Top 100 David Arnold Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “He’d done more than give her a story – he’d given her life inside the story.”

— David Arnold

52. “I swear, the longer I live, the less things make sense.”

— David Arnold

53. “Do so with gusto, because my God, there’s nothing sorrier than a gusto-less existence.”

— David Arnold

54. “The longer you hold onto an apology, the harder it is to give.”

— David Arnold

55. “Quiet observers tend to be loud thinkers.”

— David Arnold

56. “Pain makes people who they are.”

— David Arnold

57. “I smile at Beck, a wide-eyed, can-you-believe-the-awesomeness-that-is-Walt sort of smile. He’s wearing the same one. “I think we’ll all remember the rendezvouski.”

— David Arnold

58. “Look at you,” I whisper, smiling, crying. “Lovely.”

— David Arnold

59. “I’m already jealous of myself five minutes ago. Because you can’t un-know a honky-tonk.”

— David Arnold

60. “There are times when talking just pushes out the tears.”

— David Arnold

61. “Sinking into fiction: the if-only of if-onlys.”

— David Arnold

62. “I was lovely once, but he never loved me once.”

— David Arnold

63. “Sometimes a thing doesn’t seem real until we say it out loud.”

— David Arnold

64. “Everything sounds better on vinyl. It’s not a trend. It’s a fact.”

— David Arnold

65. “And as simple as it sounds, I think understanding who you are – and not who you are not – is the most important thing of all Important Things.”

— David Arnold

66. “He prays his dwindling faith is faith enough.”

— David Arnold

67. “Whenever Kit got down about being born in a world where Flies ate humans, he reminded himself that even in the world before Flies, things made little sense.”

— David Arnold

68. “Every great character, Iz, be it on page or screen, is multidimensional. The good guys aren’t all good, the bad guys aren’t all bad, and any character wholly one or the other shouldn’t exist at all. Remember this when I describe the antics that follow, for though I am not a villain, I am not immune to villainy.”

— David Arnold

69. “So I float in silence, watching the final touches of this perfect moonrise, and in a moment of heavenly revelation, it occurs to me that detours are not without purpose. They provide safe passage to a destination, avoiding pitfalls in the process.”

— David Arnold

70. “Help is help to anyone, Mary. Even if they don’t know they’re asking for it.” I said that made a whole lot of sense, because it did. And it still does. Here’s the thing, Iz: my mom needs help right now. And I know it, even if she doesn’t.”

— David Arnold

71. “I’m a Picasso, not a Vermeer.”

— David Arnold

72. “I sat there frozen, wondering if this icy truth could ever melt, if the madness of the world could ever be cured.”

— David Arnold

73. “And I’m sick of things the way they are, my many oddities, my limited depth perception, as if it’s not bad enough I only see half the world, but it always seems to be the wrong half.”

— David Arnold

74. “And behind the good doctor, his Wall of Hubris: I counted seven framed degrees, hung with care and pride and more than a little jackassedness. Oh-ho, you don’t believe I’m important, eh? Well then, how do you explain these?!?!?!”

— David Arnold

75. “In the background Bowie sings of lawmen and cavemen, sailors fighting in dance halls, and I wish he were here now, in this kitchen with me, and I would hold his hand and together we would talk of life – on Mars, or otherwise.”

— David Arnold

76. “Strange, how a person could create something they didn’t understand. But maybe that was what made art great: Who cares where it comes from, so long as it comes from you?”

— David Arnold

77. “Home is hard. Harder than Reasons. It’s more a storage unit for your life and its collections. It’s more than an address, or even the house you grew up in. People say home is where the heart is, but I think maybe home is the heart. Not a place or a time, but an organ, pumping life into my life. There may be more mosquitos and stepmothers than I imagined, but it’s still my heart. My home.”

— David Arnold

78. “She never said so out loud, but some things speak loud enough on their own.”

— David Arnold

79. “Beck’s smile is intense and sincere, a smile with, not a smile at. Mom used to say you could tell a lot by the way a person treats the innocent, and Walt is nothing if not innocence personified.”

— David Arnold

80. “Memories are as infinite as the horizon.”

— David Arnold

81. “I’m done roaming hillsides. I’ve scoured the corners of the earth. And I’ve found my people. God, I’m almost jealous of myself.”

— David Arnold

82. “After reading a few more entries, something occurred to her. A trend. The more ambitious Lives – the ones that stretched the boundaries of their power – generally ended in trauma, disaster, or grief. Whereas those Lives who understood and respected their power were generally fulfilled.”

— David Arnold

83. “My Reasons may be hard, but my Objectives are quite simple.”

— David Arnold

84. “Some books are songs like that, the ones you go back to, make playlists of, put on repeat.”

— David Arnold

85. “Peer pressure is one thing, but when your dad’s the pusher, it’s something else entirely.”

— David Arnold

86. “I see a million miles of life, a million lives in one, a million headaches, heartaches, brainaches, a million ingredients in her eyes.”

— David Arnold

87. “I think Mad saw in books what I saw in art: the weightless beauty of the universe.”

— David Arnold

88. “Music was more than subjective; it was erratic. It was the ship on the horizon that one sailor saw, the other sailor didn’t.”

— David Arnold

89. “Don’t underestimate the value of friends.”

— David Arnold

90. “Be a kid of honesty. Wave it like a banner for all to see... Be a kid who loves surprises... Be curious, but content. Be loyal, but independent. Be kind. To everyone. Treat every day like you’re making waffles... Live your effing life. Do it with gusto... Know yourself. Love yourself. Be a good friend. Be a kid of hope and substance. Be a kid of appetite.”

— David Arnold

91. “Because this is my life, the only one I get. And if it’s a choice between a life Albilitoled, or a life full of Life... well, that’s not really a choice at all.”

— David Arnold

92. “I wish wishing were enough, but it’s not. Sometimes you need a thing.”

— David Arnold

93. “It’s okay.” I say again. Because if I keep saying it, maybe it will be true. It’s okay it’s okay it’s okay it’s okay.”

— David Arnold

94. “I have asked the stars many questions. This is the first time they’ve answered.”

— David Arnold

95. “We sit there, just being together, not speaking or even looking at each other, and it feels quietly tectonic, the kind of moment that might move a mountain if it were let outside.”

— David Arnold

96. “Exactly why I don’t have a boyfriend,” I whisper, turning to the window. Because you’ve referenced The Lord of the Rings twice before lunch, or because you’re talking to yourself? I have to admit, I’ve got me there.”

— David Arnold

97. “I cry because I’ve never smiled like that, not once in my life. I cry because I love. For some reason, I always have.”

— David Arnold

98. “Why are my medical mysteries Reasons? I’m glad you asked. I’ve developed a theory I like to call the Pain Principle. The gist of it is this: pain makes people who they are.”

— David Arnold

99. “Later in life, it would occur to me that this was the ultimate dichotomy: for a person to want what’s best but draw from their worst.”

— David Arnold

100. “The truth is, reasons are hard. I’m standing on a whole stack of them right now, with barely a notion of how I got up here.”

— David Arnold