H.L. Sudler > Quotes

“You are never more powerful than when you learn. You are never more powerful than when you teach.”
― H.L. Sudler

“I'm not advising you to do wrong, but if you're going to do wrong do wrong right.”
― H.L. Sudler

“She had traveled to more cities, had experienced more scenes, than anyone she knew, and still she had come away from it all with only an abysmal sense of dissatisfaction. When would it all begin, the good part of this story she was living? When would she find her destiny, her purpose? When would she have the control her mother wielded, the drive her father possessed? When would she cease living the same wretched days over and over? Why was she still feeling empty and meaningless? Why—after all this time—did her purpose in life still escape her?”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“Do not become too pretty with yourself. And by that I mean, do not be afraid to get down in the dirt and tell stories that need to be told, using the appropriate language needed to convey the tale. Use the world around you, the people in it, the situations, the timeless problems and delimmas and yearnings. The further you get from this, with ornate and flowery language, with homogenized and predictable storytelling, the further away you push the audience. For the reason the reader has come to you, the writer, is to see themselves. In Romance, in Westerns, in Science Fiction, in Horror. They want to be able to put themselves in your story, to live it, see it, breathe it. Even if they are unfamiliar with the world you've created or are frightened by it, or it makes them uncomfortable, the reader wants the thrill of a rollercoaster ride. So give the audience its monies worth. I've said this before and I'll say it again. Tell me a good story and I will listen.”
― H.L. Sudler

“Before the autumn of our years, there exists a time when we struggle to reconcile what we are with what we wish to be. This time can be known as summer. After spring gives us life, before winter takes it away.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“Not all horror needs to be an onslaught of sound and gore. Luring the viewer into a mystery that turns into a nightmare is the appeal of horror. There is a subtlety and patience that's required in the storytelling.”
― H.L. Sudler, The Looking Glass: Tales of Light and Dark

“People don't like sex because it's clean. People like sex because it's dirty. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is a bold-faced liar trying to sucker you into shame.”
― H.L. Sudler

“Knowing too much had turned him into something else, and he wasn't sure he liked this newer him, although he felt he could not stop being this other him, darker.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“I wish I could kiss you just once and you'd understand what's in my heart.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“He could not have faced her right then. He had started to sense their relationship was over, that she wanted more than he could ever give her. They hardly saw each other any longer, had nothing much to discuss, and had even ceased doing the one thing they were good at. Still, to smell the sheets where she had lain brought him a certain peace, lulling him to sleep under the veil of her perfume. He dreamed they were married, running beneath a flurry of white rose petals, and then a door slammed shut, and suddenly he was awake. He was back at Cedar House, and it was night and the room was dark.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“The ocean drummed as loud as pulsating blood, eroding the sand, rushing the beach as if it had a point to prove. And like many things, it receded, was gone, and was replaced anew.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“Do me a favor, Dallas. Tell me what games we're playing today so I can be sure to play along too.”
― H.L. Sudler, Return to Summerville

“I don't work according to anyone's schedule, but according to my ethics.”
― H.L. Sudler

“Be careful of thinking you know a person so well. Like comic books, everyone has an origin story…and oftentimes it ain’t pretty.”
― H.L. Sudler

“There is nothing so sexy as a good-looking man in a good-looking pair of shorts.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“Look at you. Riding the gravy train with biscuit wheels.”
― H.L. Sudler, Return to Summerville

“Be sure of yourself, but never so much that you forget to give thanks.”
― H.L. Sudler, From Man to Gentleman: A Beginner's Guide to Manhood

“The best thing about being a writer is the writer's imagination, which is, given the day, time, or date, either a paradise or a prison. It is where some of our fondest friends exist. There is also the wonder of possibility. In a writer's imagination anything is possible, daydreams are like movies, feelings have so much impact, and your mind's eye sees everything. But also in a writer's imagination exists his fears, and it sometimes is the only place--in his imagination--where he can face his fears, conquer them, and then use that battle to teach or entertain.”
― H.L. Sudler

“Do you know how many men are incarcerated in solitary confinement? About 100,000 on any given day, if my numbers are correct. Do you know how many men commit suicide in The Hole? Very high. Twenty-four hours in a box with no windows can break a man. Some more quickly than others.”
― H.L. Sudler, Return to Summerville

“A blank slate puts the author's imagination to work by using his mind's eye to record and examine, and ultimately report on, a world others cannot see.”
― H.L. Sudler

“Apologies have an expiration date.”
― H.L. Sudler, The Looking Glass: Tales of Light and Dark

“The tragedy of my life, and curse, is that I have all this love to give and no one to give it to.”
― H.L. Sudler

“Forgive yourself. You made a mistake. Make amends and move forward to a better you and a brighter tomorrow.”
― H.L. Sudler, From Man to Gentleman: A Beginner's Guide to Manhood

“We're a newspaper. A dying breed of media. Hell, we're already dead, we just don't know it. But we keep coming to work. You know why? Because it's in our blood. To tell the world what's going on. To keep them woke. It's our job to protect this world...”
― H.L. Sudler

“Stop looking at shiny objects on the ground.”
― H.L. Sudler, From Man to Gentleman: A Beginner's Guide to Manhood

“Where had the summer gone? At first endless, then suddenly over. Death was in the chilled air, and the leaves would turn before long, as birds formed V-shaped excursions to the south. One by one, each of the boardwalk businesses would shut down for the season, boarded up for Nor’easters and winter storms. The city would thin out dramatically, a ghost town compared to the summer.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“Do not become too pretty with yourself. And by that I mean, do not be afraid to get down in the dirt and tell stories that need to be told, using the appropriate language needed to convey the tale. Use the world around you, the people in it, the situations, the timeless problems and delimmas and yearnings. The further you get from this, with ornate and flowery language, with homogenized and predictable storytelling, the further away you push the audience. For the reason the reader has come to you, the writer, is to see themselves. In Romance, in Westerns, in Science Fiction, in Horror. They want to be able to put themselves in your story, to live it, see it, breathe it. Even if they are unfamiliar with the world you've created or are frightened by it, or it makes them uncomfortable, the reader wants the thrill of a rollercoaster ride. So give the audience its money's worth. I've said this before and I'll say it again. Tell me a good story and I will listen.”
― H.L. Sudler

“Even in the gay spots around town, he could walk in and suddenly realize he was the only person of color in the room. He faced questions in all the eyes he greeted. What’s he doing here? Does he think he’s one of us? How ironic that even here in the nation’s self-proclaimed “gay summer capital” he should feel unwanted, excluded.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville

“I feel sorry for you, Detective Esteban. Because I'm all out of patience, and you're all out of time. I'm sure we'll see each other again someday. In Hell. Save a seat for me.”
― H.L. Sudler, Return to Summerville

“Warren was nearly hoarse as he wiped the tears from his eyes and face. "I need to change. I need to protect my family. I need to earn who I am.”
― H.L. Sudler, Summerville