Quotes from book
Lullaby

Name: Lullaby
Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck Palahniuk

Lullaby is a horror-satire novel by American author Chuck Palahniuk, published in 2002. It won the 2003 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, and was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel in 2002.

“Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3
Context: Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you're awake. He's making sure you're always distracted. He's making sure you're fully absorbed. He's making sure your imagination withers. Until it's as useful as your appendix. He's making sure your attention is always filled. And this being fed, it's worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what's in your mind. With everyone's imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.

“His computer password is "password.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“This isn't about guilt or innocence, he says. The dinosaurs weren't morally good or bad, but they're all dead.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“After long enough, everyone in the world will be you enemy.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3

“You turn up your music to hide the noise. Other people turn up their music to hide yours. You turn up yours again. Everyone buys a bigger stereo system. This is the arms race of sound You don't win with a lot of treble.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3
Context: You turn up your music to hide the noise. Other people turn up their music to hide yours. You turn up yours again. Everyone buys a bigger stereo system. This is the arms race of sound You don't win with a lot of treble. This isn't about quality. It's about volume. This isn't about music. This is about winning. You stomp the competition with the bass line. You rattle windows. You drop the melody line, and shout the lyrics. You put in foul language and come down hard on each cussword. You dominate. This is really about power.

“No matter how bad things get, you can still walk away.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“There are worse things than finding your wife and child dead. You can watch the world do it. You can watch your wife get old and bored. You can watch your kids discover everything in the world you've tried to save them from. Drugs, divorce, conformity, disease. All the nice clean books, music, television. Distraction. These people with dead children, you want to tell them, go ahead. Blame yourself. There are worse things you can do to the people you love than kill them. The regular way is just to watch the world do it. Just read the newspaper.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3

“There are worse things you can do to people you love than kill them.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“Some people still think knowledge is power.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“Anymore, no one's mind is their own.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“Maybe you don't go to hell for the things you do. Maybe you go to hell for the things you don't do.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Variant: The voice says, maybe you don't go to hell for the things you do. Maybe you go to hell for the things you don't do. The things you don't finish.
Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 28

“Do you know why most survivors of the Holocaust are vegan? It's because they know what it's like to be treated like an animal.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“She's so thin she's either dying or rich.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but watch out for those damn words.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Variant: Sticks and stones may break your bones but words can hurt like hell.
Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 14

“No matter how much you love someone, you still want to have you own way.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“Everything you see is based on fact of a event thats already happen, Even light only travels so fast.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

“Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950’s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3
Context: The muffled thunder of dialogue comes through the walls, then a chorus of laughter. Then more thunder. Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.