Duct Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Duct. Here they are! All 100 of them:

Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.
Andy Weir (The Martian)
Also, I have duct tape. Ordinary duct tape, like you buy at a hardware store. Turns out even NASA can’t improve on duct tape.
Andy Weir (The Martian)
If only he would keep his mouth shut, he'd be perfect. A piece of duct tape would do the trick. I had some in my desk that I'd occasionally pull out and fondle, hoping someday I could put it to good use.
Christina Lauren (Beautiful Bastard (Beautiful Bastard, #1))
I seriously needed an extra-strength magic pillow, because my ba refused to stay put. [And no, Sadie, I don't think wrapping my head in duct tape would've worked either.]
Rick Riordan (The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, #1))
Speaking of eye surgery, do you realize you’re missing tear ducts?” “What? Really? And I thought I was just emotionally withdrawn.
Marissa Meyer (Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1))
When I want your opinion, I'll remove the duct tape.--T-SHIRT
Darynda Jones (Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson, #4))
One down," Beckendorf said. "About five thousand to go." He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid—Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world. Then he threw me another essential tool of demigod heroes—duct tape
Rick Riordan (The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5))
He slung off his backpack. He'd managed to grab a lot of supplies at the Napa Bargain Mart: a portable GPS, duct tape, lighter, superglue, water bottle, camping roll, a Comfy Panda Pillow Pet (as seen on TV), and a Swiss army knife—pretty much every tool a modern demigod could want.
Rick Riordan (The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus, #2))
Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped.
Andy Weir (The Martian)
He backed away from me, clutching the phone to his chest. “What?” “Gimme the phone,” I commanded, holding out my hand. His head dropped solemnly. “I am on a very important call.” “Yes, about me,” I said, reaching for it. “Now give it.” He shrank away and eyed the room anxiously. “Damn, I knew I should have kept a spare roll of duct tape somewhere.
Karina Halle (Into the Hollow (Experiment in Terror, #6))
Why would we ever want to go back when your world is so accommodating with your telephones and your guns and what's that sticky stuff called ...duct tape.
Cornelia Funke
I Am Jack's Medulla Oblongata I Am Jill's Nipple I Am Jack's Colon I Am Jack's Raging Bile Duct I Am Jack's Cold Sweat I Am Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise I Am Jack's Inflamed Sense of Rejection I Am Jack's Smirking Revenge I Am Jack's Broken Heart
Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club)
He took a long draw then asked, “What’d I do?” “You knew about the guy threatening my dad?” He paused, shifted in his chair, so freaking busted, it wasn’t funny. “They told you?” “Why, no, Swopes, they didn’t. Instead, they waited until the guy knocked the fuck out of my dad and readied him for spaceflight with duct tape then tried to kill me with a butcher’s knife.
Darynda Jones (Second Grave on the Left (Charley Davidson, #2))
We exist with a wind whispering inside and our moon flexing. Amid the ducts, inside the basilica of bones.
Jack Gilbert
She held out her right hand, palm up. "Duct tape." She did the same with her other hand. "M&M's. If I can't fix whatever's wrong with those two things, I'm going home and getting back into bed.
Sofie Kelly (Sleight of Paw (A Magical Cats Mystery, #2))
Stop smiling!” she ordered. “I can see you, Carter. Oh…and, uh, hullo, Walt.” The pot monster made squeaky grinding noises as it stood up straight. One clunky arm rose and tried to fix Sadie’s nonexistent hair. Leave it to Sadie to be self-conscious around boys, even when she’s made out of pots and duct tape.
Rick Riordan (The Serpent's Shadow (The Kane Chronicles, #3))
Superglue after duct tape a girl's best friend.
Karen Marie Moning (Faefever (Fever, #3))
But just now, he'd gotten on his knees and proposed marriage, like in a television commercial for a diamond ring. Except of course they had the roll of duct tape instead, which, when you came to think about it, was a far more practical item. Such a bad mistake it would be, to embark on marriage and adult life without a nice supply of duct tape.
Nancy Werlin (Impossible (Impossible, #1))
What's that sticky stuff called? Basta: Duct tape. Yes, duct tape. I love duct tape.
Cornelia Funke
Such a bad mistake it would be, to embark on marriage and adult life without a nice supply of duct tape.
Nancy Werlin (Impossible (Impossible, #1))
Okay.” Nate took a deep breath. “Now that we’re all caught up on the new no-no’s of the house, what do you say we find a tarp and some duct tape and MacGyver ourselves a new window in the living room? Just, you know, to keep out the wind…and the leaves…and any sharp-toothed woodland creatures prone to attacking people in their sleep.” Tristan raised a brow. “What?” Nate shrugged. “Death by dragon? Awesome. Death by rabid forest squirrel? Not cool, man. Not cool.
Chelsea Fine (Awry (The Archers of Avalon, #2))
I think falling in love should come with a warning label: CAUTION—side effects may include breaking up, accompanied by heartache, severe mood swings, withdrawal from people and life itself, wasted hours obsessing over bitter reflections, a need to destroy something (preferably something expensive that shatters), uncontrollable tear ducts, stress, a loss of appetite (Cheetos and Dr. Pepper exempt), a bleak and narrow outlook on the future, and an overall hatred of everyone and everything (especially all the happy couples you see strolling hand-in-hand, placed on your path only to exacerbate your isolation and misery). All above reactions will be intensified with the consumption of one or more alcoholic beverages.
Katie Kacvinsky (Second Chance (First Comes Love, #2))
Just Leo’s luck. A super-hot immortal girl was waiting for him on Ogygia, but he couldn’t figure out how to wire a stupid chunk of rock into the three-thousand-year-old navigation device. Some problems even duct tape couldn’t solve.
Rick Riordan (The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5))
Someone knocked on the door. “Come in!” Barabas called. The door swung open and Derek stuck his head in. “Hey, do you have any duct tape?” He saw me, stepped back, and closed the door without a word. Well. “Coward,” Barabas said, loud enough for Derek to hear.
Ilona Andrews (Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels, #8))
Yeah sure,why not?"i said,making a mental note to get a good look at his wings. For all I knew, they were remote-controlled and duct taped to his back.” -max
James Patterson (Fang (Maximum Ride, #6))
Lone women shouldn't stop in the middle of nowhere for giant unkempt strangers with duct tape on their faces.
Lee Child (Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher, #15))
Humanity's gift to the universe. Duct Tape.
Jack Campbell (Invincible (The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier, #2))
My granddad used to always say, ‘Even duct tape can’t fix stupid,’” I said, putting my straw in my mouth. “Hmm. No. But it can muffle the sound.
Abby Jimenez (The Friend Zone (The Friend Zone, #1))
May the gods defend me from heroes with duct tape. And heroes always seem to have duct tape.
Rick Riordan (The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3))
How, he wondered, did humanity ever get along without duct tape?
Scott Hawkins (The Library at Mount Char)
Some problems even duct tape couldn't solve.
Rick Riordan (The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, #5))
Are you ... crying?" He was horrified, it was so plain in his voice, and she wanted badly to shrink away from him, but of course her injured ankle kept her locked in place. "No. I have a condition where my tear ducts produce an excess of warm, salty water when I'm tired or in distress.
Hannah Nicole Maehrer (Assistant to the Villain (Assistant to the Villain, #1))
Duct tape is man’s answer to electrons and protons. It’s how we keep matter together.
Penny Reid (Truth or Beard (Winston Brothers, #1))
I didn't blame him. God, I wouldn't have blamed Bones if he'd duct-taped a vibrator to me and just took care of the whole sordid nightmare that way
Jeaniene Frost (This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress, #5))
bullshit job into five categories. I will call these: flunkies, goons, duct tapers, box tickers, and taskmasters.
David Graeber (Bullshit Jobs: A Theory)
The angel on my shoulder was…well, currently duct-taped and gagged in the devil’s trunk.
L.J. Shen (The Villain (Boston Belles, #2))
For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency.
Stephenie Meyer (Twilight (The Twilight Saga, #1))
Billings pulled a roll from a compartment in his cargo pants leg. We gawked at him in disbelief. He shrugged. "What? You never know when you're going to need duct tape.
Shelly Crane (Revolution (Collide, #4))
Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and it holds the world together.
Oprah Winfrey
Yeah, they still make duct tape. And it still holds the universe together.
Dennis E. Taylor (We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1))
My alarm goes off at 5:50 a.m. First thing I do is check to make sure I'm not dead. If I am, in fact, still alive, I usually sob uncontrollably until there's nothing left in my tear ducts but salt dust, then grope blindly through my apartment to the bathroom, where I say a little prayer for a hole to open beneath my building and swallow us all.
Samantha Irby (We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.)
He hands me his shopping list and I lead him through the store in search of the items. Duct tape? Plastic wrap? A hacksaw? Who is this guy, Dexter?
Andrew Shaffer (Fifty-one Shades: A Parody (First Three Chapters))
Turns out even NASA can’t improve on duct tape.
Andy Weir (The Martian)
I... Furudo Erika... have DUCT TAPE!!
Ryukishi07 (Umineko WHEN THEY CRY Episode 6: Dawn of the Golden Witch, Vol. 1 - manga (Umineko WHEN THEY CRY, 13))
And a little duct tape on the gunshot wounds will stop the bleeding.” “You’re not a headlight on an old Chevy,” Berg told her.
Shelly Laurenston (Hot and Badgered (Honey Badger Chronicles, #1))
I made plans out of hope, expectation, desire, and duct tape, and I broke those plans with my bare hands.
Jarod Kintz (This Book is Not for Sale)
I’d chain him in my basement and never let him go. Hmm. That was supposed to sound romantic, but even in my head that leaned a few rolls of duct tape too close to the creeper side.
Amanda Milo (Abducted, Auctioned, & Stolen by an Alien (Stolen by an Alien, #1))
To my embarrassment, I was crying again. Real girl tears for the second time, these ones born out of frustration. That didn't happen to me very often, but I hated it when it did. It was faulty wiring in the female body, tear ducts attached directly to the frustration meter. Trying to explain to men that no, I wasn't being manipulative, I just couldn't stop my eyes from leaking salt water, only added to the aggravation.
C.E. Murphy (Demon Hunts (Walker Papers, #5))
So I Lyfted to Home Depot, where I bought random stuff, rope and duct tape, plastic bags, cable ties, and plastic gloves. The girl at the register winked and said she’s also a big fan of Fifty Shades and this is what has become of our society. Fucking and killing are the same damn thing. Now
Caroline Kepnes (Hidden Bodies (You, #2))
Mort drove one of those little hybrid cars that, when not running on gasoline, was fueled by idealism. It was made out of crepe paper and duct tape and boasted a computer system that looked like it could have run the NYSE and NORAD, with enough attention left over to play tic-tac-toe. Or possibly Global Thermonuclear War.
Jim Butcher (Ghost Story (The Dresden Files, #13))
Goddamnit I've never been the "pretty friend..." She's the one who wears the perfect eyeliner, it never gathers like a crowd in her tear ducts to create a grapefruit-size ebony eye booger. The one who can wear a bodysuit, sit down in it, and not have rolls of fat cascading over her belt. The one who can eat a sandwich or hamburger and not wind up with lipstick on the bun or on her chin. The one who can actually eat in front of other people and not have food, like coleslaw, hanging from her lip or shooting out of her mouth, landing on the plates of other diners. She never spits when she talks. She sleeps with her mouth shut and never drools. She doesn't pick at her face. And she never, ever has to take a shit.
Laurie Notaro (The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life)
Anal is pretty much the sexual duct tape of the world- it fixes everything. I should put that on a t-shirt.
Tara Sivec (Baking and Babies (Chocoholics, #3))
Little girl, you could wrap my cock in duct tape, and I'll still make you see God.
Lilly Black (A Jade's Trick)
You are an idiot," Tom informed him. Prophet stared at the duct tape around his wrists. "I have no argument against that at the moment.
S.E. Jakes (Long Time Gone (Hell or High Water, #2))
What about Ding-Dong?" "Detective Inspector Bell couldn't find his arse with both hands if you duct-taped them to it. Come on.
Stuart MacBride (Close to the Bone (Logan McRae, #8))
Then he threw me another essential tool of demigod heroes—duct tape.
Rick Riordan (The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5))
I unraveled Martinez’s bed and took the string outside, then taped it to the trailer hull along the path I planned to cut. Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.
Andy Weir (The Martian)
I had a dream about you. We were traveling in your car. You were driving, and I was securely fastened by ropes and duct tape in the trunk. I tried telling you my family has no money, but you had to find out the hard way.

Jarod Kintz (I Had a Dream About You)
I opened the fire door to four lips none of which were mine kissing tightened my belt around my hips where your hands were missing and stepped out into the cold collar high under the slate grey sky the air was smoking and the streets were dry and I wasn't joking when I said Good Bye magazine quality men talking on the corner French, no less much less of them then us so why do I feel like something's been rearranged? you know, taken out of context I must seem so strange killed a cockroach so big it left a puddle of pus on the wall when you and I are lying in bed you don't seem so tall I'm singing now because my tear ducts are too tired and my brain is disconnected but my heart is wired I make such a good statistic someone should study me now somebody's got to be interested in how I feel just 'cause I'm here and I'm real oh, how I miss substituting the conclusion to confrontation with a kiss and oh, how I miss walking up to the edge and jumping in like I could feel the future on your skin I opened the fire door to four lips none of which were mine kissing I opened the fire door
Ani DiFranco
Philosophers get attention only when they appear to be doing something sinister--corrupting the youth, undermining the foundations of civilization, sneering at all we hold dear. The rest of the time everybody assumes that they are hard at work somewhere down in the sub-basement, keeping those foundations in good repair. Nobody much cares what brand of intellectual duct tape is being used.
Richard Rorty
Life didn’t have to fit into a four-sided box that was neat and tidy. It was okay if the box had three sides or the fourth one was hanging on with duct tape. It was okay if the corners were dented and if there was a big red FRAGILE sticker on top. It was all okay.
Alex Light (The Upside of Falling)
Duct tape. Perfect weapon; so many uses.
Taylor Stevens
And-he was ashamed to admit--he had been known to carry off the occasional roll of duct tape. That stuff could be used for everything.
Sharon Ashwood (Unchained (The Dark Forgotten, #3))
What if Sam's heart got broken again? As with most kids who are fourteen, it has been spackled and duct-taped and caulked back together many times as it is. [p. 258]
Anne Lamott (Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith)
Duct tape can't fix stupid," Bas growled. "Maybe not," Red replied, "but it can hold it down and muffled the screams.
T. Hammond (Color Blind (Team Red, #2))
Greatest stuff in the world. Superman’s duct tape.
James L. Cambias (A Darkling Sea)
It was about everything. About life and death, and white and black and gray. It was about having to be tough when you weren’t used to it. About having to grow when you’d thought you were done growing. In the back of my head, I knew what I’d said didn’t make any damn sense. But how could I explain? How could I begin to tell him that I had lost a part of myself with my brother’s death, and I was trying so hard to keep what I had left together with duct tape and paper clips?
Mariana Zapata (Wait for It)
I am John's raging bile duct.
Chuck Palahniuk
Duct tape." She did the same with her other hand. "M&M's. If I can't fix whatever's wrong with those two things, I'm going home and getting back into bed.
Sofie Kelly (Sleight of Paw (A Magical Cats Mystery, #2))
If you had duct tape, you were prepared for anything.
Annie Barrows (Make the Rules (Ivy & Bean #9))
God gave people tear ducts for a good reason, and folks shouldn't be too stubborn to use them.
Wanda E. Brunstetter (On Her Own (Brides of Webster County, #2))
Wine is to women as duct tape is to men, it fixes EVERYTHING!
Tanya Masse (Stripping Away the Insanity of Life and Parenthood!)
Now I'm a suitcase Duct-taped to a satyr's back. Worst. Morning. Ever.
Rick Riordan (The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3))
Okay." Nate took a deep breath. "Now that we're all caught up on the new no-no's of the house, what do you say we find a tarp and some duct tape and MacGyver ourselves a new window in the living room? Just, you know, to keep out the wind ... and the leaves ... and any sharp-toothed woodland creatures prone to attacking people in their sleep." Tristan raised a brow. "What?" Nate shrugged. "Death by dragon? Awesome. Death by rabid forest squirrel? Not cool, man. Not cool." "You're immortal, Nate," Gabriel said. "So? That doesn't mean I want rabies." Nate shook his head. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have medieval aliens to defeat.
Chelsea Fine (Awry (The Archers of Avalon, #2))
As it turns out, being able to see what’s coming doesn’t make it any less painful when it arrives. In fact, knowing probably just upped my anticipatory anxiety and my intolerance for vulnerability. The eggshells weren’t on the ground; they were duct-taped to the soles of my shoes.
Brené Brown (Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience)
On the other hand, looking careless could just be privileged give-a-shit Ivy League attitude, like wearing duct tape on loafers and jeans with holes in them, knowing all along that they were headed straight to Wall Street or Washington and three-piece suits.
Karl Marlantes (Matterhorn)
The child had indeed shut up but all the questions that had accumulated on his tongue circulated in his mouth, moved through the passages of his nose and climbed up from there to tickle into his teardrop ducts, so in his moss green pupils, curious, insistent, accusing sparks of questions continued to light up and fade away like fireflies flitting about on summer nights.
Elif Shafak (The Flea Palace)
Like when people (my parents) ask what I'm going to study in college and I say, "English." They say, "Oh. So you want to be a teacher?" And I want to cover my eyes and mouth with duct tape and pretend to be dead and done with it. No, you simpletons. I want to travel and write and live in a big city, and do cool things with my brain. This is not to disparage the fine and noble art of educating in any way. My English teachers have made me who I am today and I love them with a passion that surprises me. I just don't want to be one.
Arlaina Tibensky (And Then Things Fall Apart)
One thing I have in abundance here are bags. They’re not much different from kitchen trash bags, though I’m sure they cost $50,000 because of NASA… Also, I have duct tape. Ordinary duct tape, like you buy at a hardware store. Turns out even NASA can’t improve on duct tape.
Andy Weir (The Martian)
If you trust me at all, if you want to listen to me at all..but you certainly don’t have to…speaking from experience, I can tell you that things change. You can believe me, you don’t have to. They probably won’t change unless you make them. The best way to change something that’s around you, something you don’t like, is to change yourself. And I don’t think you want other people changing you, I think the only person that can change you is yourself. So if you ain’t happy, if you’re reading magazines about generation x-ers and thinking ‘yeah, I’m one of them’, well fuck that. Don’t let anyone tell you who you are. No, no. No one can tell me who I am. I can tell you who I am, but that would be a long story. I could tell you who I am and it wouldn’t fit in a Rolling Stone. It wouldn’t fit in a video…it’s my life, it’s your life. You’re the only one who knows who you are. I hope you know who you are, figure it out. Cause you are somebody. And I’m probably stating the obvious, but I just thought I’d do it anyway. So if you feel like you’ve got a piece of duct tape on your mouth, if you feel like you can’t speak, take it off, speak up, speak your mind, shout it out,let em hear, shout it out.
Eddie Vedder
I knew Denver was sincere when he told me that he would not want to trade places with me for even one day. His convictions became clear to me when I laid my key ring on the table between us at one of our earlier meetings for coffee. Denver smiled a bit and sidled up to a cautious question. 'I know it ain't none of my business, but does you own somethin' that each one of those keys fits?' I glanced at the keys; there were about ten of them. 'I suppose,' I replied, not really ever having thought about it. 'Are you sure you own them, or does they own you?' That wisdom stuck to my brain like duct tape. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced we'd enjoy life a whole lot more if we owned a whole lot less.
Ron Hall (Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together)
His head bowed and his lips fastened softly on my nipple. I groaned, feeling the half-painful prickle of the milk rushing through the tiny ducts. I put a hand behind his head, and pressed him slightly closer. “Harder,” I whispered.
Diana Gabaldon (Voyager (Outlander, #3))
I want to open a broken marriage repair shop. I’m not a counselor or psychologist, but I am a fan of the magical bonding that occurs between two people when duct tape binds them together for a long period of time in a dark basement. Refer a friend, and you get a two for one abuse session.
Jarod Kintz (A Zebra is the Piano of the Animal Kingdom)
There are many ways to get to know someone, and my favorite is seeing them naked in Happy Baby pose. I also feel it is important to have sex soon after meeting someone in order to find out if you have sexual chemistry together. Otherwise, you could wait two to three months after you start dating someone only to discover that your new boyfriend is bad in bed, or even worse, is into anal beads and duct tape.
Chelsea Handler (My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands)
Did you know it's possible to crawl all the way from Logan's dad's office to the press room using the air-ducts?" "No." Charlie shook his head. "It's not." "Sure it is," Maddie told him. "Logan bet me five dollars that I couldn't do it, so I did it, and then he gave me five ones instead of one five because Lincoln is his favorite." "You can reach the Oval Office via the air ducts?" Charlie asked, spinning to look at her. "Yes. But I ruined my favorite pink leggings." "Then you should definitely tell your dad that." "He doesn't care about my leggings," Maddie said, and Charlie shook his head. "Not about that. About ... Never mind, Mad. I'll tell him.
Ally Carter (Not If I Save You First)
Wilbur looked at the list glumly. "Are you sure you need all this stuff?" "Yep." "The ax?" "The ax is critical." "The chalk?" "The chalk is super-critical." "The bungee cords?" "Bungee cords are the single most useful object in the universe, Wilbur. People may say it’s duct tape, but it’s actually bungee cords. All great heroes know this.
Ursula Vernon (Ratpunzel (Hamster Princess, #3))
If you have never driven an auto rikshaw through a rip in the fabric of space-time created by two giant, hippopotamus-sized birds, I strongly recommend wearing a bike helmet when you do so. And if your rikshaw doesn't have a seat belt, you should probably consider duct-taping yourself to the seat. Because I have never been on such a bumpy, upside-down, mentally and emotionally disturbing ride in my life. And I've been on some doozies.
Sayantani DasGupta (Game of Stars (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond, #2))
Now and again, one could detect in a childless woman of a certain age the various characteristics of all the children she had never issued. Her body was haunted by the ghost of souls who hadn't lived yet. Premature ghosts. Half-ghosts. X's without Y's. Y's without X's. They applied at her womb and were denied, but, meant for her and no one else, they wouldn't go away. Like tiny ectoplasmic gophers, they hunkered in her tear ducts. They shone through her sighs. Often to her chagrin, they would soften the voice she used in the marketplace. When she spilled wine, it was their playful antics that jostled the glass. They called out her name in the bath or when she passed real children in the street. The spirit babies were everywhere her companions, and everywhere they left her lonesome - yet they no more bore her resentment than a seed resents uneaten fruit. Like pet gnats, like phosphorescence, like sighs on a string, they would follow her into eternity.
Tom Robbins (Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates)
3. The séance was for real and everyone knows it. But they won’t discuss it because A. they don’t trust me, B. they don’t like me, or C. they’re playing it down because they’re plotting to get me alone after school, duct tape my mouth, and throw me over the fence so Annaliese can rip out my throat with her ghostly teeth. Okay. Now that’s paranoid.
Jeannine Garsee (The Unquiet)
Tell Me Whom You Love and I'll Tell You Who You Are
Carrie Jones (Love (and Other Uses for Duct Tape) (Belle, #2))
The substance of fictional architecture is not bricks and mortar but evanescent consciousness. Sometimes, therefore, a door opens onto a hallway impossibly, and the placement of our heating ducts and storage space borders on the irresponsible. I have great trouble, myself, in imagining the floor plans of split-level homes, though I feel they are important sites of the American condition.
John Updike (Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism)
I always tell Noah to behave or I’ll sell him on eBay. You’ve got to have some way to keep these little buggers in line or they’ll just walk all over you. It’s a nightmare. Honestly. All the livelong day. Daddy, I want this. Daddy, I want that. Daddy, daddy, daddy! Gimme gimme gimme! I’m like, honest to almighty Christ and sweet and sunny jumped-up Jesus, if you don’t shut up, it’s back to the basement and the duct tape and the handcuffs again and I’m not joking. Now get me a beer, you frikkin’ munchkin!
Nick Wilgus (Shaking the Sugar Tree (Sugar Tree, #1))
I keep finding the ashes of the man I unequivocally loved, everywhere. Everytime, I go to bed, they are displaced about my covers when memories flood back in my mind. When I glance at my skin, the ashes are smeared on my skin like hand prints from a tragic crime scene. When you cross my mind, the ashes of moments of intimacy fall to my heart, my body forcefully expell them through my lungs and tear ducts. The ashes spew out in an eruption of utter chaos. The ashes block out my perception of love and self value. My sight is distorted to truth and trust. The particles of ashe prevent me from forgetting. ANONYMOUS
Starr.
Detective Inspector Carver took a picture from the breast pocket of his suit. He handed it to me. ‘This is what you did, Michael. Take a good look. See if it jogs your memory.’ I gawped at the mutilated corpse of a naked young girl lying on a blood-soaked double bed. Her hands were bound to the brass headboard with duct tape. Blood covered her upper body, and her long blonde hair was streaked a murderous shade of red. One eye stared at the ceiling as if searching for salvation, the other, a bloody unrecognisable pulp, bore no relation to its sightless counterpart. ‘Carla Marie Coombs. Twenty-one years of age. Do you recognise her, Michael?
Mark Tilbury (The Abattoir of Dreams)
I think falling in love should come with a warning label: CAUTION - side effects may include breaking up, accompanied by heartache, severe mood swings, withdrawal from people and life itself, wasted hours obsessing over bitter reflections, a need to destroy something (preferably something expensive that shatters), uncontrollable tear ducts, stress, a loss of appetite (Cheetos and Dr. Pepper exempt), a bleak and narrow outlook on the future, and an overall hatred of everyone and everything (especially all the happy couples you seen strolling hand-in-hand, placed on your path only to exacerbate your isolation and misery). All above reactions will be intensified with the consumption of one or more alcoholic beverages.
Katie Kacvinsky (Second Chance (First Comes Love, #2))
So we climb," Meg announced. "Hello?" I said miserably. "Paralysed former god here." Grover grimaced at Meg. "Duct tape?" "Duct tape," she agreed. May the gods defend me from heroes with duct tape. And heroes always seem to have duct tape. Meg produced a roll from a pouch on her gardening belt. She propped me into a sitting position, back-to-back with Grover, then proceeded to loop tape under our armpits, binding me to the satyr as if I were a hiking pack. With Meg's help, Grover staggered to his feet, jostling me around so I got random views of the walls, the floor, Meg's face and my own paralysed legs manspreading beneath me.
Rick Riordan (The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3))
So the first time she and Leo combusted, she'd practically been poised for the breakup. In some inexplicable way, she'd been looking forward to it and all its attendant drama, because wasn't there something nearly lovely–when you were young enough–about guts churning and tear ducts being put to glorious overuse? She recognized the undeniable satisfaction of the first emotional fissure because an unraveling was still something grown-up and, therefore, life affirming. See? The broken heart signalled. I loved enough to lose; I felt enough to weep. Because when you were young enough, the stakes of love were so very small, nearly insignificant. How tragic could a breakup be when it was part of the fabric of expectation from the beginning? The hackneyed fights, the late-night phone calls, the indignant recounting for friends over multiple drinks and in earshot of an appropriately flirtatious bartender–it was theatre for a certain type of person . . . Until it wasn't.
Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (The Nest)
At least I died trying. And I won. I never gave them away. I never hurt them. I did my best to find them. I tried to keep my promise... I die for them. I counted nineteen steps before I could respond. Nineteen sluggish, futile crunches across the sand. "Then what am I dying for?" I wondered, the pricking feeling returning in my desiccated tear ducts. "I guess it's because I lost, then, right? Is that why?" I counted thirty-four crunches before she had an answer to my question. No, she thought slowly. It doesn't feel that way to me. I think... Well, I think that maybe... you're dying to be human. There was almost a smile in her thought as she heard the silly double meaning to the phrase. After all the planets and all the hosts you've left behind, you've finally found the place and the body you'd die for. I think you've found your home, Wanderer.
Stephenie Meyer (The Host (The Host, #1))
Whatever else you may think about me," he said gruffly, "I would never play that kind of game with you. The devil knows how you could doubt my attraction to you after our lesson at Baujart's. Or didn't you notice that being near you made me as randy as a prize bull?" "I noticed," Garrett whispered sharply. "However, the male erection isn't always caused by sexual desire." His face went blank. "What are you talking about?" "Spontaneous priapism can be caused by scrotal chafing, traumatic injury to the perineum, a flare-up of gout, an inflamed prostatic duct-" Her list was interrupted as Ransom hauled her against him, front to front. She was alarmed to feel his entire body shaking. It wasn't until she heard a ragged chuckle near her ear that she realized he was struggling not to laugh. "Why is that funny?" she asked, her voice muffled against his chest. He didn't reply, couldn't, only shook his head vehemently and continued to wheeze. Nettled, she said, "As a physician, I can assure you there's nothing humorous about involuntary erections." That nearly sent him into hysterics. "Holy God," he begged, "no more doctor-talk. Please." "It wasn't from scrotal chafing," Ransom eventually said, a last tremor of laughter running through his voice. Letting out an unsteady sigh, he nuzzled against the side of her head. "Since we don't seem to be mincing words, I'll tell you what caused it: holding a woman I'd already dreamed about more than I should. Being near you is all it takes to put me in high blood.
Lisa Kleypas (Hello Stranger (The Ravenels, #4))
They [mountains] are portions of the heart of the earth that have escaped from the dungeon down below, and rushed up and out. For the heart of the earth is a great wallowing mass, not of blood, as in the hearts of men and animals, but of glowing hot melted metals and stones. And as our hearts keep us alive, so that great lump of heat keeps the earth alive: it is a huge power of buried sunlight—that is what it is. Now think: out of that caldron, where all the bubbles would be as big as the Alps if it could get room for its boiling, certain bubbles have bubbled out and escaped—up and away, and there they stand in the cool, cold sky—mountains. Think of the change, and you will no more wonder that there should be something awful about the very look of a mountain: from the darkness—for where the light has nothing to shine upon, it is much the same as darkness—from the heat, from the endless tumult of boiling unrest—up, with a sudden heavenward shoot, into the wind, and the cold, and the starshine, and a cloak of snow that lies like ermine above the blue-green mail of the glaciers; and the great sun, their grandfather, up there in the sky; and their little old cold aunt, the moon, that comes wandering about the house at night; and everlasting stillness, except for the wind that turns the rocks and caverns into a roaring organ for the young archangels that are studying how to let out the pent-up praises of their hearts, and the molten music of the streams, rushing ever from the bosoms of the glaciers fresh-born. Think too of the change in their own substance—no longer molten and soft, heaving and glowing, but hard and shining and cold. Think of the creatures scampering over and burrowing in it, and the birds building their nests upon it, and the trees growing out of its sides, like hair to clothe it, and the lovely grass in the valleys, and the gracious flowers even at the very edge of its armour of ice, like the rich embroidery of the garment below, and the rivers galloping down the valleys in a tumult of white and green! And along with all these, think of the terrible precipices down which the traveller may fall and be lost, and the frightful gulfs of blue air cracked in the glaciers, and the dark profound lakes, covered like little arctic oceans with floating lumps of ice. All this outside the mountain! But the inside, who shall tell what lies there? Caverns of awfullest solitude, their walls miles thick, sparkling with ores of gold or silver, copper or iron, tin or mercury, studded perhaps with precious stones—perhaps a brook, with eyeless fish in it, running, running ceaseless, cold and babbling, through banks crusted with carbuncles and golden topazes, or over a gravel of which some of the stones are rubies and emeralds, perhaps diamonds and sapphires—who can tell?—and whoever can't tell is free to think—all waiting to flash, waiting for millions of ages—ever since the earth flew off from the sun, a great blot of fire, and began to cool. Then there are caverns full of water, numbing cold, fiercely hot—hotter than any boiling water. From some of these the water cannot get out, and from others it runs in channels as the blood in the body: little veins bring it down from the ice above into the great caverns of the mountain's heart, whence the arteries let it out again, gushing in pipes and clefts and ducts of all shapes and kinds, through and through its bulk, until it springs newborn to the light, and rushes down the mountain side in torrents, and down the valleys in rivers—down, down, rejoicing, to the mighty lungs of the world, that is the sea, where it is tossed in storms and cyclones, heaved up in billows, twisted in waterspouts, dashed to mist upon rocks, beaten by millions of tails, and breathed by millions of gills, whence at last, melted into vapour by the sun, it is lifted up pure into the air, and borne by the servant winds back to the mountain tops and the snow, the solid ice, and the molten stream.
George MacDonald (The Princess and Curdie (Princess Irene and Curdie, #2))