Quotes From "The City Of Mirrors" By Justin Cronin

I would not say I was a nonbeliever; rather, that I gave little if any thought to celestial concerns. It did not seem to me that God, whoever he was, would be the sort of god to take an interest in the minutiae of human affairs, or that this fact released us from the duty to go about our lives in a spirit of decency to others. Justin Cronin

Consider the species known as man. We lie, we cheat, we want what others have and take it; we make war upon each other and the earth; we harvest lives in multitude. We have mortgaged the planet and spent the cash on trifles. Justin Cronin

How wonderful to be read to. To be carried from this world and into another, born away on words. Justin Cronin

The memory was unpleasant; he'd taken an instant disliking to the man. Compounding Peter's distrust, Chase was wearing a necktie, the most incomprehensible article of clothing in the history of the world. Justin Cronin

I wanted to kill them. No, not kill. "Kill" is too dull a word for that which I desired. I wanted to annihilate them. I wanted to tear them limb from limb. I wanted to crack their bones and bury my face in the wet remains. I wanted to reach inside their chests and yank out their hearts and devour the bloody meat as the last stray current twitched the muscle and watch their faces as they died. Justin Cronin

The heart, once broken, stayed broken. Justin Cronin

It's children, he thought, that give us our lives; without them we are nothing, we are here and then gone, like the dust. Justin Cronin

She thought she should take a moment to pray. But, as she was holding a loaded rifle, conventional prayer did not seem entirely suitable. Sister Peg hoped that God would help her, but it was her belief that He much preferred for people to attend to themselves. Life was a test; it was up to you to pass it or not. She raised the gun to her clavicle and angled one eye down the length of the barrel. Justin Cronin

What is left when there is no love? A rope and rock. Justin Cronin

It was as if I'd lost some cosmic game of musical chairs; the song had stopped, I was left standing, and there was simply nothing to be dine about it. Justin Cronin

All things fell into the past but one; and what that was, was love. Justin Cronin

Behind every great hatred is a love story. For I am a man who has known and tasted love. I say “a man” because that is how I know myself. Look at me, and what do you see? Do I not take the form of a man? Do I not feel as you do, suffer as you do, love as you do, mourn as you do? What is the essence of a man, if not these things? Justin Cronin

Absolution is not the same as understanding. Justin Cronin

City of memories, city of mirrors. Justin Cronin

For the first time he considers the full emotional dimensions of the day. His life is changing but his parent’s lives are changing too. Like a habitat, abruptly deprived of a major species, the household will be wrenched into realignment by his departure. Like all young people, he has no idea who his parents really are. For 18 years he has experienced their existence only in so far as it is related to his own needs. Suddenly his mind is full of questions. What do they talk about when he's not around? What secrets do they hold from each other? What aspirations have been left to languish? What private grievances held in check by the shared project of child rearing will now in his absence, lurch into the light?. Justin Cronin

Below lies the dark core, that great iron ball beneath all things. Its compressed weight is fantastic; it is older than time itself. It is a vestige of the blackness that predates all existence, when a formless universe existed in a state of chaotic un-creation, lacking awareness even of itself. Justin Cronin

All stories end when they have returned to their beginnings. Justin Cronin

What is home but a place where you are truly known? Justin Cronin

So, at the last, a story. Justin Cronin

Behind every great hatred is a love story. Justin Cronin

It was like leading people to the edge of a cliff, showing them the view, and then shoving them off. Justin Cronin

I like cats as much as the next person, in the right quantity. Justin Cronin

Drinking myself blind seemed like the next logical step. Justin Cronin

You are Entering the Red Zone.Proceed at Own Risk.When in Doubt Run. Justin Cronin

It is an interesting truth that the human body, liberated from its head, is in essence a bag of blood with a built-in straw. Justin Cronin

All things found their ends. Justin Cronin