117 Quotes by Peter Heller

No: Human beings, by orders of magnitude, remained the most vicious animal on the planet.

So crows must spend a lot of the day wondering what they are supposed to do now, what they are here for, and that seemed like a cruel existential dilemma for anyone who didn’t have TV.

Sometimes I think that’s all you need. A good man with a fishing tip, a wave. A woman once in a while. Some work to do that might mean something. A truck that runs, that some faceless bastard two hundred miles away can’t turn off. It’s not much, but plenty when you don’t have any of it.

If one concentrated on one thing and then another – the good things in each moment – the fear wrapped deep in the gut seemed to unswell, like an iced bruise. Still there, but quieter.

Rock rock. Back and forth. Lull. Push. Release. Swing back. The stars, the leaves, even the sound of the creek throbbing back and forth. Of a boat. Of a hammock. Of a child’s swing. Of a womb. Back and forth. Rock rock. Smell of cold current, of stone, manure, blossom. Sleep.

He really your dad? Yes. On my father’s side.

I went over to the painting and looked closely. It had changed in my absence, something paintings liked to do.

One thing we are learning to be sure of: life does not get less strange.

On this side were only low hisses, a ticking and chirping, a simmering crackle like a million crickets, hellfire crickets, singing of apocalypse and char.