Chuck Palahniuk

The truth is, being ugly isn't the thrill you'd think, but it can be an opportunity for something better than I ever imagined.

"[W]e're so trained to do life the right way. To not make mistakes" Brandy says, "I figure, the bigger the mistake looks, the better chance I'll have to break out and live a real life."

People just can't stand not knowing something, she says. Especially men can't stand not climbing every mountain, mapping everywhere. Labeling everything. Peeing on every tree and then never calling you back.

Besides, it happens fast for some people and slow for some, accidents or gravity, but we all end up mutilated. (ch3p32)

Another thing is no matter how much you think you love somebody, you'll step back when the pool of their blood edges up too close.

When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?

What's burning down is a re-creation of a period revival house patterned after a copy of a copy of a copy of a mock-tudor big manor house. It's a hundred generations removed from anything original, but the truth is aren't we all?

Seth says how your being born makes your parents god. you owe them your life, and they can control you.

Evie says that beautiful people should never date each other. Together, they just don't generate enough attention. Evie says there's a whole shift in the beauty standard when they're together. You can feel this, Evie says. When both of you are beautiful, neither of you is beautiful. Together, as a couple, you're less than the sum of your parts.

Hysteria is impossible without an audience. Panicking by yourself is the same as laughing alone in an empty room. You feel really silly.

The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person.

The murderer, the victim, the witness, each of us thinks our role is the lead.