Marisha Pessl Quotes - Page 3

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If I scribbled a few words on a cocktail napkin and showed it to my family, they'd proclaim it astonishing and more culturally relevant than the Bible.

Marisha Pessl

Cocktails, Few Words, Napkins

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It was never the act itself but our own understanding of it that defeated us, over and over again.

Marisha Pessl

Understanding, Defeated

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Mortal fear is as crucial a thing to our lives as love. It cuts to the core of our being and shows us what we are. Will you step back and cover your eyes? Or will you have the strength to walk to the precipice and look out?

Marisha Pessl

Eye, Cutting, Looks

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But when you flee someone, no matter how far you roam, that person will follow you as doggedly as the stars.

Marisha Pessl

Stars, Matter, Persons

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…deep-diving love, a love that excavates you. It’s something you have to have before you die in order to have lived.

Marisha Pessl

Order, Diving, Dies

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Some people are as fragile as butterflies and sensitive and it’s your responsibility not to destroy them. Just because you can

Marisha Pessl

Butterfly, Responsibility, People

Marisha Pessl (2006). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.201, Penguin

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Justice wields an erratic sword, grants mercy to fortunate few. Yet if man doesn't fight for her, 'tis chaos he's left to.

Marisha Pessl

Fighting, Men, Justice

Marisha Pessl (2006). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.498, Penguin

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Man's wobbly little mind isn't equipped for hauling around the great unknowns. Very few people realize, there's no point chasing after answers to life's important questions. They all have fickle, highly whimsical minds of their own. Nevertheless. If you're patient, if you don't rush them, when they're ready, they'll smash into you. And don't be surprised if afterward you're speechless and there are cartoon Tweety Birds chirping around your head. (Gareth van Meer)

Marisha Pessl

Men, Birds Chirping, People

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Sadly, American teenagers are to a weightless vacuum as seat cushions are to polyurethane foam -

Marisha Pessl

Teenager, Vacuums, Foam

Marisha Pessl (2006). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.130, Penguin

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Sometimes it takes more courage not to let yourself see. Sometimes knowledge is damaging - not enlightenment but enleadenment.

Marisha Pessl

Enlightenment, Sometimes

Marisha Pessl (2006). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.160, Penguin

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People had an illogical, self-serving rationale when it came to interpreting the behavior of others.

Marisha Pessl

Self, People, Behavior

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It’s got to be some kind of cult. Anyone offers you Kool-Aid or a hot shower, say no.

Marisha Pessl

Hot, Kind, Aids

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…how monstrous the people you loved could be.

Marisha Pessl

People, Monstrous

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Look at Picasso. O’Neill. Tennessee Williams. Capote. Were these shiny happy people spreading sunshine? No. Only the greatest of personal demons can force you to do powerful work.

Marisha Pessl

Powerful, Sunshine, People

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In college I studied '60s and '70s radicalism, student activism, forms of political violence, groups like the Weathermen, the Black Panthers, the Symbionese Liberation Army, the New Left.

Marisha Pessl

Army, College, Political

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Occasionally when I'm procrastinating writing, I'll while away the hours on iTunes. You can just keep going forever and find these bands you'd never normally hear of.

Marisha Pessl

Writing, Forever, Band

"Random Rules: Marisha Pessl" by Andy Battaglia, www.avclub.com. November 14, 2006.

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When I'm creating characters, I definitely think of theme songs. Writing for me is very visual, so I sometimes think of it in terms of a movie with a soundtrack, and try to transfer that to words.

Marisha Pessl

Song, Writing, Character

"Random Rules: Marisha Pessl" by Andy Battaglia, www.avclub.com. November 14, 2006.

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It's funny how the night that changes your life forever starts out like all the others.

Marisha Pessl

Night, Forever, Changing Your Life

Marisha Pessl (2013). “Night Film”, p.149, Random House

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What, really, was the difference between something hounding you and something leading you somewhere?

Marisha Pessl

Differences

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Like that lightning that comes out of the blue when there's not even a storm going on, just a crazy crack in the sky. With something like that right in front of you, you can't help but feel there's new possibilities out there.

Marisha Pessl

Crazy, Blue, Sky

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You journalists bulldoze life's mysteries, ignorant of what you're so ruthlessly turning up.

Marisha Pessl

Ignorant, Mystery, Journalist

Marisha Pessl (2013). “Night Film”, p.80, Random House

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Funnily enough, it is the subject one dreads talking about at length one ends up talking about at length, often without the slightest provocation.

Marisha Pessl

Talking, Enough, Length

Marisha Pessl (2006). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.200, Penguin

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It's a common feeling for people to feel intermittent antipathy toward individuals they're familiar with.

Marisha Pessl

People, Feelings, Common

Marisha Pessl (2006). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.229, Penguin

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I hate to think of a day where a compelling book or a compelling authorial voice would be lost simply because that person doesn't have a Web site. But I think that, to use the Internet in a positive way, to turn people on to reading, is something that authors shouldn't really shy away from necessarily.

Marisha Pessl

Hate, Reading, Book

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When you grow up--and from the look of things, you have awhile--but you learn things never go back to normal simply because everyone's sorry. Sorry is ridiculous.

Marisha Pessl

Growing Up, Sorry, Looks

Marisha Pessl (2013). “Special Topics in Calamity Physics”, p.216, Penguin UK

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Born: October 26, 1977
Occupation: Writer
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