11 Quotes by Michael Rutger

I'm fine,"she said, keeping her head down,wiping the back of her hand across her eyes.It was probably too late,but she didn't want him to see she'd been crying.She was fourteen.That's not a child anymore, whatever dumbass old people might think.Parents and teachers,every-one---but friends most of all.All they ever want to do is keep you small.They're scared of who you are becoming.Of what you know.Of who you are.

The problem with seeing a lot of places is they all start to seem the same, especially the ones that are trying to be different.

You know this already. You'll have bodies stashed in tunnels of your own. Things you've done, mistakes you've made, secrets you hold—the guilt you carry for moments that stick out in your past like black stars in the firmament of your inner life. The outlier occurrences. The anomalies. The events you look back upon in disbelief, wondering how the hell they could have come to pass, and if they can be made to fit in a story you are prepared to own.

Nobody gets through life without being an asshole," I said. "Once in a while you're going to dig in over something and get it wrong and make a scratch on the world you'll never polish off. Those scratches will define you more than anything else.

The past is full of if-onlys and they're all bullshit.

It's never the world at large you want to prove yourself to. It's someone in particular. Doesn't matter how old you get, you're still hoping for Mom or Dad to kiss you on the head.And yes, that person should ideally be yourself, just as the answers to all our questions and the objects of our quests should most likely be found within our own souls. But they're not. We need more. Someone or something bigger than us. A magical other. And that's why we reach for the gods.Or for someone to love.

In silence this profound you felt different. Some deep, rusty, older part of your brain urged you to remain quiet, to avoid being noticed.

Time may help you turn a blind eye, but guilt is the stain that never goes away.

Whose side are you on?The side of not getting killed. For future reference, that's the side I'm always on.