Odd Thomas Quotes

If you really truly want to know, I've thought if I was ever free someday, I might discover I've held my tears so long that I can't cry anymore, that I'm a dry stone and nothing can ever be wrung from me. ~ Dean Koontz

Delayed gratification."
"Yeah, it makes things sweeter."
"Wait too long, and what was sweet and creamy can turn sour. ~ Dean Koontz

I need useful work to keep my mind occupied, but I'd like to find work where it's ... quieter. ~ Dean Koontz

We were friends, never paramours. A lover who is enigmatic will most likely prove to be a cataclysm waiting to happen. But a charming friend whose usual warmth is raveled through moments of cool inscrutability can be an intriguing companion. ~ Dean Koontz

Mr. Thomas, any scientist will tell you that in nature many systems appear to be chaotic, but when you study them long enough and closely enough, strange order always underlies the appearance of chaos. ~ Dean Koontz

In time she said, "I love you, Oddie."
My voice was thick when I replied. "I love you more than life."
"We'll be okay," she said.
"We are okay."
"We're weird and screwed-up, but we're okay," she agreed.
"If someone invented a thermometer that measured weirdness, it would melt under my tongue. But you-you're cool. ~ Dean Koontz

All death matters."
"Only to the living. ~ Dean Koontz

A sixth sense is a miraculous thing, which in itself suggests a supernatural order. The human intellect, however, for all its power and triumphs, is largely formed by this world and is therefore corruptible. ~ Dean Koontz

On the third, directly before me, were embedded more polished letters: PER OMNIA SAECULA SAECULORUM.
For ever and ever.
In the red light, the brushed steel glowed softly, like embers. The polish letters blazed.
Without a hiss, For ever and ever slid aside, as though inviting me to eternity. ~ Dean Koontz

Regardless of how hard the winds of chance might blow or how heavy the weight of experience might become, Stormy always stays on her feet ... ~ Dean Koontz

In a clutch or a corner, I tend to make a weapon out of what is near at hand. That can be anything from a crowbar to a cat, though if I had a choice, I would prefer an angry cat, which I have found to be more effective than a crowbar.

Although weaponless, I left the house by the back door, with two chocolate-pumpkin cookies. It's a tough world out there, and a man has to armor himself against it however he can. ~Odd Thomas ~ Dean Koontz

I could live with one butt cheek - just sit at a slant for the rest of my life, not worry about how baggy the seat of my blue jeans looked, get used to the nickname Halfass - but I couldn't live with my brains blown out. ~ Dean Koontz

Not everything that happens during the day is an open portending a good or evil development in the future, but everything has meaning to one degree or another, for the world is an ever-weaving tapestry from which no thread can be pulled without destroying the integrity of the cloth. ~ Dean Koontz

Were you always such a snake," the child asked, "or did you grow into what you are? ~ Dean Koontz

In eighty-six years, child, I've learned the world is a far more mysterious place than most people realize and that every moment of life is woven through with meaning. ~ Dean Koontz

The greatest danger, of course, was to believe that I was equal to them, because assurance can morph into arrogance that Death loves to prove unfounded. ~ Dean Koontz

Recognizing the structure of your psychology doesn't mean that you can easily rebuild it. ~ Dean Koontz

I don't mean to imply that I'm afraid of Death. I'm just not ready to go out on a date with him. ~ Dean Koontz

She said ... she said don't be scared, we wasn't born to be all the time scared, we was born happy, babies laugh at everything, we was born happy and to make a better world. ~ Dean Koontz

From time to time, I do consider that I might be mad. Like any self-respecting lunatic, however, I am always quick to dismiss any doubts about my sanity. ~ Dean Koontz

Anyone who learns the true and hidden nature of the world will be terrified, Oddie, but there's a safe harbor past the terror. ~ Dean Koontz

Darkness doesn't fall at a predictable schedule. Darkness can overwhelm you any time of the day, as you know well. ~ Dean Koontz

After a silence, because he knew me well, he said, Not all wounds are the bleeding kind. ~ Dean Koontz

A broken thing can't fix itself. ~ Dean Koontz

Even the wisest and the best of us can be foolish occasionally. ~ Dean Koontz

Her eyes were clear; she hadn't been crying. She was a cop's wife first, a woman second; she wouldn't give in to tears as long as Wyatt was fighting for his life because she was fighting with him in spirit. ~ Dean Koontz

Some big guys, they think struttin' the muscle will put your tail between your legs, but all they got is strut, they ain't got the guts to back up the brag ~ Dean Koontz

Some dreams matter. Most don't. Often it can be hard to know which might be which. ~ Dean Koontz

We may lack riches, but the greatest fortune is what lies in our hearts. ~ Dean Koontz

More to the point, I know why soldiers, home from war, seldom tell their families about their exploits in more than general terms. We who survive must go on in the names of those who fall, but if we dwell too much on the vivid details of what we've witnessed of man's inhumanity to man, we simply can't go on. perseverance is impossible if we don't permit ourselves to hope. ~ Dean Koontz

In my bones, I know that I am not long for this world. ~ Dean Koontz

Pico Mundo is a prosperous town. But no degree of prosperity can be sufficient to eliminate all misfortune, and sloth is impervious to opportunity. ~ Dean Koontz

Denial couldn't be maintained. ~ Dean Koontz

Given my heritage and the ordeal of my childhood, I sometimes wonder why I myself am not insane. Maybe I am. ~ Dean Koontz

Ambition and stupidity are a dangerous combination. ~ Dean Koontz

That's really specific, ma'am. For a prediction, I mean."
"It's not a prediction."
"It's not? Then what is it?"
"It's what is. ~ Dean Koontz

Sleep is a kind of peace, and I have not yet earned peace. ~ Dean Koontz

Most people desperately desire to believe that they are a part of a great mystery, that Creation is a work of grace and glory, not merely the result of random forces colliding. Yet each time that they are given but one reason to doubt, a worm in the apple of the heart makes them turn away from a thousand proofs of the miraculous, whereupon they have a drunkard's thirst for cynicism, and they feed upon despair as a starving man upon a loaf of bread. ~ Dean Koontz

...up to no good - and pleased about it. ~ Dean Koontz

To get through life successfully, body and soul must translate each other correctly more often than not. ~ Dean Koontz

It had sure felt like death, but then everything since had felt like life. ~ Dean Koontz

You are reformed, you may be a better man, but you are not a different man. How can you convince yourself of such a thing when you are so conversant with the theology of your faith? From one end of this life to the other, you carry with you all that you have done. Absolution grants you forgiveness for it, but does not expunge the past. The man you were still lives within you, repressed by the man you have struggled to become. ~ Dean Koontz

Best thing that can happen to a man is a good woman. ~ Dean Koontz

Do not doubt the beauty of your heart. ~ Dean Koontz

Duty is a good thing, a calling without which no civilization can survive, but it is also a weight and chain that sometimes seems sure to sink you to the airless bottom of a dark pool ~ Dean Koontz

That stormy day in the desert, however, much changed for me. We must have our goals, our dreams and we must strive for them. We are not gods, however; we do not have the power to shape every aspect of the future. And the road the world makes for us is one that teaches humility if we are willing to learn. ~ Dean Koontz

When I woke up and the dark wasn't gone yet, and the dark seemed so big, then she sang soft and made the dark small again.
That is the best of all things we can do for one another: Make the dark small. ~ Dean Koontz

He would never need a knife to spread a pat of butter on his toast. That smile would quickly melt it. ~ Dean Koontz

In twenty-one years, I have not considered changing to Todd. The bizarre course of my life suggests that Odd is more suited to me, whether it was conferred by my parents with intention or fate. ~ Dean Koontz

You can't fix things with a hug, but you can't make them any worse either. ~ Dean Koontz

Even with the intention to be quiet, human beings seldom can restrain from comment or at least grumbled cursing; we are the chattering species, as much as we are anything else - Odd Thomas - Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz pg 56 chapter 7 ~ Dean Koontz

But the universe in its immensity is nevertheless of a piece, and what applies at one end of it applies at the other. No doubt misery, like happiness and hope, is found throughout the stars. ~ Dean Koontz

By doing, I learn what to do. By going, I learn where to go. One day, by dying, I'll learn how to die, and leave the world and hope to land in light. ~ Dean Koontz

Remember, there are cookies waiting here for you. ~ Dean Koontz

When my wits fail me, I resort to self-deception. ~ Dean Koontz

She says that each of us has his or her role in life, and if we know ourselves well enough to understand what that role is, we will be happy doing nothing but what we can do best. ~ Dean Koontz

There is in me a darkness that, by darkness challenged, will rise up and have its way. ~ Dean Koontz

Although much that was precious has been taken from me in this life, I have reason to remain an optimist. After the numerous tight scrapes I've been through, by now I should have lost one leg, three fingers, one buttock, most of my teeth, an ear, my spleen, and my sense of fun. But here I am. ~ Dean Koontz

I really believe that everyone has a talent, ability, or skill that he can mine to support himself and to succeed in life. ~ Dean Koontz

I suspect she must speak without emotion or otherwise entirely lose the self-control that is required to speak to me at all. ~ Dean Koontz

Don't you love your mother, dear?"
"I guess so. A hard, sharp, thorny kind of love that might be pity more than anything else. ~ Dean Koontz

If an eighty-six-year-old woman has been clear-seeing from a young age, she will have gone through a lot of life developing a keen eye for snares and pitfalls, an ear for deceit, and a good nose for knavery. And by such an age, a smart woman with no illusions is one to whom courage comes far more readily than it does to those young people who don't yet know the world for what it is. ~ Dean Koontz

The world howls for social justice, but when it comes to social responsibility, you sometimes can't even hear crickets chirping. ~ Dean Koontz

Sometimes enlightenment descends upon you when you least expect it ... ~ Dean Koontz

I can't allow myself to be wary of one place merely because it reminds me of another place where I almost died, because just about every place reminds me of another place ... ~ Dean Koontz

All of us are cowards at some time in our lives... ~ Dean Koontz

I'm not much for parties. Sometimes you have to wear a funny hat, sometimes they expect you to eat sushi, which is like eating bait. And there's always some totally drunk girl who thinks you're smitten by her, when what you're really wondering is if she'll vomit on your shirt or instead on your shoes. ~ Dean Koontz

On a subconscious level we're aware that time isn't enduring, that it is not a required condition of our existence, that there comes a point when we will have no need of it. ~ Dean Koontz

Our culture sentimentalizes children, and we forget one of the things that we should most remember from that time of our lives: Children know that this world can be hard on them, harder than it is on adults. They are physically weaker than adults, financially dependent, and in times of danger, nothing clarifies our thinking more than an awareness of our extreme vulnerability. ~ Dean Koontz

Eventually he understood that he was crying for himself. He was ashamed of the man whom he had become, mourning the man whom he had expected to be when he'd been a boy. ~ Dean Koontz

Sometimes it seems that to exit this world, they must go through my heart, leaving me scarred and sore. ~ Dean Koontz

You do what you have to do. That's who you seem to be to me, anyway. You're one who does what he has to do. ~ Dean Koontz

Of all the spirits I have seen, only Elvis and Mr. Sinatra are able to manifest in the garments of their choice. Others haunt me always in whatever they were wearing when they died.

This is one reason I will never attend a costume party dressed as the traditional symbol of the New Year, in nothing buy a diaper and a top hat. Welcomed into either Hell or Heaven, I do not want to cross the threshold to the sound of demonic or angelic laughter. ~Odd Thomas ~ Dean Koontz

At fifty-one, why would she choose to dispose of her house, uproot herself, and come here to be a part of your work if she didn't feel that, for the first time in her life, she was profoundly known for who she is, that she was at last cherished for who she truly is? ~ Dean Koontz

I had not asked to be born. Only to be loved. ~ Dean Koontz

I needed a moment to understand that I'd been dreaming, that I had come awake, and another moment to remember where I had gone to bed. ~ Dean Koontz

From birth to death we explore and seek, and in the end we arrive where we started, the past having made one great slow turn on a carousel to become our future, and if we have learned anything worth learning, the carousel will bring us to the one place we most need to be. ~ Dean Koontz

My imagination is as rich as my bank account is empty. ~ Dean Koontz

Because wonder admits to the existence of mystery, and the recognition of mystery in the world allows the possibility of Truth. ~ Dean Koontz

But the line between moral behavior and narcissistic self-righteousness is thin and difficult to discern ~ Dean Koontz

My instinct is a winning coach, and when it said "Batter up,"I didn't argue that I wasn't ready for the game. I gripped the bat in both hands, assumed the stance, and said a prayer to Mickey Mantle. ~ Dean Koontz

An age-old patter that seemed like chaos but was not ... ~ Dean Koontz

Evil travels the world in anonymity, its presence revealed only by the periodic consequences of its desires ... ~ Dean Koontz

You will see that this is true, though you will also see that between the mad and the misguided, the line is as thin as a split hair that has been split again. ~ Dean Koontz

Small-town boy meets big-time evil. ~ Dean Koontz

Nothing supernatural has ever harmed me. My wounds and losses have all be at the hands of human beings ... ~ Dean Koontz

Three more words. Be happy. Persevere. ~ Dean Koontz

On a small table beside his chair were other haphazardly stacked volumes by such poets as Emerson, Whitman, and Wallace Stevens, a dangerous crew to let into your head. ~ Dean Koontz

If patterns exist in our seemingly patternless lives - and they do - then the law of harmony insists that the most harmonious of all patterns, circles within circles, will most often assert itself. ~ Dean Koontz

Such grief might be to them quite delicious, a delicacy. ~ Dean Koontz

Money and beauty are defenses against the sorrows of this world but neither can undo the past. Only time will conquer time. The way forward is the only way back to innocence and to peace. ~ Dean Koontz

Americans thrive on mobility and feel shrunken in spirit when they do not have it.(Odd Thomas) ~ Dean Koontz

Chronologically she is twelve but emotionally she is older, and intellectually older still. ~ Dean Koontz

In memory, she lived and moved and laughed, but all that a photograph could offer was one frozen moment of a life. ~ Dean Koontz

With lead he shaded love into the woman's eyes. ~ Dean Koontz

The flesh on the nape of my neck did the crawly thing that it does so well. Some people say this is God's warning that the devil is near, but I've noticed I also experience it when someone serves me Brussels sprouts. ~ Dean Koontz

Because wherever else the future leads, it leads ultimately to death, the end that is present in my beginning and in yours. ~ Dean Koontz

Being known by everyone is not the same as being loved. ~ Dean Koontz

And because it was so wonderful, I slipped back down into that dream of dogs and children and beautiful people who met my eyes and knew me in full, knew me and did not reject me. ~ Dean Koontz

This isn't a reasoned response to a configuration of stars, but the heart cannot flourish on logic alone. Unreason is an essential medicine as long as you don't overdose ~ Dean Koontz