Jack Heath > Quotes

“Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.”
― Jack Heath, The Lab

“Jump!" Kyntak yelled.
"What?" Six shouted incredulously. It was hundreds of meters to the concrete below.
"Just jump!" Kyntak howled, and he leaped off the fire escape.
With only a split second of hesitation, Six followed him. If all else fails, he thought, I can always land on Kyntak to break my fall.”
― Jack Heath, The Lab

“A thought popped into my head, the same one that appears any time I’m in an elevator with another person: If we get stuck between floors, how long should I wait before I suggest we draw straws?

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Cuthbert said.

I doubted that.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“If they were rich, they'd be described as eccentric rather than mentally ill.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“I'd never understood why hurting animals for fun was considered an early warning sign of serial killer behavior, while fishing and hunting were seen as healthy male bonding activities.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“Thistle flashes a wicked smile. "Oh, you haven't heard that one? The government struck a bargain with a cannibal, and they use him to dispose of bodies after executions."
"Who told you that story" I ask, trying to sound casual.
"The supermax prisoners use it to scare each other up in Huntsville. Better watch your step or a man from the government will come and eat you." She shrugs. "It doesn't make much sense, but conspiracy theories never do."
"Right. It's probably bullshit."
Thistle laughs. "Probably?"
"Definitely bullshit," I clarify. Then I take another bite out of Nigel Boyd's thigh.”
― Jack Heath, Hangman

“If you have a mental illness, people don't trust you. And if you take drugs to fix the illness, they trust you even less.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“The HBS logo shone high above, a surrogate sun for the overcast day.”
― Jack Heath, Money Run

“So you don't go to church anymore?" she asks.
I don't like the idea of Thistle thinking that I believe in God. I wonder what the Bible says about cannibalism. Eat this, for it is my body.”
― Jack Heath, Hangman

“Homeless people talk to themselves because nobody else will.”
― Jack Heath, Hangman

“As an adult, Jared Carter shot his wife six times, then ran out of bullets. When the police showed up twenty minutes later, they found him on his knees on the kitchen floor, fist clenched around the barrel of the gun, striking her corpse with the butt over and over. It was as if he'd stored up every punch anyone had ever landed on him, and now he was letting them all out again.”
― Jack Heath, Hangman

“Uses her femininity to hide her humanity.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“You have two ears and one mouth. Repeat only half of what you hear.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“Lesson 1: Don't trust anybody.
Lesson 2: Be confident.
Lesson 3: Nothing is ever what it seems.
Lesson 4: When you're outgunned, stay quiet.”
― Jack Heath, The Cut Out

“I'm sorry," I say. "I hate feeling like I let you down."
"It's okay," she says. She puts her arm around my neck.
"In fact, I respect it. Celibacy must take a lot of willpower."
I think of all the times I've eaten someone and sworn I'll never do it again.”
― Jack Heath, Hangman

“The memory was like an old videotape, degrading slightly with each viewing.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“In the same library book that taught me about Theia and how the moon was made, I read that Earth travels two hundred million miles around the sun between fall and spring.
Some people die without ever having left their hometown, and yet they could be ninety million miles from where they were born.
We're all just ants, riding a bus on a highway too long to comprehend.”
― Jack Heath, Hangman

“The illusion lasts only a moment. The man is nothing more than a reflection of me. Both a person and a monster.”
― Jack Heath, Hangman

“We choose to believe whatever seems most likely.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“A lot of psychiatry is just common sense.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“Thistle and I had the same start in life - rescued by police from the clutches of our dead parents. But she's become a smart, tough FBI agent who can learn a new song on the viola in only one week or two. I'm a poor, unemployed cannibal. Where did our worlds divide? Where did I go wrong?”
― Jack Heath, Hangman

“The pain doesn't fade, it just becomes a different kind of pain.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“Remember, thoughts are funny things. If we try to push them away, often they bounce back, with more force. But if we accept that the thoughts are there, they lose their power over us. We can decide what, if anything, to do with them.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“Is gold useful or just expensive?”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“Apparently it didn't take a phone book to stop a bullet. A single sheet of paper would do.”
― Jack Heath, The Cut Out

“People often pretend they don't remember something when they're ashamed of it.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“Agreeable could sometimes pass as obedient.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“On a long enough timescale, the unlikely becomes inevitable.”
― Jack Heath, Headcase

“Reasoning beats remembering.”
― Jack Heath, The Cut Out

“Burn your bras. Kill your husbands.”
― Jack Heath, Kill Your Husbands