Chad Lutzke > Quotes

“This is about hating yourself enough to go to extremes. It's about surviving, when all you want to do is wake up dead.”
― Chad Lutzke, Stirring the Sheets

“Denny, I know it is, and I’ve seen much more of it than I’ve probably let on. But that’s no way to live your life, on guard like that. I can’t let the potential of something bad happening strip me of my freedom. No one should have to do that.”
― Chad Lutzke, Of Foster Homes and Flies

“I didn’t want to shorten my stay. I wanted to live there, carve out a bed in the shelves and read my life away, wear the cologne of aging pages. The place made Hermosa Beach feel like a plan B.”
― Chad Lutzke, Skullface Boy: A Coming of Age Road Trip

“Dirt is the closest thing to a womb a person can hope for.”
― Chad Lutzke, Out Behind the Barn

“I'm sitting here thankful that I met her, but I know that today she'll leave and I'll be here and that'll be it. But just like with Dad, I try and focus on the good memories and keep the gratitude rather than mourn the loss.”
― Chad Lutzke, Of Foster Homes and Flies

“The man dropped the ax and threw himself atop the spiny plant, its quills sinking into his flesh. A punishment for his closure. A horizontal crucifixion. He bled”
― Chad Lutzke, Shallow Waters, Vol. 1

“thousand stings carried the grief away and with a groan like thunder, the man rolled off his bed of nails and sobbed, the rain cooling his tiny wounds. For ten minutes it rained, washing away the sin of letting go. Then with ax in hand and a pocketful of memories, he walked home.”
― Chad Lutzke, Shallow Waters, Vol. 1

“Maurice was relentless in his pursuit of Michelle, so when he finally passed out we carried him to her bedroom and stuck a condom filled with raw egg into his pants. The next day he woke up convinced he'd blacked out and gotten lucky. Lost his virginity and couldn't even remember.”
― Chad Lutzke, The Same Deep Water as You: A Dark Coming of Age Novella

“She stared at the stone, read the engraved dates, and wondered how it’d already been twenty years.”
― Chad Lutzke, Spinal Remains: A Collection of Stories

“Do cats like mustard?”
― Chad Lutzke, Out Behind the Barn

“He knew I always wanted to go to Walt Disney World, and I guess he thought a calendar was the next best thing.”
― Chad Lutzke, Of Foster Homes and Flies

“I'm not sick... I'm dying inside.”
― Chad Lutzke, Stirring the Sheets

“Every one of us has our demons and we're all scared of something, running from something. Hiding something.”
― Chad Lutzke, Wallflower

“I dreamt of writing and saving the world with my words, of saving myself. And it was the first time I can remember thinking how it must feel to wear a smile on your face.”
― Chad Lutzke, Skullface Boy: A Coming of Age Road Trip

“I didn’t stay in the cab. I had to see Vegas. I wasn’t interested in the casinos but the nightlife, the culture. The idea that it truly never slept. But as I walked through the beautifully lit streets, the town felt like nothing but a last resort, somewhere you went while you died inside, with sex and money to fill the void.”
― Chad Lutzke, Skullface Boy: A Coming of Age Road Trip

“That if I looked at a mountain with fear in my gut, I’d race toward it and climb that bitch to the top.”
― Chad Lutzke, Skullface Boy: A Coming of Age Road Trip

“Maybe we’re all just stepping stones for each other. We’re all helping somebody get somewhere. From here to a better there.”
― Chad Lutzke, The Same Deep Water as You: A Dark Coming of Age Novella

“A man without music is a man without. Period.”
― Chad Lutzke, When the Shit Hits the Van

“otherwise joyous sight of a mother pushing her newborn child in a stroller couldn’t brighten the eclipsing gloom. The damned sun and its spotlight, casting its brilliant glow on the unblemished, pale skin of the plump baby, swaddled like a maggot. So full of youth. Full of life. Renfield blinked hard and shook his head. “I would never!” he declared.”
― Chad Lutzke, Spinal Remains: A Collection of Stories