Home > Work > The Road
1 " You have my whole heart. You always did. "
― Cormac McCarthy , The Road
2 " People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there. "
3 " He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it. "
4 " Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.You forget some things, dont you?Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget. "
5 " Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave. "
6 " He could not construct for the child's pleasure the world he'd lost without constructing the loss as well and he thought perhaps the child had known this better than he. "
7 " Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden. "
8 " He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke. "
9 " Then he just knelt in the ashes. He raised his face to the paling day. Are you there? he whispered. Will I see you at the last? Have you a neck by which to throttle you? Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul? Oh God, he whispered, Oh God. "
10 " Carry the fire. "
11 " Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die. "
12 " And the dreams so rich in color. How else would death call you? Waking in the cold dawn it all turned to ash instantly. Like certain ancient frescoes entombed for centuries suddenly exposed to the day. "
13 " This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man's brains out of his hair. That is my job. "
14 " When we're all gone at last then there'll be nobody here but death and his days will be numbered too. He'll be out in the road there with nothing to do and nobody to do it to. He'll say: where did everybody go? And that's how it will be. What's wrong with that? "
15 " Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die. What if it doesn't fire? It has to fire. Could you crush that beloved skull with a rock? "
16 " There is no God and we are his prophets. "
17 " The frailty of everything revealed at last. Old and troubling issues resolved into nothingness and night. The last instance of a thing takes the class with it. Turns out the light and is gone. Look around you. Ever is a long time. But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all. "
18 " What is it?Nothing. I had a bad dream.What did you dream about?Nothing.Are you okay?No.He put his arms around him and held him. It's okay, he said.I was crying. But you didnt wake up.I'm sorry. I was just so tired.I meant in the dream. "
19 " What he could bear in the waking world he could not by night and he sat awake for fear the dream would return. "
20 " And the dreams so rich in color. How else would death call you? Waking in the cold dawn it all turned to ash instantly. "
