Palahniuk Choke Quotes & Sayings

When I first started writing, there was no way I'd write a sex scene. That just seemed impossible. That's why in "Fight Club" all the sex happens off-screen. It's all just a noise on the other side of the wall or the ceiling. I just couldn't bring to write in a scene like that. So one of the challenges with "Choke" was I wanted to write sex scenes until I was really comfortable just writing them in a very mechanical way. — Chuck Palahniuk

Why do I do anything?' she says. 'I'm educated enough to talk myself out of any plan. To deconstruct any fantasy. Explain away any goal. I'm so smart I can negate any dream. — Chuck Palahniuk

And it's funny how when somebody saves you, the first thing you want to do is save other people. All other people. Everybody. The kid never knew the man's name. But he never forgot that smile. "Hero" isn't the first word, but it's the first word that comes to mind. — Chuck Palahniuk

I used rebellion as a way to hide out. We use criticism as a fake participation. — Chuck Palahniuk

An annoyed and joyless Christian is the devil's greatest billboard. — Mark Hart

The helpless ecstasy of loosing himself in her charm was a powerful opiate rather than a tonic. — F Scott Fitzgerald

All relationships change the brain - but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self. — Diane Ackerman

We've spent so much time judging what other people created that we've created very, very little of our own. — Chuck Palahniuk

I feel my heart ache, but I've forgotten what that feeling means. — Chuck Palahniuk

The girl's lover was gone, but his shadow was still there. — Chuck Palahniuk

How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. — Judy Blume

My first four books, from 'Fight Club' to 'Choke,' dealt with personal identity issues. The crises the narrators found themselves in were generated by themselves. — Chuck Palahniuk

We've taken the world apart but we have no idea what to do with the pieces. — Chuck Palahniuk

I'm not gonna marry somebody for any reason other than the fact that I've fallen in love with them. Period! Period! And they can eat it, if they wanna think any differently!! — Lisa Marie Presley

The old rule about how a thing of beauty is a joy forever, in my experience, even the most beauteous thing is only a joy for about three hours, tops. After that, she'll want to tell you all about her childhood traumas. Part of meeting these jail girls is it's so sweet to look at your watch and know she'll be behind bars in half an hour. — Chuck Palahniuk

If you have an idea, immediately move on it. To start that fire and get it burning immediately ... it's everything. — Barbara Corcoran

Do not wait for miracles to happen. The greatest miracle in life is life itself. — Jaggi Vasudev

In the blink of an eye my beauty becomes but a feast for worms, and I, a forgotten sigh in a sea of nothingness. — Christopher Moore

Only the power of the Living Christ proclaimed in demonstration of the Holy Spirit, can meet the urgent needs of humanity. — T.L. Osborn

The truth is, immigrants tend to be more American than people born here. — Chuck Palahniuk

To Mr. Jones, she said, imagine you're looking up at a blue sky, and imagine a tiny airplane skywriting the letter Z. Then let the wind erase the letter. Then imagine the plane writing the letter Y. Let the wind erase it. Then the letter X. Erase it. Then the letter W.
Let the wind erase it. — Chuck Palahniuk

I hate the modern day the kids live in. I don't think it's very cool. Everyone's interconnected. — Taika Waititi

I'm always looking for context in which people tell stories. In "Fight Club" it's these support groups for dying people, and then in "Choke" it's 12-step recovery groups. In one novel it's artists' colonies, in another novel it's a diary form that submariners' wives typically keep so that when their husband comes back from serving on a submarine they have an accounting of their spouse's time. So I'm always looking for, number one, a non-fiction context - because you can tell a more outrageous story if you use a non-fiction form. — Chuck Palahniuk

The story is even Bill Wilson, a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, couldn't overcome the sex monkey on his back, and spent his sober life cheating on his wife and filled with guilt. — Chuck Palahniuk

The girl traced the outline of her lover's shadow so she would always have a record of how he looked ... — Chuck Palahniuk

You could choke on the silence. — Chuck Palahniuk

The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth. — Ramakrishna

By the time you're thirty, your worst enemy is yourself. — Chuck Palahniuk

There is a social contract in "Fight Club" and in "Choke" where the protagonist has deceived a whole bunch of people. In "Choke" it's all of these people who think that they've saved his life, and really care about him because they've embraced him and they've been his saviors. In "Fight Club" it's all of these people who are dying of various diseases, and they thought that Edward Norton was also dying so they allowed him really strong pent-up emotions. — Chuck Palahniuk

You have to be willing to be happy. Despite the mess of your life - just accept what's happened, throw away your ideals, and create a new map of happiness to follow. — Tarryn Fisher

The only thing that separates us from the animals ... is we have pornography. — Chuck Palahniuk

After you find out all the things that can go wrong, your life becomes less about living and more about waiting. — Chuck Palahniuk

So the last night the girl and her lover would be together, the girl would bring the lamp and set it so it threw the lover's shadow to the wall!!!!! — Chuck Palahniuk

The magic of sex is it's acquisition without the burden of possession. No matter how many women you take home, there's never a storage problem. — Chuck Palahniuk

In 2008, while the film version of my book 'Choke' was coming to market, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. That meant that I had to appear in public to promote a comedy about a son trying to save his dying mother - the plot of Choke - while privately I was caring for my own dying mother. It was torture. — Chuck Palahniuk

The temple of Ceres should be in a solitary spot out of the city, to which the public are not necessarily led but for the purpose of sacrificing to her. — Vitruvius

In good old Colonial Dunsboro, masochism is a valuable job skill. It is in most jobs. — Chuck Palahniuk

I'll make you a little confession. I am not ashamed to use the word class. I will also plead guilty to another charge. The charge is that people belonging to my class think they're better than other people. You're damn right we're better. We're better because we do not shirk our obligations either to ourselves or to others. We do not whine. We do not organize a minority group and blackmail the government. We do not prize mediocrity for mediocrity's sake. Oh I am aware that we hear a great many flattering things nowadays about your great common man - you know, it has already been revealing to me that he is perfectly content so to be called, because that is exactly what he is: the common man and when I say common I mean common as hell. — Walker Percy

Keep your common sense operating system up to date and you'll be set for life. — Ben Tolosa

When you're thinking about the rest of your life, you're never really thinking more than a couple years down the road. — Chuck Palahniuk