Dead End In Norvelt Quotes
"How could I forget? I was a nosebleeder. The moment something startled me or whenever I got overexcited or spooked about any little thing blood would spray out of my nose holes like dragon flames."
"What you did was nothing. Those other guys are the real knuckleheads."
"Even if you win, the battle is never over inside you."
"Once you get a reputation for one stupid thing it stuck with you forever."
"There may be more to it. Besides, given that stunt you just pulled, it’s in your best interest to do exactly what I say."
"No matter what you do in life, never drink and use guns—and drive!"
"Helping others is a far greater reward than doing it for money."
"Don’t ever go to war. Even if you win, the battle is never over inside you."
"Be suspicious of history that is written by the conquerors."
"Cash just means you can be a big shot and cut to the front of the line."
"The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth."
"Good grief, this obituary might scare some of these old folks to death."
"The more you use them and pitch in around the house the more you can understand how the whole family works as a team."
"I’d rather have the people drop dead than have the town drop dead and vanish from history."
"Money makes the world go round, cash is the universal get-out-of-Norvelt-forever card."
"I have to help my brother skin the minks at his mink farm this afternoon and I may fall behind a bit."
"I’ll sign your death certificate, mister, mark my words, you should be euthanized like a garden pest."
"History is a form of nature, like the mountains and sea and sky."
"Every living soul is a book of their own history, which sits on the ever-growing shelf in the library of human memories."
"Mrs. Roosevelt is the greatest American woman who ever lived and she has always been devoted to those who suffer."
"In the United States, one person who felt the true power of the diary—a diary as loud as the six million Jews who lost their voices—was our own Eleanor Roosevelt."
"Anne's diary, which the Nazis thought was so meaningless, was thrown onto the floor of her hiding place."
"You could never be sure what anything added up to, which meant that what was in your imagination while sitting in a pew was just as important as what the preacher was saying—maybe even more important."
"If the Hells Angels moved into that house and lived in our town that would be more frightening to me than burning the house down."
"Watching it burn is like watching someone being tortured. I can’t look."
"I love it when I get mad! I feel like I’m ready to take on the world—I’d like to show a few of those Hells Angels a thing or two."
"But then, when church was over, everything in my imagination seemed to collapse into the dust of a lost world."
"Those old ladies seem to be dropping like flies. A real shame. Someone should look into all these deaths."
"Time for me to join the birds," Dad said smoothly as he flapped his arms. "Just look out the window."
"I wish you would stop that fake cursing," she scolded. "It’s just as rude as the real thing."
"Your job will seem scary," he said, "but it’s not dangerous as long as you do everything the right way—just like gun safety. Follow the rules, okay?"
"History lasts forever," she snapped. "And we’ll be judged by our history."
"Let us fill every empty seat at the school. Let us farm each acre of land. Let us be good neighbors and build communities where the pursuit of happiness is the purpose of life, rather than merely staying alive just so we can cower from fear."
"What you see before you is the result of eighty-three years of growing old."