My favorite books to give or get are short story collections. And always paperbacks because they are easy to carry as you travel. -Chuck Palahniuk Travel
If you knew that your life was merely a phase or short, short segment of your entire existence, how would you live? Knowing nothing 'real' was at risk, what would you do? You'd live a gigantic, bold, fun, dazzling life. You know you would. That's what the ghosts want us to do - all the exciting things they no longer can. -Chuck Palahniuk Chance
When I first started writing, it was me alone with a computer in my apartment. I hated the time away from other people, and my writing sucked. Now I have a laptop; I can do the most tedious part of my job in a public place. -Chuck Palahniuk Alone
Of the big horror movies of the '70s, you have 'The Omen,' 'The Sentinel,' 'Rosemary's Baby,' 'The Stepford Wives,' 'Burnt Offerings' - these are all romantic fatalist movies where there's a sort of glimmer of hope... but darkness wins. -Chuck Palahniuk Romantic
I know that I'm going to die and that you're going to die. I can't do anything about that. But I can explore it through a metaphor and make a kind of funny, dark story about it, and in doing so, really exhaust and research as many aspects of it as I can imagine. And in a way, that does give me some closure. -Chuck Palahniuk Funny
My characters tend to be more dynamic because they're reaching that point in their lives where their old way of being is breaking down. They're conflicted by the idea that they don't know what's next. You could call it Kierkegaard's leap of faith, when you get tired of sort of reinventing yourself on a very superficial level. -Chuck Palahniuk Faith
Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home... it's your responsibility to love it, or change it. -Chuck Palahniuk Relationship
People used what they called a telephone because they hated being close together and they were scared of being alone. -Chuck Palahniuk Alone
Of the big horror movies of the '70s, you have 'The Omen,' 'The Sentinel,' 'Rosemary's Baby,' 'The Stepford Wives,' 'Burnt Offerings' - these are all romantic fatalist movies where there's a sort of glimmer of hope... but darkness wins. -Chuck Palahniuk Movies
We don't see a lot of models for male social interaction. There's sports and barn raisings. -Chuck Palahniuk Sports
Jack Palance was my distant uncle - that's the family gossip. Growing up, my family knew everything about his face getting burned and scarred in the military and how that mutilation led him to become such a famous 'heavy' in films. I prayed for good scars of my own. Not just acne scars. -Chuck Palahniuk Famous
A big reason why I started writing is I felt that fiction had stopped evolving. All other entertainments were getting better, constantly, as technology allowed. Movies. Video games. Music. -Chuck Palahniuk Technology
Our Generation has had no Great war, no Great Depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives. -Chuck Palahniuk War
With a book, you're guaranteed the audience has a certain skill level and that the audience has to make an ongoing effort to consume this product and that the project is being consumed by just one person at a time. I really want to play to that strength because it's one of the few advantages books still have. -Chuck Palahniuk Strength
My teacher Tom Spanbauer, the man who got me started writing in his workshop, used to say: 'Writers write because they weren't invited to a party.' That always struck so true, and people always nod their heads when they hear that. Especially writers. -Chuck Palahniuk Teacher
The best fights don't occur between strangers. They occur between friends who trust each other. -Chuck Palahniuk Trust
It's funny how you never think about the women you've had. It's always the ones who get away that you can't forget. -Chuck Palahniuk Funny
When working, my diet degrades to pizza three times a day, because I don't want to distract myself from anything. -Chuck Palahniuk Diet
If nothing else, there's comfort in recognising that no matter how much we fail and sin, death will limit our suffering. -Chuck Palahniuk Death
Personal identity seems like it's just such an American archetype, from Holly Golightly re-inventing herself in 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' to Jay Gatsby in 'The Great Gatsby.' It seems like the sort of archetypal American issue. If you're given the freedom to be anything, or be anyone, what do you do with it? -Chuck Palahniuk Freedom
