Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Stephen King
254 quotes
“When I was a kid I believed everything I was told, everything I read, and every dispatch sent out by my own overheated imagination. This made for more than a few sleepless nights, but it also filled the world I lived in with colors and textures I would not have traded for a lifetime of restful nights.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The idea for each of the stories in this book came in a moment of belief and was written in a burst of faith, happiness, and optimism. Those positive feelings have their dark analogues, however, and the fear of failure is a long way from the worst of them. The worst—for me, at least—is the gnawing speculation that I may have already said everything I have to say, and am now only listening to the steady quacking of my own voice because the silence when it stops is just too spooky.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do you know how cruel your God can be, David? How fantastically cruel? ...Sometimes he makes us live.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In these silences, something may rise.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life is more than just steering a course around pain.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain. And the electric chair was there, too, of course.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was no death row at Cold Mountain, only E Block, set apart from the other four and about a quarter their size, brick instead of wood, with a horrible bare metal roof that glared in the summer sun like a delirious eyeball.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He looked like he could have snapped the chains that held him as easily as you might snap the ribbons on a Christmas present, but when you looked in his face, you knew he wasn't going to do anything like that.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Your name is John Coffey." "Yes, sir, boss, like the drink only not spelled the same way.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I'm tired of bein on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin no buddy to go on with or tell me where we's comin from or goin' to or why. I'm tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I'm tired of all the times I've wanted to help and couldn't. I'm tired of bein in the dark. Mostly it's the pain. There's too much. If I could end it, I would. But I cain't.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I leaned forward, gasping. Between my knees I could see every crack in the cement floor, every groove, every flash of mica. I looked up at the wall and saw names that had been written there in 1924, 1926, 1931. Those names had been washed away, the men who had written them had also been washed away, in a manner of speaking, but I guess you can never wash anything completely away, not from this dark glass of a world, and now I saw them again, a tangle of names overlying one another, and looking at them was like listening to the dead speak and sing and cry out for mercy.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He kill them with they love", John said. "They love for each other. You see how it was?" I nodded, incapable of speech. He smiled. The tears were flowing again, but he smiled. "That's how it is every day", he said, "all over the world.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“John's eyes turned to me. I saw no resignation in them, no hope of heaven, no dawning peace. How I would love to tell you that I did. How I would love to tell myself that. What I saw was fear, misery, incompletion, and incomprehension. They were the eyes of a trapped and terrified animal.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Old Sparky seems such a thing of perversity when I look back on those days, such a deadly bit of folly. Fragile as blown glass, we are, even under the best of conditions. To kill each other with gas and electricity, and in cold blood? The folly. The horror.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not. Time takes it all, time bears it away, and in the end there is only darkness. Sometimes we find others in that darkness, and sometimes we lose them there again. That's all I know, except that this happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain. And the electric chair, of course.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think of John saying that Wharton killed the Detterick twins with their love for each other, and that it happens every day, all over the world. If it happens, God lets it happen, and when we say "I don't understand," God replies, "I don't care.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Humor is almost always anger with its makeup on, I think, but in little towns the makeup tends to be thin.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hearts can break. Yes. Hearts can break. Sometimes I think it would be better if we died when they did, but we don't.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“link=Love|32px + link=Peace|32px = INFORMATION”
Stephen King (born 1947) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Brautigan's inscription in a 1960 edition of Lord of the Flies, in Hearts in Atlantis, § 42
“I cried, all right. I sat there at my desk and I cried for her, for me, for both of us, for all of us. I can't remember hurting any more in my life than I did then. Hearts are tough, she said, most times hearts don't break, and I'm sure that's right ... but what about then? What about who we were then? What about hearts in Atlantis?”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't think time matters much if you're a Breaker.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although it is difficult to believe, the sixties are not fictional; they actually happened.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“André Linoge: Born in lust, turn to dust. Born in sin, come on in!”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world has teeth and it can bite you with them any time it wants.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is nine! Nine! This is nine! Nine! This is ten! Ten! We have killed your friends! Every friend is now dead! This is six! Six! ... Eighteen! This is now eighteen! Take cover when the siren sounds! This is four! Four! ... Five! This is five! Ignore the siren! Even if you leave this room, you can never leave this room! Eight! This is eight!”
Stephen King (born 1947) first seen 1408 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Disembodied voice of Room 1408, over the telephone
“Luck was a joke. Even good luck was just bad luck with its hair combed.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hug and kiss whoever helped get you — financially, mentally, morally, emotionally — to this day. Parents, mentors, friends, teachers. If you're too uptight to do that, at least do the old handshake thing, but I recommend a hug and a kiss. Don't let the sun go down without saying thank you to someone, and without admitting to yourself that absolutely no one gets this far alone.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't forget that you're a physical being with a power-plant to take care of and maintain. I'm talking about the bod under the blue gown. I'm not going to say that we're a lazy, overweight society, a fast-food eatin', SUV-ridin', soda-guzzlin', beer-chuggin', TV-watchin', size-XL-wearin', walk-don't-run generation...except I guess I just did.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The event that came to be known as The Pulse began at 3:03 p.m., eastern standard time, on the afternoon of October 1, 1999. The term was a misnomer, of course, but within ten hours of the event, most of the scientists capable of pointing this out were either dead or insane. The name hardly mattered, in any case. What mattered was the effect.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Phoner: "Blet ky-yam doe-ram kazzalah a babbalah!" Clay Riddell: "I'll a-babbalah your a-kazzalah, you fuck!”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had a wife who was still sort of his responsibility, and when it came to his son there was no sort-of at all. Even thinking of Johnny was dangerous. Every time his mind turned to the boy, Clay felt a panic-rat inside his mind, ready to burst free of the flimsy cage that held it and start gnawing anything it could get at with its sharp little teeth. If he could make sure Johnny and Sharon were okay, he could keep the rat in its cage and plan what to do next. But if he did something stupid, he wouldn't be able to help anyone. In fact, he would make things worse for the people here.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The phone crazies own the days; when the stars come out, that's us. We're like vampires. We've been banished to the night. Up close we know each other because we can still talk; at a little distance we can be pretty sure of each other by the packs we wear and the guns more and more of us carry; but at a distance, the one sure sign is the waving flashlight beam. Three days ago we not only ruled the earth, we had survivor's guilt about all the other species we'd wiped out in our climb to the nirvana of round-the-clock cable news and microwave popcorn. Now we're the Flashlight People.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What Darwin was too polite to say, my friends, is that we came to rule the Earth not because we were the smartest, or even the meanest, but because we have always been the craziest, most murderous motherfuckers in the jungle.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Alice had managed to get herself back under some sort of control, but it was thin. Thin enough to read a newspaper through, his bingo-playing mother might have said. Although a kid herself, Alice had managed to keep herself shiny-side up mostly for the other kid's sake, so he wouldn't give way entirely.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He told himself that everything was fine — he only had to look at the sleeping dog on the floor if he doubted — but in the middle of the night it was hard to be an optimist. When the dawn was still long hours away, bad thoughts took on flesh and began to walk. In the middle of the night thoughts became zombies.”
Stephen King (born 1947) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nyuck-Nyuck-Nyuck, 11, p. 286-287 (First Scribner hardcover edition November 2009)
“A cowardly leader is the most dangerous of men.”
Stephen King (born 1947) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 349, Julia to Barbie : Simon and Schuster edition (June 2013),
“Selectman Rennie's assumption that no one had seen Brenda come to his house that morning was correct. But she was seen in her morning travels, not by one person but by three, including one who also lived on Mill Street. If Big Jim had known, would the knowledge have given him pause? Doubtful; by then he was committed to his course and it was too late to turn back. But it might have caused him to reflect (for he was a reflective man, in his own way) on murder's similarity to Lay's potato chips: it's hard to stop with just one.”
Stephen King (born 1947) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In the Jug, 1, p. 499 (First Scribner hardcover edition November 2009)
“Denial gives way to acceptance; acceptance breeds dependence. Anyone who's ever cared for a terminal patient will tell you that, too. Sick people need someone who will bring them their pills and glasses of cold sweet juice to wash them down with. They need someone to soothe their aching joints with arnica gel. They need someone to sit with them when the night is dark and the hours stretch out. They need someone to say, Sleep now, it will be better in the morning. I'm here, so sleep. Sleep now. Sleep and let me take care of everything.”
Stephen King (born 1947) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Play That Dead Band Song, 18, p. 739 (First Scribner hardcover edition November 2009)
“America's two great specialties are demagogues and rock and roll, and we've all heard plenty of both in our time.”
Stephen King (born 1947) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Busted, 16, p. 803 (First Scribner hardcover edition November 2009)
“But I believe in love, you know; love is a uniquely portable magic. I don't think it's in the stars, but I do believe that blood calls to blood and mind calls to mind and heart to heart.”
Stephen King (born 1947) first seen 1030 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chapter Final Notes, page 1030,(First Scribner hardcover edition November 2011). Archived from the original on July 22, 2021.
“The past is obdurate. it doesn't want to change.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This time Brady wonders what Freddi would say if he told her what life was like for him when he was a kid. That was when he killed his brother. And his mother covered it up. Why would she not? After all, it had sort of been her idea.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Suicide proves guilt. He remembers Lieutenant Morrissey saying that, but Hodges himself has always had his doubts, and lately those doubts have been stronger than ever. What he knows now is that guilt isn't the only reason people commit suicide. Sometimes you can just get bored with afternoon TV.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every religion lies. Every moral precept is a delusion. Even the stars are a mirage. The truth is darkness, and the only thing that matters is making a statement before one enters it. Cutting the skin of the world and leaving a scar. That's all history is, after all: scar tissue.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These girls will remember this night for the rest of their lives. The music. The excitement. The beachballs flying above the swaying, dancing crowd. They will read about the explosion that didn't happen in the newspapers, but to the young, tragedies that don't happen are only dreams. The memories: they're the reality.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Tommyknockers is an awful book. That was the last one I wrote before I cleaned up my act. And I've thought about it a lot lately and said to myself, "There's really a good book in here, underneath all the sort of spurious energy that cocaine provides, and I ought to go back." The book is about 700 pages long, and I'm thinking, "There's probably a good 350-page novel in there.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, I don't like Dreamcatcher very much. Dreamcatcher was written after the accident. [In 1999, King was hit by a van while taking a walk and left severely injured.] I was using a lot of Oxycontin for pain. And I couldn't work on a computer back then because it hurt too much to sit in that position. So I wrote the whole thing longhand. And I was pretty stoned when I wrote it, because of the Oxy, and that's another book that shows the drugs at work.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lisey's Story. That one felt like an important book to me because it was about marriage, and I'd never written about that. I wanted to talk about two things: One is the secret world that people build inside a marriage, and the other was that even in that intimate world, there's still things that we don't know about each other.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first movie I ever saw was a horror movie. It was Bambi.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source