't open to utilizing differences.
”
”
Eunice Parisi-Carew (Collaboration Begins with You: Be a Silo Buster)
“
El futuro que tendrás mañana no es el mismo futuro que tenías ayer.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Each holiday tradition acts as an exercise in cognitive development, a greater challenge for the child. Despite the fact most parents don't recognize this function, they still practice the exercise.
Rant also saw how resolving the illusions is crucial to how the child uses any new skills.
A child who is never coached with Santa Claus may never develop an ability to imagine. To him, nothing exists except the literal and tangible.
A child who is disillusioned abruptly, by his peers or siblings, being ridiculed for his faith and imagination, may choose never to believe in anything- tangible or intangible- again. To never trust or wonder.
But a child who relinquishes the illusions of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, that child may come away with the most important skill set. That child may recognize the strength of his own imagination and faith. He will embrace the ability to create his own reality. That child becomes his own authority. He determines the nature of his world. His own vision. And by doing so, by the power of his example, he determines the reality of the other two types: those who can't imagine, and those who can't trust.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Here's one night when I control the chaos. I participate with the doom I can't control. I'm dancing with the inevitable, and I survive....My regular little dress rehearsal...the day I finally meet Death, the two of us will be old, long-lost friends. Me and Death, separated at birth.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
It doesn't matter for crap that you've got three years of sobriety or that you finally look good in a two-piece bathing suit or you've met that perfect someone and you've fallen deeply, wildly, passionately in love. Today, as you pick up your dry cleaning, fax those reports, fold your laundry, or wash the dinner dishes, something you'd never expect is already stalking you.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Rant Casey used to say, "No matter what happens, it's always now..." Talk about cryptic.
I think what Rant meant was, we live in the present moment of reality, and no matter what's come before, no matter how much we loved a person or a dog, when it attacks us we'll react to that moment of danger.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Every family is a regular little cult.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
La historia no es más que una sucesión de monstruos o de víctimas. O de testigos.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Alexis grabbed his arm. "Tom Jones? Wow, I totally love Tom Jones. He's like quintessential Vegas—over the top and indecent fun. Let me just go grab a pair of underwear to throw at him and we'll be all set."
Over his undead body. If anyone was getting her underwear tossed in his face, it was going to be him.
"I don't think so, Ball Buster. You're not giving your panties to an old man."
"Oh, and you're so young, Garlic?"
"Garlic?" What the hell was that?
"Yep. Now we have pet names for each other, isn't that adorable? You're Garlic and I'm Ball Buster. Now everyone will believe we're a real couple.
”
”
Erin McCarthy
“
What do you think? This ought to be the right kind of place for tough guy like you. Garbage cans. Rats galore. Plenty of cat-bums to gang around with. So scram,’ she said, dropping him…
'...I told you. We just met by the river one day: that’s all. Independents, both of us. We never made each other any promises. We never -’ she said, and her voice collapsed, a tic, an invalid whiteness seized her face. The car had paused for a traffic light. Then she had the door open, she was running down the street; and I ran after her.
...she shuddered, she had to grip my arm to stand up: ‘Oh, Jesus God. We did belong to each other. He was mine.’ Then I made her a promise, I said I’d come back and find her cat. ‘I’ll take care of him, too. I promise.’
She smiled: that cheerless new pinch of a smile. ‘But what about me?’ she said, whispered, and shivered again. ‘I’m very scared, Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing what’s yours until you’re thrown it away. The mean reds, they’re nothing...
”
”
Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories)
“
What do you have to say for yourself, boy?" Cgerise
"Sorry, Ma, I'm a sexy demon magnet?" Nick
"Cherise!" Bubba
"Don't you even take that tone with me, Mr. Triple-Threat-I-don't-have-to-listen-to-anyone-because-I'm-the-size-of-a-tabk. You're in the doghouse, buster. You might as well pack a bag 'cause you're going to be in there so long your name's going to be engraved on the mailbox." Cherise
"Ah, what'd I do, cher?" Bubba
"You dragged my baby into danger, and you-- Are you one of them?" Cherise
"I'm going with whatever answer doesn't get me swatted with that bat." Savitar
"Cherise, calm down. What are you doing here?" Bubba
"What do you think? I'm protecting my boys. Both of you ... Because Mark values his own life and inparticular his male body parts, he called me after he got off the phone with you to tell me what the two of you were doing. You didn't honestly believe that I've been ignorant of what you and Mark do at night all these years? Did you?" Cherise
"Um, yeah." Bubba
"Well then you're a fool,Michael Burdette. And I'm not." Cherise
”
”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (Illusion (Chronicles of Nick, #5))
“
Jesus was just a badass. He was a rule breaker. A system-bucking ball buster. He boldly pushed back against social norms and the religious order of the day to engage in his God-given duty to heal the sick, feed the poor, call out injustice, and pave the way for everyone to know the saving grace of faith, hope, and love. The world called him weird and the club called him dangerous. They spit on him, they threw things at him, they drove him away, and hell, eventually they killed him. But Jesus was such a motherfucking badass, he just kept loving.
”
”
Jamie Wright (The Very Worst Missionary: A Memoir or Whatever)
“
At some point, Wax mentioned how appalling it seemed that those brilliant minds who could invent miracle medicines and nuclear fission and dazzling computer special effects, they had such a complete lack of imagination when it came to spending their money: granite countertops and luxury cars. Talking about that stuff, Wax driving, the madder he got, you could watch the speedo creep up past eighty, ninety, a hundred.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Despite my lifetime of declining rich desserts, my evenings spent jogging, regardless of all my careful moderation and self-discipline—I’m trapped, wadded inside a shell of steel and aluminum. My body, violated in countless places by fragments of broken glass. My low-cholesterol blood rushes to abandon me in hot, leaping spurts. Despite all my care, the heart-attack victim and I will both be just as dead.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
When you ate her tuna casserole, you didn’t talk or flip through a National Geographic. Your eyes and ears stayed inside your mouth. Your whole world kept inside your mouth, feeling and careful for the little balled-up tinfoils Irene Casey would hide in the tuna parts. A side effect of eating slow was, you naturally, genuinely tasted, and the food tasted better. Could be other ladies were better cooks, but you’d never notice.
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
Buster went bananas, running over to Paci and jumping up on his legs, begging for attention. Paci didn’t disappoint him, either. He bent down and baby-talked with Buster, like he was an old hand at it.
I smiled in amusement. Paci was no wimp. He was almost as big as Bodo and ripped to the max. He had zero body fat, so Peter and I were able to admire his every muscle, which I noticed Peter was doing with unabashed curiosity. I caught his attention and raised my eyebrows at him in a conspiratorial message of mutual admiration. He smiled in return, giving me a pitiful wink that made him look like he had something stuck in both eyes. It made me laugh.
Paci looked up at me. “Something strike you as funny?”
“Yeah. You baby-talking to a nude poodle.
”
”
Elle Casey (Warpaint (Apocalypsis, #2))
“
Dad was on the porch, pacing back and forth in that uneven stride he had on account of having a gimp leg. When he saw, he let out a yelp of delight and started hobbling down the steps towards us. Mom came running out of the house. She sank down on her knees, clasped her hands in front of her, and started praying up to the heavens, thanking the Lord for delivering her children from the flood.
It was she who had saved us, she declared, by staying up all night praying. "You get down on your knees and thank your guardian angel," she said. "And thank me, too."
Helen and Buster got down and started praying with Mom, but I just stood there looking at them. The way I saw it. I was the one who'd saved us all, not Mom and not some guardian angel. No one was up in that cottonwood tree except the three of us. Dad came alongside me and put his arms around my shoulders.
"There weren't no guardian angel, Dad," I said. I started explaining how I'd gotten us to the cottonwood tree in time, figuring out how to switch places when our arms got tired and keeping Buster and Helen awake through the long night by quizzing them.
Dad squeezed my shoulder. "Well, darling," he said, "maybe the angel was you.
”
”
Jeannette Walls (Half Broke Horses)
“
It never occurred to me that somehow women did know about it. It just never occurred to me. Yes I am wearing sneakers too. You are in a suit, I am comfortable. So when she explained to me that this was the first event really of its kind, it floored me. So I called my daughter who is in her 30s now and I said “do you know what endometriosis is?” She said, “what? Have to pack the pack the busters.”
I said “no man, you have never heard of it?” No she said. I do not know what it is, and it occurred to me that my 30-year-old daughter who I told about endometriosis and it didn’t stick. If she didn’t know, and she is one of the hippest people I know, and her daughter doesn’t know, she has 19-year-old and she is a 13-year-old. The boy, we don’t care much about if he knows about it so much. There is other stuff for him to learn. Like how to roll a condom, things like that.
You know, and it occurred to me that if they didn’t know that there were hundreds of thousands girls out there that don’t know. It is not because their mothers don’t want to tell them, because it’s not religion, it’s pure ignorance. We don’t know, we don’t have the information, we have it now, and so now is why this very first gathering is happening. Now is why we’re all sitting here looking really fabulous as you are...
[Whoopi Goldberg on endometriosis awareness from the 2009 Blossom Ball]
”
”
Whoopi Goldberg
“
The sound of thunder awake me, and when I got up, my feet sank into muddy water up to my ankles. Mother took Buster and Helen to high ground to pray, but I stayed behind with Apache and Lupe. We barricaded the door with the rug and started bailing water out the window. Mother came back and begged us to go pray with her on the hilltop.
"To heck with praying!" I shouted. "Bail, dammit, bail!"
Mom look mortified. I could tell she thought I'd probably doomed us all with my blasphemy, and I was a little shocked at it myself, but with the water rising so fast, the situation was dire. We had lit the kerosene lamp, and we could see the walls of the dugout were beginning to sag inward. If Mom had pitched in and helped, there was a chance we might have been able to save the dugout - not a good chance, but a fighting chance. Apache and Lupe and I couldn't do it on our own, though, and when the ceiling started to cave, we grabbed Mom's walnut headboard and pulled it through the door just as the dugout collapsed in on itself, burying everything.
Afterward, I was pretty aggravated with Mom. She kept saying that the flood was God's will and we had to submit to it. But I didn't see things that way. Submitting seemed to me a lot like giving up. If God gave us the strength to bail - the gumption to try to save ourselves - isn't that what he wanted us to do?
”
”
Jeannette Walls (Half Broke Horses)
“
Next question.” He swipes the screen of his phone, but he’s not looking at it; he’s staring at me. Trying to intimidate me. Trying to see who’ll blink first. “Did you leave DC because (A) you couldn’t find any hotties to make out with? Or (B) your East Coast boyfriend is an ankle buster and you’d heard about legendary West Coast D, so you had to find out for yourself if the rumors were true?” he says with a smirk.
“Idiot,” Grace mumbles, shaking her head.
I may not understand some of his phrasing, but I get the gist. I feel myself blushing. But I manage to recover quickly and get a jab in. “Why are you so interested in my love life?”
“I’m not. Why are you evading the question? You do that a lot, by the way.”
“Do what?”
“Evade questions.”
“What business is that of yours?” I say, secretly irritated that he’s figured me out...
Porter scoffs. “Seeing how this is your first day on the job, and may very well be your last, considering the turnover rate for this position? And seeing how I have seniority over you? I’d say, yeah, it’s pretty much my business.”
“Are you threatening me?” I ask.
He clicks off his phone and raises a brow. “Huh?”
“That sounded like a threat,” I say.
“Whoa, you need to chill. That was not . . .” He can’t even say it. He’s flustered now, tucking his hair behind his ear. “Grace . . .”
Grace holds up a hand. “Leave me out of this mess. I have no idea what I’m even witnessing here. Both of you have lost the plot.
”
”
Jenn Bennett (Alex, Approximately)
“
Music is crucial... Let's say you're southbound on the interstate, cruising along in the middle lane, listening to AM radio. Up alongside comes a tractor trailer of logs or concrete pipe, a tie-down strap breaks, and the load dumps on top of your little sheetmetal ride. Crushed under a world of concrete, you're sandwiched like so much meat salad between layers of steel and glass. In that last, fast flutter of your eyelids, you looking down that long tunnel toward the bright God Light and your dead grandma walking up to hug you - do you want to be hearing another radio commercial for a mega, clearance, close-out, blow-out liquidation car-stereo sale?
”
”
Chuck Palahniuk (Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey)
“
I was standing on the deck looking down at a gang of stevedores working on the dock thirty feet below. One of them recognized me, nudged his neighbor, and pointed. All at once the whole gang stopped working to yell, 'Booster! Booster Keaton!' They waved in wild excitement, and I waved back, marveling, because it was fifteen years of more since they could have seen my last M-G-M picture.
And if there is sweeter music this side of heaven I haven't heard it. Dr. Avedon said I could live to be a hundred years old. I intend to do it. For who would not wish to live a hundred years in a world where there are so many people who remember with gratitude and affection a little man with a frozen face who made them laugh a bit long years ago when they and I were both young?
”
”
Buster Keaton (My Wonderful World of Slapstick)