Home > Author > William Peter Blatty
1 " We mourn the blossoms of May because they are to whither; but we know that May is one day to have its revenge upon November, by the revolution of that solemn circle which never stops---which teaches us in our height of hope, ever to be sober, and in our depth of desolation, never to despair. "
― William Peter Blatty , The Exorcist
2 " Her shoes were comfortable. They reflected her hope for the evening. "
3 " The child was slender as fleeting hope. "
4 " Perhaps evil is the crucible of goodness... and perhaps even Satan - Satan, in spite of himself - somehow serves to work out the will of God. "
5 " God never talks. But the devil keeps advertising, Father. The devil does a lot of commercials. "
6 " As far as God goes, I _am_ a nonbeliever. Still am. But when it comes to a devil---well, that's something else. "
7 " And there lies the heart of it, perhaps: in unworthiness. For I think belief in God is not a matter of reason at all; I think it finally is a matter of love: of accepting the possibility that God could ever love us. "
8 " Earth is a homicide victim. We lose our children. There are wars. Disease. And God comes strolling by like a cosmic Billie Burke. "
― William Peter Blatty
9 " Yet I think the demon's target is not the possessed; it is us . . . the observers . . . every person in this house. And I think---I think the point is to make us despair; to reject our own humanity, Damien: to see ourselves as ultimately bestial; as ultimately vile and putrescent; without dignity; ugly; unworthy. "
10 " But if all of the evil in the world makes you think that there might be a devil, Chris, how do you account for all the good? "
11 " Something unspeakable left the room. "
12 " What looked like morning was the beginning of endless night "
13 " Good writing is rhythm. "
14 " But a myth, to speak plainly, to me is like a menu in a fancy French restaurant: glamorous, complicated camouflage for a fact you wouldn't otherwise swallow, like maybe lima beans. "
15 " Do you know what she did? Your cunting daughter? "
16 " From the cab stepped a tall old man. Black raincoat and hat and a battered valise. He paid the driver, then turned and stood motionless, staring at the house. The cab pulled away and rounded the corner of Thirty-sixty Street. Kinderman quickly pulled out to follow. As he turned the corner, he noticed that the tall old man hadn't moved but was standing under the streetlight glow, in mist, like a melancholy traveler frozen in time. "
17 " The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us; but he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. His attack is psychological, Damien. And powerful. "
18 " The demon's target is not the possessed; it is us the observers..everyone in this house. I think the point is to make us despair..to reject our humanity: to see ourselves as ultimately bestial, vile and putrescent; without dignity; ugly; unworthy. "
19 " Something else," he told Atkins. He stood with his nose an inch away from the sergeant's, hands stuffed deep in the pockets of his coat. "What does Lucifer mean?""Light Bearer." "And what is the stuff of the universe?""Energy.""What is energy's commonest form?""Light." "I know." And with that, the detective walked away, listing slowly through the squad room and down the stairs. He didn't come back. "
― William Peter Blatty , Legion
20 " ...at last I realised that God would never ask of me that which I know to be psychologically impossible; that the love which He asked was in my will and not meant to be felt as emotion at all. Not at all. He was asking that I act with love; that I do unto others; and that I should do it unto those who repelled me, I believe, was a greater act of love than any other. "
