Quotes from book
Haunted

Name: Haunted
Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck Palahniuk

Haunted is a 2005 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. The plot is a frame story for a series of 23 short stories, most preceded by a free verse poem. Each story is followed by a chapter of the main narrative, is told by a character in main narrative, and ties back into the main story in some way. Typical of Palahniuk's work, the dominant motifs in Haunted are sexual deviance, sexual identity, homosexuality, desperation, social distastefulness, disease, murder, death, and existentialism.

“As a fundraiser, our first idea was 'Five Bucks to Punch a Mime.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 10, Punch Drunk

“I used to think the secret to a happy ending was to bring down the curtain at the exact right time. A moment after happiness, then everything's all wrong, again.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Haunted (2005)
Variant: I used to think the secret to a happy ending was to bring down the curtain at the exact right time. A moment after happiness, then everything's all wrong, again.

“In the big factory of perfecting human souls, the Earth was a kind of tumbler. The same as the kind people use to polish rocks. All souls come here to rub the sharp edges off each other. All of us, we're meant to be worn smooth by conflict and pain of every kind. To be polished. There was nothing bad about this. This wasn't suffering. It was erosion. It was just another, a basic, an important step in the refining process.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 6

“To create a race of masters from a race of slaves, Mr. Whittier said, to teach a controlled group of how to create their own lives, Moses had to be an asshole.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 3

“I lost my virginity through my ear.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 15, Anticipation

“A journalist has a right… …and a duty, to destroy the golden calves he helps create.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 5, Trade Secrets, A Poem About the Earl of Slander

“Every apostle or disciple," Mrs. Clarke says, "as much as their running to follow they're savior-they're running just as hard to escape something else.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 8

“"What matters," Sister Vigilante says, "is, people need a monster they can believe in." A true horrible enemy. A demon to define themselves against. Otherwise, it's just us versus us.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 13, Civil Twilight

“Leather shoes and fried chicken and dead soldiers are only a tragedy if you waste their gift sitting in front of the television. Or stuck in traffic. Or stranded at some airport.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Haunted (2005)

“In your own mind, you are always right. Every action you take--what you do or say or how you choose to appear--is automatically right the moment you act.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 4
Context: "It's not a matter of right and wrong," Mr. Whittier would say. Really, there is no wrong. Not in our minds. Our own reality. You can never set off to do the wrong thing. You can never say the wrong thing. In your own mind, you are always right. Every action you take--what you do or say or how you choose to appear--is automatically right the moment you act.

“Really, there is no wrong. Not in our minds. Our own reality.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

“We should forgive God…”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Haunted (2005)

“You can never say the wrong thing.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Haunted

Variant: You can never set off to do the wrong thing.
Source: Haunted (2005), Chapter 4
Context: "It's not a matter of right and wrong," Mr. Whittier would say. Really, there is no wrong. Not in our minds. Our own reality. You can never set off to do the wrong thing. You can never say the wrong thing. In your own mind, you are always right. Every action you take--what you do or say or how you choose to appear--is automatically right the moment you act.