The Kindly Ones Sandman Quotes

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Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Then, one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...you give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
You don't have to stay anywhere forever.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
We make choices. No one else can live our lives for us. And we must confront and accept the consequences of our actions.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
We do what we do, because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But a half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
All around me darkness gathers, Fading is the sun that shone, We must speak of other matters, You can be me when I'm gone Flowers gathered in the morning, Afternoon they blossom on, Still are withered in the evening, You can be me when I'm gone.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I would feel infinitely more comfortable in your presence if you would agree to treat gravity as a law, rather than one of a number of suggested options.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Can't say I've ever been too fond of beginnings, myself. Messy little things. Give me a good ending anytime. You know where you are with an ending.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life… You give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like "maybe we should just be friends" or "how very perceptive" turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. Nothing should be able to do that. Especially not love. I hate love.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I suppose the point you grow up is the point you let the dreams go.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
There is a madness, yes, this is true. Few mortals possess it, the willingness to step away from the protection of sanity. To walk into the wild wood of madness...
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
MORPHEUS: I did not intend to hurt you, THESSALY: And what if you did not? Intent and outcome are so rarely coincident.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Love takes hostages.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
We are all improved by the glow of memory.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Delirium: You use that word so much. Responsibilities. Do you ever think about what that means? I mean, what does it mean to you? In your head? Dream: Well, I use it to refer that area of existence over which I exert a certain amount of control or influence. In my case, the realm and action of dreaming. Delirium: Hump. It's more than that. The things we do make echoes. S'pose, f'rinstance, you stop on a street corner and admire a brilliant fork of lightning--ZAP! Well for ages after people and things will stop on that very same corner, stare up at the sky. They wouldn't even know what they were looking for. Some of them might see a ghost bolt of lightning in the street. Some of them might even be killed by it. Our existence deforms the universe. THAT'S responsibility.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
The gods we prayed to when we were young used up their time so long ago. They cannot answer anymore. They never liked us, did they? Gods don't "like". They love, they hate, they ignore...
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Our existence deforms the universe. That's responsibility.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
*For eleven years, I've been worked over and abused in ways you can't imagine by things you don't want to know about. I've killed every kind of vile, black-souled, dead-eyed nightmare that ever made you piss your pjs and cry for mommy in the middle of the night. I kill monsters and, if I wanted, I could say a word and burn you to powder from the inside out. I can tear any human you ever met to rages with my bare hands. Give me one good reason why I could possibly need you? *She looks straight at me, not blinking. No fear in her eyes. *Because you might be the Tasmanian Devil and the Angel of Death all rolled into one, but you don't even know how to get a phone. *I hate to admit it, but she has a point.
Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim (Sandman Slim, #1))
And all the weird shit tumbles into perspective. It doesn't matter and it isn't real. No miracles. No magic. No dreams. Just pain and death, and Visa slips.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
It must be a real betrayal, when your body turns against you. I wonder if she likes flowers. All the bits of you that can go wrong... I don't like flowers, not really. I like growing them, but that's only because I like seeing them blossom, and seeing them die... But oh, how I do love to play God.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
There's but three Furies found in spacious hell But in a great man's breast three thousand dwell.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Facets, Matthew. Each facet catches the light in its own way. It glints and sparkles and flashes uniquely. It would almost be possible to believe that the facet was the jewel; not just a tiny part of it. But, then, as we move the jewel another facet catches the light." "So? What's your point?" "My point? I have no point, Matthew. Save for the jewel, and the facets, and the light. We see an aspect of the whole. But the facet is not the jewel....
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
As-tu déjà été amoureux? C'est horrible non? Ca rend si vulnérable. Ca t'ouvre la poitrine et le coeur en grand et du coup, n'importe qui peut venir te bousiller de l'intérieur. On se forge des défenses, on se fabrique une belle armure pour que rien ne puisse jamais nous atteindre, et voilà qu'un imbécile, pas bien différent des autres s'immisce dans notre imbécile de vie... On lui offre un morceau de soi alors que l'autre n'a rien demandé. Il a juste fait un truc débile un jour, genre t'embrasser ou te sourire, mais, depuis, ta vie ne t'appartient plus. L'amour te prend en otage. Il s'insinue en toi. Il te dévore de l'intérieur et te laisse tout seul à chialer dans le noir, au point qu'un simple phrase comme "je crois qu'on devrait rester amis" te fait l'effet d'un éclat de verre qu'on t'aurait planté dans le coeur. Ca fait mal. Pas juste dans ton imagination. Pas juste dans ta tête. C'est une douleur à fendre l'âme, qui s'incruste en toi et te déchire du dedans. Je hais l'amour.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Oh, he'll help us whether he wants to or not. I told the truth. I would not kill him. The death-curse of a god is an evil thing. But I can hurt him. And I will. And besides... Have you never wondered, little bird, what it must be like to see the world through the eyes of a god?
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I'll tell you a secret. A raven created the world. When Noah sent him out to find land, he couldn't find any. It had all been washed away. So he created it. He shat the dry land and he pissed the the fresh water. Then he flew off, laughing fit to burst. So the world eas there for the dove to find. Really? They don't admit to it, of course. Who wants to be blamed for creating the world?
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life… You give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I do not recommend revenge. It tends to have repercussions.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Only a fool listens to rumors." "Only a fool ignores them.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I am the mother of Odin's stallion, Sleipnir. I am the father of Fenrir Sun-Eater, and of Hel Half-Rotted and of Jormungund the World-Serpent. I am Loki Scar-Lip, Loki Skywalker, Loki Giant's Child, Loki Lie-Smith. I am Loki, who is fire and wit and hate. I am Loki. And I will be under an obligation to no one.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
One day, perhaps, we will have become legends. We'll pass this way outside of space or time, When what they'll know of us will be just questions They'll carve our deeds in stone. Build us in rhyme. The things they'll tell about us will be lies But lies of such a kind as tell a truth Perpetual. Our lives will be revised. Preserved, we'll mouth the epics of our youth. Actors will play us, braver than we are, More funny, deeper, prettier by far. Their lines will be more resonant and wise Than anything we said. Majestic lies. So wait. Such tales might be the truth one day. For now, alive, we huddle, ache and pray.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman: Overture)
I hate love.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I didn't know that there was a downstairs, here." "There's a downstairs in everybody.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life ... You give them a piece of you. They didn’t ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Rose? Do you believe in magic?" "Not really, no. But that's not what you're asking me." "It's not?" "Nope. What you're asking me is, do I believe in weird shit? And the answer is yes. Of course I do. I'd have to be crazy not to.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I wanted you to love me." "And do you think that love is a gift? Like a bauble, or a trinket? Something I can reach into a pouch and present to you?" "I gave all my love to you, years ago." "Did you? I did not realize... On reflection, while I cannot give you the thing itself, I could give you a dream of my love." "I already have that, my lord.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Ow. Blood for blood, eh, little lamb? It's been too long since I've needed to sacrifice anything larger than a rabbit. Tch... There, let that be a lesson for me, Lyta, and for you too, if you can hear me: nothing is harmless. Nothing is too cute and sweet to be dangerous. Nothing is safe.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
He estado haciendo una lista de las cosas que no te enseñan en la escuela. Ellos no te enseñan cómo amar a alguien. Ellos no te enseñan cómo ser famoso. Ellos no te enseñan cómo ser rico o cómo ser pobre. Ellos no te enseñan cómo alejarte de alguien a quien ya no amas. Ellos no te enseñan cómo saber lo que sucede en la mente de otra persona. Ellos no te enseñan qué decir a alguien que está muriendo. Ellos no te enseñan nada que valga la pena saber.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
– You believe any a' that shit comin' outta your mouth? – Hell, no.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Hello..." "Hello Who are you?" "Take a moment to reflect." "And how did you get here from there, Mrs. Hall?" "I don't know. I really don't. I was such a together person. And I didn't make decisions. I mean, I never did anything in my whole life that wasn't someone else's idea. Like a girl in a mirror. Like I was watching, sitting, brushing my hair, while my life went by on the glass. When my mother deserted me. When Hector died. When Hector died again. When Daniel was killed, it was like the mirror was broken. There were only two things I could have done. And one of them would have been just to lie down and never get up again. It's like how many times can life hit you? When do the blows start to hurt? When do you just... stop?
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
There's a theory that for a human to be killed by a god is the best thing that could possibly happen to the human under discussion. It eliminates all questions of belief, while manifestly placing a human life at the service of a higher power. Where do you stand on this theory?" "I-- I don't believe in God." "You don't have to believe in God. But what about gods? Eh? The plurality of powers and dominions. The lords and ladies of field and thorn, of asphalt and sewer, gods of telephone and whore, gods of hospital and car-crash?" "This is crazy." "There is a madness needed to touch the gods, yes, this is true. Few mortals possess it, the willingness to step away from the protection of sanity. To walk into the wild wood of madness...
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Can't say I've ever been too fond of beginnings, myself. Messy little things. Give me a good ending anytime. You know where you are with an ending." "Now then, you mustn't say things like that. You know you don't mean them. Purl one, plain one, purl two together... Why, that's what I like about making things for people. You can start off in Birmingham and finish in, well Tanganyika or somewhere. That's not messy, my cherub. That's exciting." "Exciting my aunt banana! What's so exciting about it?" "Well, every one we make's unique. Never seen before. Never seen again." "Hmmph. I don't know why that's exciting. It's not like anyone notices what we do. Not like anyone cares. And they're always complaining: they don't like the fit of it; too loose-- too tight-- too different-- too much like everyone else's. It's never what they want, and if we give them what they think they want they like it less than ever. 'I never thought it would be like this.' 'Why can't it be like the one I had before?' I don't know why we bother.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
I did Barbie’s dream as a one-off thing, but I found it haunting me; I kept having an image in my head of Martin Tenbones getting killed in real New York. Still, that would’ve been the end of it...except, by a wild coincidence, a short time later I received a postcard from Jonathan Carroll. He wrote that he’d been following my graphic novel Signal to Noise—which was being serialized in The Face magazine at the time—and he was finding a number of very scary similarities between my story and his as yet unpublished novel, A Child Across the Sky. He concluded, “We’re like two radio sets tuned to the same goofy channel.” I wrote back and said, “I think you’re right. What’s more, I abandoned a whole storyline after reading Bones of the Moon, but I keep thinking I ought to return to it.” Jonathan then sent me a wonderful letter with this advice: “Go to it, man. Ezra Pound said that every story has already been written. The purpose of a good writer is to write it new. I would very much like to see a Gaiman approach to that kind of story.” With that encouragement, I began creating A Game of You.
Hy Bender (The Sandman Companion)
Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
Those pricks down the hall, flying high above it all on this hillside, they’re the kind of people whose faces end up on money or a new library so that kids will have a new place to hang out while realizing that no one ever taught them how to read. Their wealth doesn’t insulate them from the world. It creates it. Their bank statements read like Genesis. Let there be light and let a thousand investment banks bloom. They shit cancer, and when they belch in a bowl valley like L.A., the air turns so thick and poisonous that you can cut it up like bread and serve it for lunch at McDonald’s. A Suicide Sandwich Happy Meal.
Richard Kadrey (Sandman Slim (Sandman Slim, #1))
Love... Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life... You give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your anymore.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman #65: The Kindly Ones part 9 of 13)
Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life … You give them a piece of you. They didn’t ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you.
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman #60: The Kindly Ones part 4 of 13)
This morning, Allegra said that my pinkie looks good and will probably heal up okay. Not a hundred percent, but pretty okay. She had these big clunky chunks of something like cloudy stones. Like big opals.” “It sounds like divine light glass.” She laughs a little at that. “Is that like holy water? A priest blesses it and suddenly it’s magic.” I set down my cup. “Nope. It’s part of one of the vessels that God used to make the first stars.” “Get out of here.” “It’s true. One of the vessels broke. The glass fell to Earth and created life. Including us.” “You’re fucking with me.” “I’m not. We’re one gigantic cosmic mistake.” Fuck Hollywood stares off into space for a minute. Eventually, she looks at me. “That’s kind of cool when you think about it,” she says. “I mean, if we’re just a mistake it means that anything nice we do is special. Any music or paintings or movies or people we love. They’re all special because we’re not even supposed to be here.
Richard Kadrey (King Bullet (Sandman Slim #12))
We’re in front of a run-down little motel, the kind you see along Route 66, but not the quaint kind you stay in. It’s more like the ones where you check in for an hour and come out with crabs or what in gentler times they called a “social malady.
Richard Kadrey (The Kill Society (Sandman Slim, #9))
Even the older stories are new to somebody
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman #62: The Kindly Ones part 6 of 13)