Jonathan Maberry Quotes & Sayings

Well, she sure don't hold the deed on grief and loss, son. We all been mussed and mauled by bad times. But that girl's done gone and shut down. I met gray people with more personality." She tapped her temple with a finger. "I'm beginning to suspect there ain't nobody home. — Jonathan Maberry

I don't want to kill you and you don't want to be dead. — Jonathan Maberry

I'm self-aware enough to know that I have a somewhat fractured personality. Not exactly multiple personality disorder, but clearly there were different drivers at the wheel depending on my mood, and depending on my needs. Over — Jonathan Maberry

Value is relative," said the saint. "A man with his house on fire and a man dying of thirst each place a different value on a glass of water. — Jonathan Maberry

This one looks good," said Chong over breakfast the next morning.
Benny read out loud from the paper. "'Pit Thrower.' What's that?"
"I don't know," Chong said with a mouth full of toast. "I think it has something to do with barbecuing."
It didn't. — Jonathan Maberry

My favorite monster has always been the zombie. They are so much fun. They can be scary, pathetic, sad, funny, tragic, even heroic. They are the most elastic monster because, even with all of that, they don't interfere with telling stories about the humans. They serve as threats and metaphors, but they allow the story to be about people. — Jonathan Maberry

Okay," I said slowly, "but what the hell would you mate a horse with to get a unicorn, because I don't see horses and narwhales doing the dirty boogie. — Jonathan Maberry

I write every day. Most weekdays, I write about ten hours a day. That doesn't mean eight hours of surfing the Net or watching videos on YouTube. I park my butt in a chair and write ... I learned that writer's block is a myth created by people who don't have, or understand, a writing process. — Jonathan Maberry

Men screamed as she opened them and let their futures spill out. — Jonathan Maberry

There are also several notes in your file suggesting that you are a world-class smartass." "Really? You mean I made it through the nationals?" "And you apparently think you're hilarious." "You're saying I'm not? — Jonathan Maberry

And that made him wonder if a person who is forced into bad situations over and over again when they're too weak or helpless to do anything about it will eventually make bad choices of their own simply because they've become habituated to them. — Jonathan Maberry

When giant violent albino penguins are the least extraordinary issue of the day, then your day has slipped a gear. — Jonathan Maberry

I love weird science. I love weird action. I love weird characters. — Jonathan Maberry

Write the best book you can, the one that demands to be written, no matter what genre it is. Even a trend the trades tell you has gone stale can be revitalized by a superb piece of writing. It'll never be revitalized by someone jumping on a trend bandwagon. — Jonathan Maberry

Because secrecy can become an addiction. That's been a problem as long as people have tried to covet power for themselves. Sure, governments need to keep some secrets, but too often the people inside the government create for themselves the illusion that because they know things nobody else does, it makes them more powerful. That kind of thinking creates a kind of contempt for anyone on the outside. It's born from a belief that their own power will diminish in direct proportion to the transparency of their actions. So secrets become the currency that buys them membership into a club so exclusive that their agendas are never shared, and the value of what the hold is measured only from a first-person perspective. — Jonathan Maberry

Chong said, 'Do yourself a favor, Morg. Next time you're staring at a girl's boobs, look up. You'll be shocked to learn it, but there's going to be a face up there. Nose, mouth, eyes. And behind the eyes is an actual person. — Jonathan Maberry

Love was a pathway to cruel pain. It was the arrow that Fate always kept aimed at your back. — Jonathan Maberry

If you battle monsters, you don't always become a monster. But you aren't entirely human anymore, either. — Jonathan Maberry

I wrote a novel, Ghost Road Rules, and as soon as it was done and polished, I began reaching out to agents. I ignored the frequent advice to 'shoot low and try for a low-level agent because they're the only ones that will take a flyer on a new author.' That sounded like bad advice to me. — Jonathan Maberry

She agreed with Mark Twain that golf was a good walk spoiled. — Jonathan Maberry

Lilah stood above them, tall and beautiful, her white hair whipping in the fresh breeze, her clothes streaked with gore, her hazel eyes glowing with fire.
She turned slowly to Nix and in her ghostly whisper of a voice said, I hate boys. — Jonathan Maberry

Tom adjusted his sword and checked his knives and his pistol. If there had been anyone to see his face, they would have seen a man at peace with himself and the world. And if they were wise they would know that such a man was the most dangerous of all opponent - one who fights to preserve love rather than perpetuate hate. — Jonathan Maberry

She knew a couple of writers. They were always broke. — Jonathan Maberry

And to Conrad, it seemed as though he had entered some strange world beyond our own, where nothing was as it appears, and anything could be possible. — Jonathan Maberry

Lilah, there's not a living soul on this planet who shouldn't be afraid of Saint John. — Jonathan Maberry

Then this other guy, the thirteenth guy, comes crashing right into me. Even with all that was going on I thought, Drug addict. He was pale and sweaty, stank like raw sewage, and had a glazed bug-eyed stare. Sick bastard even tried to bite me, but — Jonathan Maberry

I don't aspire to write like Steve King. Sure, I admire his work, and I think he's a hell of a nice guy; we met shortly after my first Stoker win. I aspire to write like Jonathan Maberry. — Jonathan Maberry

Sometimes there are hurts so deep that they exist in a country that has no spoken language, a place where all landscapes are blighted and no sun ever shines. — Jonathan Maberry

How the hell are you idiots allowed to run a country? I should have voted for a clown college. They'd at least have a reason for being this stupid. — Jonathan Maberry

Those men saw their stranglehold over everyone starting to slip, and that meant they'd lose money and they'd lose power. And they couldn't have that. So they said that those women, those witches, were monsters. And since most people are just dumb fucks, they went along with it and soon they were burning chicks at the stake and drowning them and crushing them under rocks. That's how the men kept their power. It's how scared people always keep their power. That's why they killed Jesus. That's why they killed that little Indian guy, Gandhi. — Jonathan Maberry

That's stupid."
"That's people. — Jonathan Maberry

Benny took a steadying breath and let it out slowly.
"Nix, I do understand what you're going through. I'm going through it too."
"It's not the same thing," she said very quietly. An elk poked its head out from behind some sagebrush, studied them for a moment, then bent to eat berries from another bush.
"Then why won't you tell me what it is?"
She glared at him. "Honestly, Benny, sometimes I think you don't even know who I am."
With that she turned and stalked away, her spine as stiff as a board. Benny stood openmouthed until she was almost back to the tree where Chong sat with Eve.
"What the hell was that all about?" he asked the elk.
The elk, being and elk, said nothing. — Jonathan Maberry

The voice that answered did not belong to the beautiful woman who'd hired me last time. The voice was male. Nasal, high-pitched, fussy. If a Chihuahua could talk, it would be like that. — Jonathan Maberry

That's got to be Nix," Benny said as he pulled the door open. "Hey, sweetie ... "
Morgie Mitchell and Lou Chong stood on the black porch.
"Um," said Chong, "hello to you, too, sugar lumps. — Jonathan Maberry

Life is truly weird ... And it's not getting any less weird the farther I get from home. — Jonathan Maberry

There was a sliver of moon and a splash of stars, and the light outlined her face and glistened on the tears that ran like mercury down her cheeks. — Jonathan Maberry

(T)he world is always changing. Always. We can't give the next generation a set of guarantees. Best we can do is help them be smart enough and tough enough to deal with whatever comes. You know as well as I do that we're not going to be there forever for them. — Jonathan Maberry

By the time I finished the first series, 'Marvel Universe vs. Punisher,' I knew that there was a lot more story to tell. — Jonathan Maberry

But, you see, the water-going dinosaur likes to eat people. It's envisioned that it might swim through the newly acquired waterways, due to the ice melting and find its way to warmer waters and make its way to our civilization. Then, much like an old Japanese monster movie, start tearing down cities and eating fleeing citizens, stomping pedestrians, and receiving an air strike. — Jonathan Maberry

Apple of My Eye is a twisted collection of short stories by Amy Grech, including the sexy and deadly title story that makes you want to stay home with the door locked and the lights on. Grech's stories are sinister, sneaky, convoluted and dangerous - and absolutely not to be missed!
- Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award-Winning Author of
Ghost Road Blues and Dead Man's Song — Jonathan Maberry

When my writing career took off, it was pretty easy to keep my ego in check because old-school martial arts isn't about ego gratification. It's about maintaining a balanced view of the world and your place in it. — Jonathan Maberry

Is he nuts?"
"I think the expression used to be 'touched by God'."
"So that would be a yes. — Jonathan Maberry

Zoms never tired. — Jonathan Maberry

The way Benny saw it, when your first memory was of zombies killing your parents, then you had a license to hate them as much as you wanted. — Jonathan Maberry

Jim Rollins is the king of the weird science action genre. — Jonathan Maberry

I've managed to stay alive out here in the Ruin because I'm a realist. I allow the truth to be the truth, no matter how much I might want it to be something else. — Jonathan Maberry

My whole body is a lethal weapon, you know. I know more ways to kill you than you know how to die. — Jonathan Maberry

Goat made no move to get out. "Billy...this is nuts."

"Yeah, well we left 'sane and normal' behind the first time Volker said 'zombie — Jonathan Maberry

He could laugh, though, and there was no bluesman who ever lived who didn't know how to laugh at the craziness of life. — Jonathan Maberry

The whole world turned into an all-you-can-eat buffet ... — Jonathan Maberry

Holy Christ . . . are we talking zombies here?" Church smiled faintly. "We're calling him a 'walker.' Short for 'Dead Man Walking.' The head of my science team has too much of a pop culture sensibility. — Jonathan Maberry

He never did get right all the way again. And every once in a while he'd come down all bitey. — Jonathan Maberry

Do you really expect us to believe anything you say?" "You have been given assurance on behalf of the president of the United States that no further attacks would be made on the school as long as you followed the safety protocols." "Right. Tell that to the Sioux." "What?" "As much as it causes me physical pain to say this out loud to another ... what I assume is another Republican, our government doesn't have a great track record for keeping its promises with people who have something they want. — Jonathan Maberry

My Honda revved, shuttered, and broke free of the Chrysler. — Jonathan Maberry

Rage was sometimes a useful ally in the heat of a fight, but it was a trickster. It made everything seem possible. — Jonathan Maberry

Life don't never get easy, does it? It just keeps getting harder in stranger ways. — Jonathan Maberry

The world's clock had run down, and haste was irrelevant. — Jonathan Maberry

I'm not sure I could trust a man who would bypass an Oreo in favor of vanilla wafers. It's a fundamental character flaw, possibly a sign of true evil. — Jonathan Maberry

She wept for the hurt that he owned, a hurt she could never hope to remove. — Jonathan Maberry

They held each other and wept as the night closed its fist around their tiny shelter, and the world below them seethed with killers both living and dead. — Jonathan Maberry

There are worse things that can happen to an enemy of the state than Gitmo. Hate to say it, hate it to be the truth, but there it is. — Jonathan Maberry

Know your enemy. The more you know about them, the less easily they can surprise you. And by studying them you might identify a weakness or vulnerability. — Jonathan Maberry

Often it was the most unlikely people who found within themselves a spark of something greater. It was probably always there, but most people are never tested, and they go through their whole lives without ever knowing that when things are at their worst, they are at their best. — Jonathan Maberry

They won the war but lost the peace, — Jonathan Maberry

(H)ope was like a backstabbing friend. You could trust it sometimes, and then it would turn and drive its blade deep. — Jonathan Maberry

Except that death collected everyone. Death is like that. Relentlessly efficient. — Jonathan Maberry

Watch Die Hard films until the day started making sense again. — Jonathan Maberry

You crazy or something?" growled Zucco. "It's come up in therapy. — Jonathan Maberry

Sing it like the midnight wind, Sing it like a prayer; Sing it on to the way to hell, Them blues'll take you there. - Oren Morse, Dead Man's Song — Jonathan Maberry

Sometimes shame is a more powerful engine than rage. — Jonathan Maberry

'V-Wars' is a head-on collision of real-world science, terrorism, special forces action, ethics, politics and an exploration of what defines us as human. — Jonathan Maberry

Everyone carries around his own monsters.
Richard Pryor — Jonathan Maberry

We're on our way to rescue a queen, overthrow an evil wizard, and win back a country.
Care to join us?
- Wolverine (Doomwar #1) — Jonathan Maberry

No one is really who people think they are. It's unfair. When they give us nicknames and create a story for us, everyone expects us to be that person and to live up to that legend. — Jonathan Maberry

Pain was the coin that paid the ferryman. — Jonathan Maberry

A bite will still hurt, but it won't kill you. — Jonathan Maberry

She looked like a character from a video game. One of those improbably busty, impossibly well-armed superchicks who could do acrobatics and hit the kill zone even while firing guns from both hands during a cartwheel.
"You look fucking ridiculous," she told herself. — Jonathan Maberry

I have been an Avengers fan since the middle 1960s. I grew up with them, and I've imagined a hundred different versions of an Avengers movie. I think I even have a script I wrote back in eighth grade, 'Avengers vs. the Mole Man.' Truly dreadful, but a work of love. — Jonathan Maberry

But there never was a country, no matter how noble or well-intentioned, that wasn't infected by a greedy and power-hungry few. — Jonathan Maberry

Shooting a pistol while running with any accuracy at all is next to impossible. They train us at the Academy to do it at a walk. Slow yourself down, focus on the target. Be relentless, but be accurate. Nobody ever won a gunfight by missing what they were aiming at. — Jonathan Maberry

No matter what choice you make, it doesn't define you. Not forever. People can make bad choices and change their minds and hearts and do good things later; just as people can make good choices and then turn around and walk a bad path. No choice we make lasts our whole life. If there's ever a choice you've made that you no longer agree with, you can make another choice. — Jonathan Maberry

I knelt down and hugged the furry monster for a while. If it was too tight, Ghost didn't seem to mind. He wagged his tail and whined a little, sensing the hurt that I felt. Dogs are truly the best of companions. You don't need to explain. They know as much as they need to know, and they are loyal no matter what sins you've committed. — Jonathan Maberry

The girl's eyes rolled high and he fell backward. Dez — Jonathan Maberry

Evil don't die. It just waits. — Jonathan Maberry

How do you know that?"
"Because,"Chong said with raised eyebrows,"when you open those things called 'books',there are words as well as pictures.Sometimes the words tell you stuff. — Jonathan Maberry

I did not and do not want my life tied up in cloak-and-dagger bullshit, dead guys, or pissing contests with either the testosterone crowd in there or some prissy-assed Earl Grey-drinking, scone-munching major who isn't even my freaking boss. I don't know you and I don't give a rat's ass if you trust me. — Jonathan Maberry

In the car sometimes I'd just start balling my eyes out. — Jonathan Maberry

My 'Rot & Ruin' series is a post-apocalyptic adventure for teens. My 'Joe Ledger' novels are science-based action thrillers for adults. My 'Dead of Night' stories are zombie tales for adults; my 'Pine Deep Trilogy' is classic horror for adults, and I've written nonfiction books on topics ranging from martial arts to folklore. — Jonathan Maberry

So is that it? Will I have to live the rest of my life like this? Not doing the right thing? Not saying the right words?"
"That's your choice. You can't change the past. Ah, but the future ... you own the future." The Greenman smiled. "So, you tell me ... what choice do you want to make now? — Jonathan Maberry

It's refreshing to be insane. Just as it's liberating to be aware of it. — Jonathan Maberry

Benny Imura sat in the dark and spoke with monsters.
It was like that every day.
It had become the pattern of his life. Shadows and blood. And monsters.
Everywhere.
Monsters. — Jonathan Maberry

Yippie ki-yay and all that shit"

- Desdemona Fox — Jonathan Maberry

Newton screamed when he felt them begin to crawl over his scrotum and try to wiggle between his buttocks — Jonathan Maberry

The real world was never cool enough for anyone to accept a costumed supervillain. Which — Jonathan Maberry

This was a better place. Not just this new town, but this new world. So much brighter and cleaner than the old world of rot and ruin, fire and ash. — Jonathan Maberry

He knew that these creatures were dead, that they were reanimated echoes who wore the disguise of the people they had once been, but Tom's words rang in his mind. They used to be people. How could he strike them? How could he hurt them? Children, women, old people. Lost souls. — Jonathan Maberry

Boy, there are people who conquered half the world, slaughtered whole populations, wiped cultures off the face of the planet, and you know what history calls them? Heroes! Kings, presidents, champions, explorers. You think America was settled by white men because the Indians invited us her? No, we took this land because we were stronger, and that's how every page of human history is written. It's just our nature. We're a predator species, top of the food chain. Survival of the fittest is written in our blood, it's stenciled on every gene of our DNA. The strong take and the strong make, and the weak are there only to help them do it. End of story. — Jonathan Maberry

He'd never much cared for the need to believe one people were better than another. One on one, most of them seemed all right. It was only when you gathered any of them in groups they tended to be stupid. — Jonathan Maberry

Sometimes there aren't words, Benny knew. Sometimes there are hurts so deep that they exist in a country that has no spoken language, a place where all landscapes are blighted and no sun ever shines. Benny had left his footprints in the dust of that place. — Jonathan Maberry

That's when I got the first real tingle of warning. Small, but serious. The smart thing to do would have been to simply end the call. No goodbyes, no polite refusals, just hit the button, put the cell phone in the bottom drawer of my file cabinet, and go to the multiplex to watch a movie about things blowing up. Maybe get some Ben and Jerry's afterward. — Jonathan Maberry