Scott McClanahan Quotes & Sayings

That night I dreamed about flying turtles and forest fires and fucking the earth ... The next morning I awoke and I listened to the tree company tearing away the woods and the timber. I heard the chainsaws ripping outside my open window and I heard the dynamite exploding all the mountain tops away for the black rock below. And instead of feeling sad like I did most mornings, I felt something else now. I found myself saying, 'Explode. Explode you mountains. Rip them down you fuckers. Take this stinking dirt and leave this land with hatred and death. — Scott McClanahan

I knew he believed in something that none of us ever do anymore. He believed in the nastiest word in the world. He believed in KINDNESS. Please tell me you remember kindness. Please tell me you remember kindness and joy, you cool motherfuckers. — Scott McClanahan

There was one face that looked like another face before it and then another face that looked like the face before it. This went all the way back until the beginning of time. Who knew what this face would look like a thousand years from now. Me? — Scott McClanahan

I couldn't believe it.
Something wasn't right.
I thought, "Batman smokes cigarettes."
I couldn't believe it. "Batman smokes fucking cigarettes."
I walked away and saw that Batman was just this stupid guy dressed up in a rubber suit, just as afraid as I was, and that I lived in a lost place inside my own heart, where even Batman couldn't help me. — Scott McClanahan

I have no interest in being a trained ballerina. People should dance how they want to dance. I want to be the funky chicken. — Scott McClanahan

Most book things now (with a few exceptions) are just built around nice, safe books written for nice and safe book club readers. These are usually the books you see on display at Barnes and Noble. These Internet writers are like literary terrorists to me. They're training as we speak. They're getting ready to invade. They're building an army. — Scott McClanahan

I walked up to the side of the mountain like I used to do when I was a little boy. I looked out over Rainelle and watched it shine. The coal trucks and the logging trucks were still gunning it through town. They were still clear cutting the mountains and cutting the coal from the ground. Then I heard my mother calling and it was like I was a child again. — Scott McClanahan

I never look at a painting and ask, "Is this painting fictional or non-fictional?" It's just a painting. — Scott McClanahan

Writing should be like skirts. Long enough to cover what it needs to cover and short enough to maintain interest. — Scott McClanahan

Stories can actually rearrange continents if they're told long enough. — Scott McClanahan

I felt darkness because i had been deep in the hollers, and i knew glory because i had stood on top of the beautiful mountaintops. more mountaintops please. more mountaintops. — Scott McClanahan

That's the best way to do anything--get a bunch of poor people to do it. — Scott McClanahan