D. Randall Blythe > Quotes

“My alcoholism is in no way any sort of excuse for any of my past behaviors. Just because I quit drinking, my life was not suddenly transformed into a tabula rasa-if I have wronged someone, drunk or not, then the responsibility for this lies squarely with me. And I must do my best to set things square with that person. ...
....And just because I am sober now does not mean anyone else should care. I do not deserve a cookie for finally trying to act like a decent human being.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“Injustice always prevails when the people blindly accept the dictates of those in power, whether those rulers were elected or seized their positions by the sword.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“When everything that you know and love is taken from you, the smallest, most mundane things, stuff that you normally pay no attention to, like a random alley cat passing by your window, can have a very large emotional impact.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“Today, I do not want to die.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“The fact of the matter is that when I drink, I am 100 percent certifiably insane. Hopelessly, utterly, undeniably bat shit crazy. I do things that are abhorrent to me; anathema to my nature, my morals, and my upbringing. And once I start, I cannot stop the craziness. It just spirals on and on, ever downward, until I die or hit rock bottom. And even at rock bottom, despite all evidence that I should stop, I will grab a cold beer and a pick ax and keep digging deeper. It's insane. The only way I know to not be crazy is just not to drink.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“I grew up my entire life feeling different than, and often was treated as such.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“I'm too nerdy, too weird, too much my own quirky self to even attempt to squeeze into what I consider the strangling straightjacket of most societal norms. The few times I have tried, I have failed miserably, as "normal" people can smell something strange on me.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“I can only use the tools at my disposal to try to help others to the best of my ability, then hope for the best.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“If you want to get better at something, do it while surrounded by people who are already doing it at a much, much higher level than you. Swallow your ego, shut your mouth, then pay attention and learn from getting crushed by these people again and again.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“I had no idea what had happened, or what was going to happen, other than the overwhelming feeling that I was in some deep doo-doo.”
― D. Randall Blythe

“When someone’s life is coming to an end and they spend time with you, don’t take a single second of it for granted. They are giving you a piece of the only thing they have left.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“Stories have power if we use them well.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“multitude of mewling milk-toothed experts”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“If something is worth believing in, a political position, a religion, a scientific theory, surely it should withstand a little rigorous examining from a rational, educated observer applying critical thought, yes? If not, that belief should be discarded.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“I wish that every single person on this planet could have that experience. If everyone could feel it, just once, I think the world would be a better place, and we would understand that everyone in fact is the same, equal in the eyes of God, and that every voice on this planet deserves to be heard, that everyone’s song deserves to be sung. I wish this could happen for everyone,”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“Like a pump-action twelve gauge being racked outside your back door, or a tree limb cracking beneath your weight, it is a sound that swiftly wakes you up to the reality of your situation. It is a sound that says: You’re screwed.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Dark Days: A Memoir

“When I think about dying (which I am absolutely in no hurry to do), there are many, many unpleasant ways of meeting my end that I definitely do not wish to experience. And I do get panicky from time to time when I begin to dwell on the fact that I may not get to accomplish certain things I want to do during my time on earth or visit places I’ve dreamed of going or say all the things I want to say through music, writing, and photography—”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“So if someone in my life is having a problem, my instinct is to immediately try to help them figure out how to fix that problem.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“But apathy is a refuge of the intellectual coward and outrage without action is self righteous masturbation.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“To be unable to connect with your own past through the act of memory must feel like you were losing a connection to the building blocks of your very identity. If we are the sum of our experiences, what do we become when those experiences vanish from our mind? Do we ourselves eventually disappear?”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“The older I get, the more I try to structure my life around activities that I believe bring a deeper sense of meaning and purpose to what’s left of my existence.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head

“My racing monkey mind screamed,"Figure it out, figure it out!" because I am uncomfortable in sad and painful situations and I want to change the circumstances so that the problems will go away.”
― D. Randall Blythe, Just Beyond the Light: Making Peace with the Wars Inside Our Head