60 Quotes by Caitlín R. Kiernan

That's another sort of being haunted: starting something and never finishing it.

O que mais tememos não é o conhecido. O conhecido, por mais horrível ou prejudicial à existência, é algo que podemos compreender. Sempre podemos reagir ao conhecido. Podemos traçar planos contra ele. Podemos aprender as suas fraquezas e derrotá-lo. Podemos nos recuperar de seus ataques. Uma coisa tão simples quanto uma bala poderia ser suficiente. Mas o desconhecido desliza através de nossos dedos, tão insubstancial quanto o nevoeiro.

I don't like remembering the way that hurt her. Hurts her. I'm sure it still does; I'm just not around to see, and I don't like dwelling on that, either. That's only normal. Missing people you still love, and not wanting to see them in pain and angry and humiliated.

In the end, it's only a story of having had her words and secrets, her confidences, turned against her by someone she once believed entirely beyond any acts of betrayal. A story of pettiness and cruelty and of the lies friends will tell when a friendship has ceased to be profitable or convenient. It is a very simple and inexpressibly complex story of cowardice...

Chance wanting to defend her grandfather, but not about to leave the library, dustysafe sanctuary of shelves and glass cases and the musty smell of all the books, the door locked from the inside against birdnervous aunts who thought maybe a few slabs of smoked ham and a spoonful of mashed potatoes would make everything better, would make anything right again.

After Abalyn said what she said, I panicked. Someone tells me I can't remember what I definitely do remember, and sometimes I panic. I'm not as used to it as I often pretend. As I pretend to be used to it, I mean to say. The false memories.

I began keeping diaries after they locked Rosemary up at Butler and I went to live with Aunt Elaine in Cranston until I was eighteen, but even the diaries can't be trusted. For instance, there's a series of entries describing a trip to New Brunswick that I'm pretty sure I never took. It used to scare me, those recollections of things that never took place, but I've gotten used to it.

So, here are my windows, stained all with me.

In imposing order, it’s easy to miss the obvious.