Cormac McCarthy
81 quotes
Biography
Cormac McCarthy was an American author who wrote twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays, and three short stories, spanning the Western, post-apocalyptic, and Southern Gothic genres. His works often include graphic depictions of violence, and his writing style is characterized by a sparse use of punctuation and attribution.
"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."
"You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget."
"Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave."
"People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there."
"Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.You forget some things, dont you?Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget."
"There is no God and we are his prophets."
"You think when you wake up in the mornin yesterday don't count. But yesterday is all that does count. What else is there? Your life is made out of the days it’s made out of. Nothin else."
"Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent."
"You have my whole heart. You always did."
"He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke."
"He stood at the window of the empty cafe and watched the activites in the square and he said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all."
"You keep runnin that mouth and I'm goin to take you back there and screw you."
"I don't know why I started writing. I don't know why anybody does it. Maybe they're bored, or failures at something else."
"Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden."
"Deep in each man is the knowledge that something knows of his existence. Something knows, and cannot be fled nor hid from."
"Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die."
"I think by the time you're grown you're as happy as you're goin to be. You'll have good times and bad times, but in the end you'll be about as happy as you was before. Or as unhappy. I've knowed people that just never did get the hang of it."
"Anything that doesn't take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing."
"I always thought when I got older that God would sort of come into my life in some way. He didn't. I don't blame him. If I was him I'd have the same opinion about me that he does."
"I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt."
"Nor does God whisper through the trees. His voice is not to be mistaken. When men hear it they fall to their knees and their souls are riven and they cry out to Him and there is no fear but only wildness of heart that springs from such longing..."
"You are either born a writer or you are not."
"Carry the fire."
"Every day is a lie. But you are dying. That is not a lie."
"I don't know what sort of world she will live in and I have no fixed opinions concerning how she should live in it. I only know that if she does not come to value what is true above what is useful, it will make little difference whether she lives at all."