Chris Bachelder > Quotes

“At some point you do not need to talk to have a conversation. The conversation exists whether you have it or not. It continues silently in a parallel dimension of the marriage. They both pause to let it run its course toward another stalemate.”
― Chris Bachelder, Abbott Awaits

“The view from the window, particularly if you enjoy neon, is extraordinary.”
― Chris Bachelder, Bear v. Shark

“Mi familia me ha procurado una alegría insuperable, y debo deciros, hijos míos, que ninguno de vosotros me ha causado ni un minuto de angustia, salvo por razones de salud [...] Cuando erais muy pequeños me procuraba un gran deleite jugar con vosotros, y me inspira cierta pena que esa época haya desaparecido para siempre.”
― Chris Bachelder, Abbott Awaits

“The old Televisions had an off switch.”
― Chris Bachelder

“The Television says don’t you go away, we’ll be right back.”
― Chris Bachelder

“They felt that it was overwhelming evidence for something, that it proved something beyond any reasonable doubt, but they were not sure what.”
― Chris Bachelder, U.S.!: Songs and Stories

“As always, Gary drove in slow circles around the lot, blasting his horn and shouting community-sustaining threats and maledictions.”
― Chris Bachelder, The Throwback Special

“Las dos proposiciones siguientes son ciertas: (a) Si tuviera la ocasión, Abbott no cambiaría ni uno de los elementos fundamentales de su vida, pero (b) Abbott no soporta su vida.”
― Chris Bachelder, Abbott Awaits

“We don’t think of ourselves as part of a movement. Here is our politics: We do not want to be lied to anymore by shithead liars. Also: We’re so goddamn tired.”
― Chris Bachelder, U.S.!: Songs and Stories

“He said a political writer must be careful. He quoted Auden: A writer's politics are more dangerous to him than his cupidity. He said, Political sentimentality is as bad as any other kind. You have to acknowledge ambiguity, complexity. There is a kind of death that creeps into your prose when you're trying to illustrate a principle, no matter how worthy.”
― Chris Bachelder, U.S.!: Songs and Stories

“The cereal box says, 'Did you hear the one about the foolhardy mouse who clicked on a sleeping bear? (Punch line inside!)' ... The punch line (inside!) says, 'The bear didn’t get mad, he got even. He waited until the mouse and his family were all asleep inside their den and then he burst in and opened fire, killing everyone. Sweet revenge!”
― Chris Bachelder, Bear v. Shark

“He took a minute to figure out which direction he was headed, and then he began walking the gravel shoulder, thinking not at the slash tires, which happened at least once every tour, but of his performance that evening, his abandoned set list. He didn’t want to feel proud about it, but neither did he want to feel ashamed. Those two girls who had left — were they right? He could call them immature, but he’s the one who had played Journey. At one point years ago he had been like those girls, resolute in his determination of the Good and the Correct. Had he, since that time, gained something or lost something? Had he matured or surrendered?”
― Chris Bachelder, U.S.!: Songs and Stories

“El dolor de la vida supera a la alegría hasta tal punto que la alegría deja de existir.”
― Chris Bachelder, Abbott Awaits

“Pese a que habitualmente no es un hombre feliz (o quizás porque habitualmente no es un hombre feliz), Abbott reconoce la felicidad cuando la siente.”
― Chris Bachelder, Abbott Awaits

“You live long enough, every day is the anniversary of some thing.”
― Chris Bachelder, U.S.!: Songs and Stories

“One does end up sympathizing with Harold, though not for the reasons that Sinclair intends. Harold's great conflict is not that he is trapped within a ruthless economic system, but that he is trapped within a ruthless novel, a structure infinitely more dehumanizing, rigid, and predetermined that the capitalism it denounces. The wonderful thing about America is that you always have a shot, while the dreadful thing about a Sinclair novel is that you don't. Poor Harold, he was born into a Socialist novel. Kid never had a chance.”
― Chris Bachelder, U.S.!: Songs and Stories

“Like many others before him, Abbott discovers, once married, that marriage is a battle—clinically, a negotiation—over the possession of the Bad Mood.”
― Chris Bachelder