Home > Work > Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
41 " we can simultaneously be human and monster—that both of those possibilities are in all of us. "
― Matthew Quick , Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
42 " I'm going to kill you later today," I say to that guy in the mirror, and he just smiles back at me like he can't wait. "
43 " I want to believe that happiness might at least be possible later on in life for people prone to sadness. "
44 " I can tell you get it -- you're different. And I know how hard being different can be. But I also know how powerful a weapon being different can be. How the world needs such weapons. Gandhi was different. All great people are. And unique people such as you and me need to seek out other unique people who understand -- so we don't get too lonely and end up where you did tonight "
45 " Show me it’s possible to be an adult and also be happy. Please. This is a free country. You don’t have to keep doing this if you don’t want to. You can do anything you want. Be anyone you want. That’s what they tell us at school, but if you keep getting on that train and going to the place you hate I’m going to start thinking the people at school are liars like the Nazis who told the Jews they were just being relocated to work factories. Don’t do that to us. Tell us the truth. If adulthood is working some death-camp job you hate for the rest of your life, divorcing your secretly criminal husband, being disappointed in your son, being stressed and miserable, and dating a poser and pretending he’s a hero when he’s really a lousy person and anyone can tell that just by shaking his slimy hand—if it doesn’t get any better, I need to know right now. Just tell me. Spare me from some awful fucking fate. Please. "
46 " You believe in the future now. It's easy for you, because you love the present. "
47 " My life will get better? You really believe that?" I ask. “It can. If you’re willing to do the work.”“What work?”“Not letting the world destroy you. That’s a daily battle. "
48 " When people have awful ideas about your identity, that's just the way it will stay no matter what you do. "
49 " Only you weren't regular at all -- you were full of magic. "
50 " You were right. When your head says one thing and your whole life says another, your head always loses. "
51 " Keep weeding, Dad.Weed your mind.And man the great light.Even when no one is looking "
52 " Think for yourself and do what's right for you, but let others do the same. "
53 " These people we call Mom and Dad, they bring us into the world and then they don't follow through with what we need, or provide any answers at all really--it's a fend-for-yourself free-for-all in the end, and I'm just not cut out for that sort of living. "
54 " Different is good. But different is hard. "
55 " It worries me that I can be so explosive one day -- volatile enough to commit a murder-suicide -- and then the next day I'm watching Bogart save the day with Walt, like nothing happened at all, and nothing is urgent, and I really don't have to do anything to set the world right or escape my own mind. I'd like to feel okay all the time -- to have the ability to sit and function without feeling so much pressure, without feeling as though blood is going to spurt from my eyes and fingers and toes if I don't do something. "
56 " Because you start a revolution one decision at a time, with each breath you take. "
57 " Like maybe he really, truly believes I'm worth listening to, worth saving. "
58 " You ever feel like you're sending out a light but no one sees it? "
59 " Why are you being so nice to me?" I say."People should be nice to you, Leonard. You're a human being. You should expect people to be nice. "
60 " Maybe if we would just picture our enemies jerking off once in a while, the world would be a better place. I don't know. "