Lauren Beukes > Quotes

“She would disappear
folded like origami
into her own dreams”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“There are only so many plots in the world. It's how they unfold that makes them interesting.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“There are patterns because we try to find them. A desperate attempt at order because we can't face the terror that it might all be random.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“Shakespeare would have it wrong these days. It's not the world that's the stage - it's social media, where you're trying to put on a show. The rest of your life is rehearsals, prepping in the wings to be fabulous online.”
― Lauren Beukes, Broken Monsters: A Gritty Detroit Noir Thriller of Serial Murder and Urban Decay

“The problem with snapshots is that they replace actual memories. You lock down the moment and it becomes all there is of it.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“Fashion is only different skins for different flavours of you.”
― Lauren Beukes, Zoo City

“The future is not as loud as war, but it is relentless. It has a terrible fury all its own.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“Everyone lives three versions of themselves; a public life, a private life and a secret life.”
― Lauren Beukes, Broken Monsters

“Next time, can you ask him to bring cookies? I don't like to put up with that level of insane unless there's some kind of high-calorie compensation.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“Only other people can make you feel real.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“Traffic in Joburg is like the democratic process. Every time you think it's going to get moving and take you somewhere, you hit another jam.”
― Lauren Beukes, Zoo City

“Memory is curated. All this paraphernalia you collect to ward off forgetting”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“I really wanted to believe that there were these magic celestial bodies that would direct my life, tell me what to do, and it turns out it's not stars, it's some bits of screwy DNA. I'm just meat with faulty programming.”
― Lauren Beukes, Zoo City

“He always thought a muse should be sex on legs.”
― Lauren Beukes, Broken Monsters

“But she was the kind of girl you couldn't keep down. Unless you cut her up and caved in her skull.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“Can't reinvent the wheel. But you can put your own spin on it.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“So are you an inmate or a rubbernecker?" she asks.

"Rubbernecker," I answer without hesitation. "You?"

"I'm a screw. Or on staff, anyway. Used to be an inmate. Repeat offender. Crimes against my body. Puking sickness followed by heroin, which led to more puking sickness." I'd be surprised at her forthrightness, but that's addicts for you. The twelve steps crack 'em open and then they can't shut up.”
― Lauren Beukes, Zoo City

“I'm scared, Mom." ... "It's okay, honey. It's all right. That's the big secret, don't you know? Everyone is. All the time.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“Being her friend was like going to a tropical island for a little fun in the sun, only to be kidnapped by terrorists.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“You have to get up pretty early in the morning to invent the news.”
― Lauren Beukes, Zoo City

“She's even been practicing making out with the back of her hand. Which was about as effective as tickling yourself. It's why you needed other fingers, other tongues. Only other people can make you feel real.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“In the forest, they did things to drive us mad. Muti. Drugs. Rape. Killing Games. (...) God is not in the forest. Maybe He is too busy looking after sports teams or worrying about teenagers having sex before marriage. I think they take up a lot of His time.”
― Lauren Beukes, Zoo City

“Grown-up relationships are complicated. We got what we needed from each other. Passion. A safety net. Some kind of solace. It's lonely out there. But it ran its course. It was lovely while it lasted. But everything is finite. Life. Love. All this. Sadness too. Although that's harder to let go of than happiness. - Rachel Mazrachi”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“I yank open the cutlery drawer to be confronted with an anomaly worse than emails from dead people or a man with a gun sitting on my bed. It's a large carving knife with a viciously serrated edge and two broken teeth. It's tarnished with rust. It's not mine. And neither is the china figurine of a kitten with one paw playfully raised, also stained with rust. But it's not rust. It's not rust at all. Perversely, the thought that flashes through my brain is "I can haz murder weapon?" I laugh out loud, a sobbing hiccup.”
― Lauren Beukes, Zoo City

“People don’t want novelty – they want the reassurance of familiarity. No-one wants to be challenged, no-one wants to have their minds blown. There is an insatiable appetite for affirmation.”
― Lauren Beukes, Broken Monsters

“This is my idea of family, actually, a sticky morass you can't chew your way out of.”
― Lauren Beukes, Moxyland

“This is the way the world is now. Everything is public. You have to find other people who understand.”
― Lauren Beukes, Broken Monsters

“We do this to ourselves. Society is a poisonous hamster wheel.”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls

“They used to put people in stocks to shame them in public. Now you just need a wi-fi connection. On the internet, humiliation lives forever”
― Lauren Beukes, Broken Monsters

“Oh, but fine isn't everything!' Rachel exclaims and grabs her hands and pulls her into a stepping foxtrot over the paintings, twirling her round. 'Fine is the very definition of mediocrity. It's what's polite. It's what's socially acceptable. We need to live brighter and deeper than just fine, my darling!”
― Lauren Beukes, The Shining Girls