Nicholas Ponticello > Quotes

“We are each a cog in some giant cuckoo clock, one man among many in a Fordist assembly line. And”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Do Not Resuscitate

“some things, once altered, are not easily undone.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Do Not Resuscitate

“Most other creatures in the universe have no concept of hope and can go on living without it. But humans need hope as much as they need air or water or food.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown

“In the big, wide universe, the real question is this: How did Homo sapiens sapiens, a relatively small subclass of sentient beings, manage to become so enormously divided?”
― Nicholas Ponticello, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown

“The energy was very much like the prickly excitement of the first day at summer camp or a freshman dormitory on move-in day. The sense of camaraderie that they all shared that first night would evaporate over the months and years to follow and be replaced by a cold formality more befitting the passengers of an airplane or guests in a hotel lobby. If you walked into the commissary forty years from then, you would get the sense that the passengers knew nothing about one another, or that perhaps they all knew one another too well and had nothing left to say.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown

“Unfortunately, their wedding, which was to be a cause for celebration, took a tragic turn when, during the reception, Esmeralda Fincus realized with horror that young Jason Fincus was missing. Search as the wedding party might, Jason Fincus would not turn up again for twenty-one long years, or forty-three long years—depending on your frame of reference.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown

“Once a job is secured, you will begin earning your own money, and you needn’t fear running out of your inheritance any more than you fear running out of air to breathe. Like the plants on God’s green earth, you will be making your own air, so to speak.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Cuckoo Cuckoo

“I feel sorry for them—human beings, not bugs. If their brains were just a tad bigger, they might make an admirable species—they might even be happy. But as it is, humans are always fighting endless battles to change the things over which they have little or no control.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown

“If you are reading this, then I must be dead. But do not mourn for me. I prefer it this way.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Cuckoo Cuckoo

“The tables were crowded and warm, and the room had a lively sense of camaraderie about it, an artificial camaraderie fostered by the strangeness and isolation of space and of having survived a traumatic experience together.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown

“Now you’re free to do as you please, what are you gonna do about this great big American shame of ours?”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Cuckoo Cuckoo

“the line between love and hate is so fine, so paper thin, that being in love is always one step away from madness.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown

“there was a difference between being rich and being rich rich.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Cuckoo Cuckoo

“These young men getting killed all over the country is a damn shame. But it’s no reason to spoil your graduation day, Mister Charles.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Cuckoo Cuckoo

“I have observed humans a long time through my superspectrum x-ray telescope, seeing into their homes, into their bodies, and into their lives. I have written numerous reports documenting their behavior, and I have come to be something of an expert on the human species on my own planet. And there is one thing I have learned about humans that in all my studies I find to be true: human beings are rarely ever happy.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown

“Charles Abernathy Vanderough. Died September 8, 1996. He suffered from a series of complications. And he is survived by a series of complications.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Cuckoo Cuckoo

“I implore you: stay away from guns. And bridges. I have a mind to throw myself off every bridge I cross. I don’t know if life is even worth living. I’ll let you settle that one for yourself.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Cuckoo Cuckoo

“I hesitate to offer any words of advice except these: you must make an honest living for yourself. Your life depends on it.”
― Nicholas Ponticello, Cuckoo Cuckoo