Scott Hawkins > Quotes

“Are you a Buddhist?"
"No, I'm an asshole. But I keep trying.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“One such was the notion of uzan-iya,
which was what they called the moment when an innocent heart first contemplated the act of murder. To the Atul, the crime itself was secondary to this initial corruption.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“OK, think of it this way. Do you know how microwaves work?”
“No.”
“It’s based on microwaves.”
“Oh, wait. I just remembered. I do know how microwaves work, and what you’re saying is bullshit.”
“Fine. It isn’t microwaves.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“She knew every word that had ever been spoken, but she could think of nothing to say that might ease his grief.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“Step into the darkness with me, child... I will make of you a God.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“You're really extra fuckin special under arrest”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“The only real escape from hell is to conquer it.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“Are you a Buddhist?'
'No. I'm an asshole. But I keep trying.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“She felt his gaze fall from her as if it were a physical thing. This is how the field mouse feels, when the shadow of the hawk passes him by.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“She wanted to burn the whole place to ashes but, at the same time, it would be kind of nice to see it again.

Home.”
― Scott Hawkins, Spring 2015 Debut Fiction Sampler

“This though..I'm pretty sure that it's the worst thing that ever happened to anyone, anywhere. Ever. I think it's the worst thing that can happen, the theoretical upper limit of suffering. Despair and agony. Absolute. Unending.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“She spoke of insanities, but her voice was calm and certain. Her expression reminded him of a painting that frightened him as a child--Kali the annihilator, smiling as small things died.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“Well, I think it’s technically heat vision. And freeze breath. Could you
do freeze breath?”
She nodded. “Sure. It would take me a couple of weeks, but I could put
all that together. Is that what you’d like?”
“Uh…no. I was kidding.”
“Well. OK. You can’t help yourself, I get that. Just so that you know I’m
serious. Absolutely anything at all. When we were kids, sometimes Father
would play a game where he’d ask us to make up some impossible thing for
him to do. If we stumped him, we got a prize.” She looked at him. “No one
ever did, though. Not ever. Not once.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“That’s the risk in working to be a dangerous person,” she said. “There’s always the chance you’ll run into someone who’s better at it than you.”
― Scott Hawkins

“He ended up teaching middleschool art for a living. That was some soothing shit right there.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“No matter how many mysteries you solve, there’s always a deeper mystery behind it.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“She thinks that if her son were to come home now it would be like waking from a dream. She would feel again. But the boy will not come home, and though she will not allow herself to know this, she knows it anyway. And so she makes brownies for the memory of her baby. She can’t help herself—faint comfort is better than no comfort at all, you see? Her world is very cold, and this is the thing she warms herself over with.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“Yo, man," he said. "You got, like, half a dog hanging off your back bumper."

"Do I?"

"Yeah. Did you drive over it? On purpose, like?"

"No. The Buddha teaches respect for all life." Then, under his breath. "I guess I did shoot a couple though.”
― Scott Hawkins

“The truck honked. Steve looked up. Three or four feet up, some guy in the passenger seat was gesturing for Steve to rolldown his window. Steve did. "Yes?"
The passenger was a kid, about 18 or 20. His baseball cap was on backward. "Yo man," he said, "you got like half a dog hanging off your back bumper."
"Do I?"
"Ya. Did you drive over it? On purpose-like?"
"No, the Buddha teaches respect for all life." [...]
"There's blood all over your fuckin door too, man. You get in an assident or somethin?"
"Nope. Dogfight." Something occurred to him. "Hey, is there a vet around here?"
The kid looked at him like he was crazy. "Man, ain't no vet gonna help that dog. He's cut in half, yo.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“He meant well, and he was a brave boy. But if you hadn't been around, he would have found something else to martyr himself over.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“Some people have an enormous capacity for feeling guilt, deserved or otherwise.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“I didn’t know, Carolyn. I had faith in you.” Father’s eyes twinkled. “You should probably start getting used to that.” She didn’t get the joke.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“They were all staring at him now, the way dumb shits sometimes did when you surprised them.”
― Scott Hawkins

“In the service of my will, I have emptied myself.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“We used the same words, but they meant different things”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char