Top 35 J.A. Konrath Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “If you can quit, quit. If you can’t quit, stop complaining – this is what you chose.”

— J.A. Konrath

2. “Fate is a future you didn’t try hard enough to change.”

— J.A. Konrath

3. “When someone threatens me, I don’t threaten them back. Bad people don’t respond to threats. They respond to violence. The only time I point a gun at someone is when I’m going to shoot that person.”

— J.A. Konrath

4. “You can’t be both happy and ambitious.”

— J.A. Konrath

5. “The most important job anyone can ever have is being a mother.”

— J.A. Konrath

6. “Never having something is different than having something and losing it.”

— J.A. Konrath

7. “Mark Twain once said that true bravery isn’t the absence of fear, but the ability to act in the face of fear.”

— J.A. Konrath

8. “Success means nothing unless you have someone to share it with.”

— J.A. Konrath

9. “If you can’t be smart or funny, be brief.”

— J.A. Konrath

10. “Some people are naturally brave. Others, like me, learn to fake it. I still had no idea if faked bravery and real bravery were the same thing.”

— J.A. Konrath

11. “We don’t know the Devil’s side of the story, because God wrote all the books.”

— J.A. Konrath

12. “Some people are born with a fire inside them. The will to succeed. It isn’t a learned behavior. It’s just some unknown biological factor that makes them try harder.”

— J.A. Konrath

13. “Before you make the key, study the lock.”

— J.A. Konrath

14. “Nothing is black and white. There are no universal standards that determine what’s good and what’s evil. It’s subjective.”

— J.A. Konrath

15. “As writers, we can do whatever we want to. We’re only limited by our imaginations. What an amazing, incredible time to be alive. How lucky we all are.”

— J.A. Konrath

16. “Write the best book you possibly can, then dedicate yourself to getting people to read it.”

— J.A. Konrath

17. “All you need to know about plotting is twofold. 1. Give your characters goals. 2. Don’t let them reach those goals.”

— J.A. Konrath

18. “I try not to watch the news. Too depressing.”

— J.A. Konrath

19. “Mothers shouldn’t be allowed to get old and fragile.”

— J.A. Konrath

20. “Your species. You have a terrific capacity for effing things up. For hurting one another. For making the world a worse place. But then you invent something like ice cream. That makes up for a lot. Makes you worth rooting for.”

— J.A. Konrath

21. “There’s a word for a writer who never gives up: published.”

— J.A. Konrath

22. “Frank,” Andy said slowly, “I don’t think the hellspawn wants to play checkers with you.”

— J.A. Konrath

23. “Sir, this lane is for ten items or less. I’m counting thirteen items in your cart, including that hemorrhoid cream. And while hemorrhoids might give you a reason to be nasty, they don’t give you a reason to be in this lane.”

— J.A. Konrath

24. “The scariest monsters have the best masks.”

— J.A. Konrath

25. “Of course, Jack Kilborn is better than both of us combined and mixed with a side helping of the Bronte sisters.”

— J.A. Konrath

26. “Besides, if a guy couldn’t accept the way a woman looked when she woke up, he wasn’t worth waking up next to. Not.”

— J.A. Konrath

27. “People aren’t carved out of marble. We’re all works in progress. The trick is to define ourselves, rather than let outside influences define us.”

— J.A. Konrath

28. “Writers are essential. Readers are essential. Publishers are not.”

— J.A. Konrath

29. “What happens to rage deferred? It explodes. It explodes in spectacular fashion.”

— J.A. Konrath

30. “Society is a codependent group of narcissistic hypocrites without mirrors.”

— J.A. Konrath

31. “Georgia hated all of them. Hated them passionately. She preferred to stay lost than ask for help from those idiots. So.”

— J.A. Konrath

32. “You’re sick in the head.”

— J.A. Konrath

33. “Personally, I wouldn’t mind Alzheimer’s. You buy one magazine, and you’re entertained for the rest of your life.”

— J.A. Konrath

34. “So they profiled the Gingerbread Man with a curved spine.” “It’s just a hunch,” I said.”

— J.A. Konrath

35. “Human beings are incapable of making big decisions when they are being crippled by numerous little decisions. It was why people stayed employed at soul-crushing jobs, because they only had to handle it on a day by day basis, rather than think of it as a forty year wasted chunk of their lives. I.”

— J.A. Konrath

36. “HGH was responsible for human growth, and lack of it caused dwarfism, or too much of it caused NBA players.”

— J.A. Konrath

37. “Well, your ass doesn’t look too bad.” “Thanks, Roy. You’ve got a cute ass yourself.” “I meant, I don’t think you’re gonna bleed to death.” Bert laughed. “And just two minutes ago, I was hoping I’d bleed to death.” Roy eyed the stake. “I bet. Nasty.”

— J.A. Konrath

38. “Ain’t no point in having a god, man, if he’s just a slum lord never does nothin’.”

— J.A. Konrath