Victor LaValle Quotes

I’m always looking for the monster. Not even just in horror. I want them in everything. Just give me the monsters. Logical conclusions don’t satisfy. Monsters satisfy, absolutely.

Empathy is what separates human beings from teenage boys.

There are really only two ways to react to the extraordinary. The first is to ponder the grand purpose until all the fun is sucked away, the second is to enjoy it.

A little style is a good thing, but you can’t trust a person who won’t be ugly in front of you.

People who move to New York always the same mistake. They can't see the place.

The best writing deadlines are poverty and death.

Doubt is the big machine. It grinds up the delusions of women and men.

No matter where you go, poor people have the capacity to endure. Some people even compliment us on it, as if endurance is all we can achieve.

The poor aren't defeated. We're domesticated.

Nearly everyone could be undone by an old woman's displeasure.

I have my teachers who tell me what to do. I'm not quite old enough yet to be truly independent.

Lonely women destroy themselves lonely men threaten the world.

One of the reasons I love devils so much is not based in my faith, but because as a kid, I grew up loving heavy metal and horror movies, and the devil is such a huge presence in both.

The success of any society must be judged by the life of its worst off. No other calculation will do.

'The Sundial' is written with the kind of humor that would make a guillotine laugh.

Human beings are no damn good, ” he said. “We are even worse than animals. We like ...”He trailed off, cleared his throat, but his voice hardly reached a whisper.“We like monsters, ” he said.

Nobody ever thinks of himself as a villain, does he? Even monsters hold high opinions of themselves.

If you haven't caused a scene in a psych unit, it's just because you haven't been inside long enough.

Taken together the Internet reads like the grandest character-driven novel humanity has ever known. Not much plot though.

Writing to corroborate what you already think is the essence of bad writing.