Toby Barlow > Quotes

“Knowing someone isn't coming back
doesn't mean you ever stop waiting”
― Toby Barlow

“he knows that it's impossible to tell a wolf
from a man if
he keeps his chin up
and his teeth clean.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“The bullet we're running from is almost never the one that hits us.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“Call him Judas if you want
but he did it for reasons
much older than silver.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“And were you cornered by her,
eye to eye,
you would see that
there are still some watchful creatures
whose essence lies unbound by words.
There is still a wilderness.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“Some things don't pass, the injuries don't heal they merely find a place in our guts and in our bones where they fitfully rest, tossing and turning between our knuckles and ribs waiting to wake as the shadows grow long.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“The heart is a bloody thing. ”
― Toby Barlow

“The secret must stay and- according to scientists- the love will live. The heart is quite comfortable with secrets. After all, its home is a dark wet place tucked in among all the other organs who aren't talking either.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“That's what love does/ It chases the dragons away/ before their claws can sink in.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“Everyone is always looking in the wrong direction,
we worry about our lovers while losing our jobs
we stress out about cancer while our children run away
we ponder the stars while burning the earth.
Lark used to say the buller we're running from
is almost never the one that hits us.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“As she stared at the ceiling that first night
her body softly falling back into itself,
she thought of how we dream of journeying
on spaceships to other universes, other worlds,
but really, for the forever,
we're stuck here on the dirt and
the only time we will travel anywhere truly unknowable
is when we slip into the skin of another,
venturing into their mysteries,
always hoping for
a safe landing.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“There are two things that make
the conscious world move,
decision and desire.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“You either trust or you distrust coincidence. It 's either small doses of magic pulling you to your appointed destiny or the devil trying to lead you down to the thorns.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“Like so much of the trouble in the world
it ends simply with exhaustion.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“The theory is simple.
Every boy, every man, is really
a bit of a golden retriever
or a big chocolate Lab.
Watch any man's eyes
at the bounce of a ball.
His head tilts slightly sideways, just a hair,
as a primitive focus
comes to life.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“Each dog marks a section of our lives, and in the end, we feed them to the dark, burying them there while we carry on.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“You can’t own something unless you can swallow it”
― Toby Barlow

“Men have dragged us by our hair through the ages, and whether they give us crumbs or bright, shiny rocks, they truly give us nothing at all. If you have not opened your legs for them so that they could drawl out as babies or crawl in as men, they they will leave you to starve like a dog on the street. So now we are done playing the way they want us to play. Now we are moving to music they cannot hear, to a rhythm they cannot understand. They call it madness and we call it truth and find me the magistrate you can trust to judge between the two? Bah. So we dance on, we dance on.”
― Toby Barlow, Babayaga

“... she tried to avoid his gaze but he held her steady and would not look away, Finally her eyes spoke to him. Her eyes said, Words are too weak, too small, they are always too small, even the purest and most simple phrases fail. Her eyes said, Look at who you are, you were asleep when I met you, but now you're awake, so stay awake. I did not need you and I did not want you and yet here you are, awake in my body and in my heart.”
― Toby Barlow, Babayaga

“Immediately he surprised her, for she like the way he kissed, like a man who wanted to swallow life.”
― Toby Barlow, Babayaga

“Yes, liquor is the thin white coat of paint you wash over the cracks in your foundation. Makes any rotten house livable for a few hours. Sometimes days.”
― Toby Barlow

“You take a shower, your head is up, far away from everything, lost in the clouds, but down in the tub, man, you know who you are.”
― Toby Barlow, Babayaga

“Their love is eternal because time seems to have fled, embarrassed to be sharing such a small apartment with so much dumb affection.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth: A Novel

“There in that embrace, she feels something
shuffling around, moving warily
fumbling through the dusty rooms of her heart,
and, one by one, turning on the lights”
― Toby Barlow

“This is all we are at our best, he thought, tiny instances accumulating up into a greater whole. There is noting magnificent in this world, he thought, that is not born from an act so slight as to go wholly unnoticed. We must be especially attentive to see them, and to remember to perform them, he thought, yes, that is the crux: we must simply pay attention.”
― Toby Barlow, Babayaga

“She would say 'Bucket moon'
he would answer 'Ladle moon.'
Night after night sky revealed a
bitten moon, a butcher's moon,
an apple moon, a thief's moon,
a rabbit---
'Rabbit moon?'
'Don't you see it?'
'I used to chase rabbits,' she had said,
her voice sweet and tired.”
― Toby Barlow

“He said, You know, whoever hurt you
dies every time they look in the mirror.
That is how they pay."
She crossed her arms.
"And one day, Maria, you will die too,
but there's no reason for you to die
every day.”
― Toby Barlow, Sharp Teeth

“It is the oldest and most simple curse on earth, and when properly applied, no cure can be found. Some might call it love.”
― Toby Barlow, Babayaga

“Luck is stupid as a cow and blind as a bat.”
― Toby Barlow

“Days grow hotter and life grows shorter.

Time is somehow running out.

She flips her pillow

so she won't have to sleep on her tears.”
― Toby Barlow