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.

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.

The person you are (in total, at that moment in time) is what creates the story you're writing. It's infused in every piece of punctuation, in the plot, in the most minor character who crosses the page. It's all your voice.

Empathy is what separates human beings from teenage boys.

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

That’s the funny thing,” she said. “Men always want to die for something. For someone. I can see the appeal. You do it once and it’s done. No more worrying, not knowing, about tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. I know you all think it sounds brave, but I’ll tell you something even braver. To struggle and fight for the ones you love today. And then do it all over again the next day. Every day. For your whole life. It’s not as romantic, I admit. But it takes a lot of courage to live for someone, too.

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