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Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz Quotes

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Famous Dean Koontz Quotes

“Acting is a marvelous profession ... If you can spend enough time playing other people, you don't have to think too much about your own character and motivations.”

PeopleIfsThinkingEnoughCharacterMotivationActingToo MuchProfessionMarvelousEnough Time
Book:The Complete Odd Thomas 8-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Apocalypse, Odd Interlude, Deeply Odd, Saint Odd
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“I've got evil in me as much as anyone, some desires that scare me. Even if I don't give in to them, just having them scares the living bejesus out of me sometimes. I'm no saint, the way you kid about. But I've always walked the line, walked that goddamned line. It's a mean mother of a line, straight and narrow, sharp as a razor, cuts right into you when you walk it long enough. You're always bleeding on that line, and sometimes you wonder why you don't just step off and walk in the cool grass.”

IfsWayGivingMeanLongSometimesEnoughKidsMotherDesireEvilLinesWalksWonderStepsCuttingSaintGrassScareBleedingRazors
Book:Dark Rivers of the Heart: A Novel
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“Dogs invite us not only to share their joy but also to live in the moment, where we are neither proceeding from nor moving toward, where the enchantment of the past and future cannot distract us, where a freedom from practical desire and a cessation of our usual ceaseless action allows us to recognize the truth of our existence, the reality of our world and purpose--if we dare.”

IfsWorldMomentsRealityActionPastMovingJoyDesirePurposeExistenceShareDogDarePracticalsOur WorldInvitesUsualLive In The MomentEnchantmentProceeding
Book:The Odd Thomas Series 7-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Apocalypse, Odd Interlude, Deeply Odd
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“If Edgar Allan Poe were alive today, his agent would be constantly slapping him upside the head with tightly rolled copies of his brilliant short stories and novelettes, yelling, 'Full-length novels, you moron! Pay attention! What's the matter with you -- are you shooting heroin or something? Write for the market! No more of this midlength 'Fall of the House of Usher' crap”

IfsWritingMatterStoriesWould BeTodayFallHousePayAttentionNovelAliveBrilliantAgentsPay AttentionShootingLengthCopiesShort StoryCrapYellingHeroinLive For TodayMoronSlappingAllan Poe
Author:Dean Koontz
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“I have more self-doubt than any writer I've ever known.... The positive aspect of self-doubt - if you can channel it into useful activity instead of being paralyzed by it - is that by the time you reach the end of a novel, you know precisely why you made every decision in the narrative, the multiple purposes of every metaphor and image.”

IfsKnowsMadeEndsSelfPurposeDecisionKnownNovelDoubtActivityAspectMetaphorNarrativeMultipleParalyzedSelf-doubt
Author:Dean Koontz
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“The problem with movies and books is they make evil look glamorous, exciting, when it's no such thing. It's boring and it's depressing and it's stupid. Criminals are all after cheap thrills and easy money, and when they get them, all they want is more of the same, over and over. They're shallow, empty, boring people who couldn't give you five minutes of interesting conversation if you had the piss-poor luck to be at a party full of them. Maybe some can be monkey-clever, some of the time, but they aren't hardly ever smart.”

PeopleIfsWantGivingLooksBookProblemEvilEasyInterestingPoorPartyFiveMinutesStupidConversationSmartEmptyExcitingLuckBoringCriminalsCleverDepressingShallowMonkeysFive MinutesGlamorousEasy MoneyInteresting ConversationEvil Look
Book:From the Corner of His Eye: A Novel
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“If I had to write a rough draft, all the way through and then go back and start over, I probably would just stop writing. I wouldn't find that interesting. I would feel that I had committed so many things to the paper that I couldn't easily undo because one thing leads to the next, the interconnectedness, the sequences would make it very hard to change something that simply didn't work.”

IfsWayFeelsWritingHardNextInterestingOne ThingPaperCommittedRoughSequenceStarting OverInterconnectednessRough Drafts
Author:Dean Koontz
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“There are thousands of proteins in the cells, some of them very large chains of molecules. And the cell doesn't function if one of those chains of molecules isn't there, and you start looking at the complexity of life and the mystery of life, and then start thinking about things like the twenty universal constants, that if any one of them from Plank's minimum to the mass of a proton, if one of them is the tiniest bit off, there would be no life or possibility of it in the universe.”

IfsThinkingWould BeUniverseBitsMysteryPossibilityMassUniversalFunctionTwentiesChainsCellsComplexityMinimumMoleculesProteinMystery Of LifeProton
Author:Dean Koontz
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“I can remember the times when I started including humor in novels that were suspenseful. I was told you can't do that because you can't keep the audience in suspense if they're laughing. My attitude was, if the character has a sense of humor, then that makes the character more real because that's how we deal with the vicissitudes of life, we deal with it through humor.”

IfsI CanRealCharacterRememberDealsAttitudeNovelAudienceLaughingIncludingSuspenseSense Of HumorMy AttitudeVicissitudes
Author:Dean Koontz
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“The selfless love that we give to others, to the point of being willing to sacrifice our lives for them, is all the proof I need that human beings are not mere animals of self-interest. We carry within us a divine spark, and if we chose to recognize it, our lives have dignity, meaning, hope.”

IfsNeedsGivingHumansSelfInterestHuman BeingsAnimalOur LivesSacrificeDivineWillingDignityMereProofSparksSelflessSelf InterestSelfless Love
Book:Seize the Night: A Novel
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“If God is an author and the universe is the biggest novel ever written, I may feel as if I'm the lead character in the story, but like every man and woman on Earth, I am a suporting player in one of billions of subplots. You know what happens to supporting players. Too often they are killed off in chapter 3, or in chapter 10, or in chapter 35. A supporting player always has to be looking over his shoulder.”

IfsKnowsMenFeelsMayCharacterStoriesHappensEarthUniverseNovelPlayerWrittenMen And WomenBillionsEvery ManShouldersChaptersLead CharactersSubplots
Author:Dean Koontz
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“Envy, envy eats them alive. If you had money, they’d envy you that. But since you don’t, they envy you for having such a good, bright, loving daughter. They envy you for just being a happy man. They envy you for not envying them. One of the greatest sorrows of human existence is that some people aren’t happy merely to be alive but find their happiness only in the misery of others.”

PeopleIfsMenHumansExistenceAliveSorrowDaughterMiseryEnvyJust BeingHuman ExistenceHappy Man
Author:Dean Koontz
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“In a clutch or a corner, I tend to make a weapon out of what is near at hand. That can be anything from a crowbar to a cat, though if I had a choice, I would prefer an angry cat, which I have found to be more effective than a crowbar. Although weaponless, I left the house by the back door, with two chocolate-pumpkin cookies. It's a tough world out there, and a man has to armor himself against it however he can. ~Odd Thomas”

IfsMenWorldTwoHandsChoicesFoundHouseLeftDoorsWeaponsToughCatAngryCornersChocolateCookiesArmorPumpkinClutchBack DoorsTough World
Book:The Complete Odd Thomas 8-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Apocalypse, Odd Interlude, Deeply Odd, Saint Odd
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“If she possessed any memory whatsoever of the days when she'd been whole, her shattered recollections were scattered across the darkscape of her mind in fragments so minuscule that she could no more easily piece them together than she could gather from the beach all the tiny chips of broken seashells, worn to polished flakes by ages of relentless tides, and reassemble them into their original architectures.”

IfsMindWholeAgeTogetherMemoriesPiecesBrokenOriginalsArchitectureTinyBeachPossessedTidesWornChipsFragmentsRelentlessShatteredRecollectionPolishedFlakes
Book:One Door Away from Heaven: A Novel
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“Because God is never cruel, there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss; because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one.”

IfsKnowsHeartKindPersonsSelfReasonPainPurposeInterestLossCompassionTeachHumilityTerribleCreaturesAll ThingsRegardMonstersRipSelf InterestBetter PersonUncaringCompassion For OthersNo Compassion
Book:The Darkest Evening of the Year: A Novel
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“It's only life. We all get through it. Not all of us complete the journey in the same condition. Along the way, some lose their legs or eyes in acidents or altercations, while others skate through the years with nothing worse to worry about than an occassional bad-hair day. I still possessed both legs and both eyes, and even my hair looked all right when I rose that Wednesday morning in late January. If I returned to bed sixteen hours later, having lost all my hair but nothing else, I would consider the day a triumph. Even minus a few teeth, I'd call it a triumph.”

IfsWayYearsStillsEyeLostHoursLosesMorningWorryJourneyConditionsHairBedLateRoseLegsTeethTriumphPossessedJanuarySixteenSkatesWednesdayThrough The YearsMinusBad HairBad Hair DayWednesday Morning
Author:Dean Koontz
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“I am no theologian. I would not be surprised, however, if Heaven proved to be a cozy kitchen, where delicious treats appeared in the oven and in the refrigerator whenever you wanted them, and where the cupboards were full of good books.”

IfsBookWantedHeavenTreatsKitchenDeliciousTheologianGood BookRefrigeratorsOvensCozyCupboards
Book:The Complete Odd Thomas 8-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Apocalypse, Odd Interlude, Deeply Odd, Saint Odd
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“More to the point, I know why soldiers, home from war, seldom tell their families about their exploits in more than general terms. We who survive must go on in the names of those who fall, but if we dwell too much on the vivid details of what we've witnessed of man's inhumanity to man, we simply can't go on. perseverance is impossible if we don't permit ourselves to hope.”

IfsKnowsMenWarHomeFallNamesTermToo MuchImpossibleGoes OnPerseveranceSoldierDetailsPermitVividExploitsInhumanityOdd ThomasInhumanity To Man
Book:The Odd Thomas Series 7-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Apocalypse, Odd Interlude, Deeply Odd
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“Do as little harm to others as you can; make any sacrifice for your true friends; be responsible for yourself and ask nothing of others; and grab all the fun you can. Don't give much thought to yesterday, don't worry about tomorrow, live in the moment, and trust that your existence has meaning even when the world seems to be all blind chance and chaos. When life lands a hammer blow in your face, do your best to respond to the hammer as if it had been a cream pie.”

IfsWorldGivingLittlesMomentsSeemsFacesAsksFunChanceExistenceWorrySacrificeLandTomorrowResponsibleBlindChaosBlowHarmYesterdayYour FaceCreamPieLive In The MomentHammersTrue FriendBeing ResponsibleTrue Friend Is
Book:Seize The Night
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