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Karl Kristian Flores Quotes

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Famous Karl Kristian Flores Quotes

“I can't say anything though. Even if it’s true I’d sound like a prick. Believe that. How can we even— Christ! That’s the problem with people living however they want. When anything goes, reason is no longer credible. You can’t point out trouble. If the truth is offered, and they don’t want it, they get to say the truth is a lie. Autonomy is now prioritized over understanding.”

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Book:A Happy Ghost
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“There is one secret men keep from each other every day: I can’t be there for you. When a broken man looks in the eyes of a brother and confesses his tragedies, all a person, no matter how good, can reply is say, “I’m sorry to hear that.” But you thought there was something they could do because you drank together, officed together, laughed together, and joked about death together, but when death comes, you will be terrified to learn how helpless we are.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“The soldier was the greatest speaker, the sailor the best musician, and the post office worker the best poet—for life entered them and came out another way—never forced—yet because we couldn’t locate them, or their works, other speakers spoke and never went to war, and other musicians played who never listened to the sea, and new poets poeticized dryly without ever leaving their apartments, nobly forfeiting a normal place in the world, and created art in mediocre attempts, but it was necessary to try, because if they didn’t, we wouldn’t find them either.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“Live in the stretch. Extending your limbs out, In a burn, in a hollow trespass, Tremoring, a second away from a shout, And keep going after it hurts-- the animal won't. Live in the stretch. It is the only way to know anything in the dark. It is the only way to feel on fire. The animals eat well, but we can pass the mark. And if beavers land on the moon, this poem has expired.”

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Author:Karl Kristian Flores
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“Regret isn’t a strong enough motivator. They tell you to travel because if you don’t, you’ll regret it down the road. And so everyone did things that stemmed from a negative origin. Sex because I’ll get old. Dieting because I’ll get fat. Work because I’ll be poor. Success to prove my doubters wrong. But desire must derive from the action. It must be the thing that supplies us with a reason. The rest is negative fuel. We must jump over the crack in the cliff not because we’d regret never doing it, but because the other side of the rock calls to us. We must be drawn to the activity itself and let today lead us, rather than allow an invisible future do the haunting. We must live in additions. There’s a difference between “Oh, at least I don’t regret it” versus “Wow, that was a beautiful train I took.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“The reasons of even the tiniest human gesture are the only thing that separate us from a rock that falls because of gravity. Reasons are all we have, so we might as well make them beautiful ones. Everything expires, except our decisions. Choice is immortal. They are like indelible soulwaves to the universe. Why climb higher and higher when you can ride the straight, rare line that is truth?”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“People could look like anything. Any person with a phone managed their identity through a selection of photos whose appearances were impractical to debunk. One could reap the impression of a character if they pleased. People could post to appear like-minded, tough, the best, smart, creative, melancholy, and rich regardless of their actual state. A profile was a catalog of identity theft: books made one dreamy. Luxury made one wanted. Art made one complex. Travel made one busy. And minimalism made a person seem above it all. And the pursuit of this fraud only produced further unhappiness. Users’ contributions to the internet proceeded to tell the world that they were content and did not need love, while the very act of posting such a statement said that they were unhappy and indeed in need of love.”

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Book:A Happy Ghost
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“His generation was uncertain if God existed. Having had parents who were religious and breaking off from them, they had associated childhood apathy with religion. But larger than that, this generation was unsure why human life existed—and no matter what technology was invented, there was, in everyone, an incontestable hole. But the internet came, with its limitless span, and for the first time, something was vast enough to challenge that hole. To challenge God. The world needn’t question the universe when it was in the palm of their little hands.”

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Book:A Happy Ghost
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“Andrei always thought there was a fundamental eeriness to names. If a name had an adorable ring to it, like Bonnie or Milo, it was cute to say and hard to be angry at a Bonnie for long. People treated others the way their names sounded. If someone’s name was common, people would mostly see neutral characters—shy, kind, or good-natured. If one’s name was unusual, people had lazier associations and treated them as either a spectacle or an artist. If their name was a title commanding presence, the world’s reaction to them, however subtle, would naturally endow them with a confidence as easily handed to them as their name.”

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Book:A Happy Ghost
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“Our teachers forgot to mention that by throwing our tassels in the air, we throw every shit anyone can ever give about us. The world says it cares, but it goes ahead and does something different. I wish we weren’t cared for later than we’re supposed to be cared for. It's like: 'You graduated college. There’s no way you have any trace of still being a scared child. Oh, you fucked up? Here’s a jail cell.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“When you said goodbye earlier, I wish there had been something more. It's too sharp of a turn. Endings are jarring. It doesn’t make any sense. 'Goodbyes' are the oldest thieves around. Because they steal all the credit of a moment. All the good out of a conversation. The lasting impression of goodbyes makes it seem as if no party ever cared to begin with. You know?”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“Cashiers interact with hundreds of strangers per day, but seem to treat them all like one person. As a result, they seem to laugh at just about anything you say. “Hi, what can I get started for you?” “I’ll take a breakfast muffin.” “Haha, nice! Anything else?” “That’s everything.” “Haha, alright, there you go, sir. Your total is $3.24.” “Okay, here’s $5. Keep the change.” “Haha, no you’re good, haha.” If you want to feel like a stand-up comedian, buy something.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“Pretty faces have distracted incoming hands ready to stab. Sex has disguised arguments. Politeness has prevented confrontation. Laughing has slowed down revelation. Emotions have been misinterpreted as agreements. Judgment has hampered our listening. Perhaps, for now, we are more accurately defined by what we say or think and not how we seem or look.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“There’s so much ‘expression’ today you can’t hear the real problems. Maybe we switch tasks. To trust our current exhibitions can do their job. It is worth a try. A generation sacrificing their pride to save the future. Granted, our art is needed and could reveal our faults, but do evil men watch movies? Something soon must die. To trust the future will take care of itself is to deny an obvious and necessary revolution.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“People used to shop in stores; swiping through hangers, trying on clothes, and being surprised by what looked good on them. Now, clothing is a 2x4 digital image that you scroll past, worn by someone who isn’t you, in a color that isn’t accurate, in a fashion that invites no spontaneity. Our infinity makes us so limited.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“We must do because we are here. The universe is a playspace for you to find out cool shit and discover cool people. It’s the purest notion in our hearts, but also the most fragile. Do not lose to cul-de-sacs. Or a small person who says no. Or a large society that points one way. Do not lose to humidity. Or mud. Or boring white walls that say you’re nothing. Don’t fall for the room. It’s not there. Our dreams will never be around us, which is why we have to do the awkward thing of chasing them. It’s bigger than a day job, or even a romance. To be caught up on planetary affairs is to let the wind blow away your existence. You must throw a fishing line at a cloud and climb up the cord. Stay above the soil stompers. They won’t value you, so look away. Planted in you is a self in which the world will fail to see, in which you must make your mission to protect.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“I liked a girl, but never knew what to say. I won awards, longing for your "hooray." I was in a play doing whatever wildness suited. I did the same drugs mom said you did. It was always momma and me. You loved the racetracks for decades, but left me at three. All my friends were fatted with a love to claim, And the only thing you ever gave me was your name.”

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Book:Can I Tell You Something?
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“And it seemed fitting both for Andrei, and hypothetically the creators of the film, that when he got up to leave in the middle of it, he did so as an ode to the film. A statement of departure that said: 'If you made the movie for the reason I think you did, perhaps you wouldn’t be offended that I left the damn place and decided to chase after life. Inspiration is unlimited, but time is not. Thank you. Goodbye!' He left the poet’s book in the seat beside him, took his popcorn and soda, and exited the cinema the way the writers would have wanted.”

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Book:A Happy Ghost
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“Productivity is now sold as a lifestyle. People hustle away and grind for the sake of grinding. New calendars. New dry erase markers. New journals. But when they write in advanced journals, they write of goals and next steps— never of thoughts and secrets. When they write of goals, their goals are to have more goals. So you abandon the empty castle that is productivity and enter the little cottage of your funny heart.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“I love the church. I like the waxed candles that remind me people think of people. I love the bouquet of flowers on the altar that a group of grandmas grow in their gardens and pridefully donate every week. I admire the wooden statues of craftsmanship, of a mother staring at you with the kind of pure, loving look I forgot to ask from mine. I like the skinny man nailed to the cross reminding me that people are capable of sacrificial love. I like to stare at the art on the stained-glass windows, of angels, of lambs, and of fruit. I love running my hands over mosaics and tracing the lips of saints. I love the hymns and joy of the choir, who sing regardless if you’re too scared. I love watching the collective sway of bodies subconsciously comforted by their environment after finally saying “Peace be with you.” And most of all, I love being surrounded by people trying. They wear Christ around their neck and squeeze a rosary for dear life, admitting their weaknesses and sins. Tell me, where do you find that? There is an honesty in the church, spilling from kneeling persons, that gives me the hope humans can take care of each other and our planet can be a good one. Where else can I be exposed to the practice of morality on such an emotional level? I love everything about the church—the shiny pews, the smoky incense, the Bible and its purpose – because when all is considered, it makes sense. It is a template of discipline and thoughtfulness. Why call religious people idiots when they’re the few paying attention to their own lives? And there are other ways to be moral of course, but not many ways to practice. I’ve learned that to believe in God doesn’t subtract any life from you. It is additional. It is the world and God. If someone wears a jacket over their shirt, they aren’t naked. They’re double-layered.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“By acknowledging how ridiculous something is, people know what’s real again. We need those refreshers. It’s amazing how out of touch people can be when pretending there’s no elephant in the room. People must be elephant finders. But not of those big, monstrous, disgusting elephants, but the cute tiny ones in the room that we were each privately suspecting.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“Are you in there? If not here, then where'd you go? They say the living arena Earth and the dead are out, But where are those trapped in-between high and low? Where exactly are you wandering about? Why would this happen to a human being? I want to curse God and call him a fake, But I am too desperate to risk ruining The chance he may choose to help today.”

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Book:Can I Tell You Something?
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“Are you in there? If not here, then where'd you go? They say the living are on Earth and the dead are out, But where are those trapped in-between high and low? Where exactly are you wandering about? Why would this happen to a human being? I want to curse God and call him a fake, But I am too desperate to risk ruining The chance he may choose to help today.”

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Book:Can I Tell You Something?
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“Darling, don’t say it’s me that you love, But that you love how I make you feel on the weekends. Don’t say you have to go, admit there’s nothing more to let me know. Don’t say it was a good movie, tell me that it was a good break. Don’t say you like her hair, tell me that it’s just different. Don’t say your father’s evil, tell me that it’s ignorance. Don’t say you feel like dying, tell me life would be better without bills. Don’t say you hate crying, but that you hate when they see you ill. Don’t say you love the winter, tell me you like the gifts. Don’t say you want a vacation when you really want a kiss.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“I tried to go to group counseling, but the lady said they were full and so when I tried a 1-on-1 with a counselor, they didn’t respond to my calls. I tried so many times. It’s already so embarrassing asking for help. And you have to pick up my calls, too. Please, mom. When you don’t pick up the phone, my head goes all over the place and I think you’re dead.”

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Book:The Goodbye Song
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“This unfortunate phenomenon happened throughout the professor’s career—the students, who could not bear natural interest in the lectures, profited off O’Hare’s passion. They rested their fangs on her neck and used her original elixir for their needs. If they did it unconsciously, then another phenomenon would occur. The students imitated their teachers. And it was the largest robbery of education. By using the vocabulary of their passionate elders, young, ambitious minds convinced themselves and the world of something they did not believe in. Articulation was so personal. It was the result of countless experiences, people, readings, and reflections. When expressing an authentic belief, some ears were fooled by the speaker’s passion, which was like a contagious trance. So those ears applied others’ articulation as their own. By seeing O’Hare speak enthusiastically about a topic, one, with enough attention, could easily think they loved the topic, too.”

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Book:A Happy Ghost
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