Home > Work > Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
101 " Or maybe this is justice. Maybe I’ve allowed myself to become this fucked-up, depressed, misunderstood person. Maybe this is all my fault. Maybe I should have killed Asher Beal. I mean, I was so angry. Asher definitely deserved to die.67 Or maybe I should have tried to save Asher back when all the bad shit began—before he turned full-on evil? "
― Matthew Quick , Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
102 " You think someone is really important and different, but then you get to know them and it ruins everything? Do "
103 " Sometimes I actually hope that he did once feel empty and hopeless and helpless enough to slash his wrists to the bone, because if he felt that horrible and survived to be such a fantastic grown-up, then maybe there’s hope for me. "
104 " If he was able to make her feel even the slightest bit of guilt for being so oblivious—if he could get through all that makeup and high fashion. "
105 " Linda doesn’t like to give out her cell number to “non-industry people,” like the office workers at my high school, because she thinks she’s Donatella Versace. "
106 " So the key is doing something that sets you apart forever in the minds of regular peopleSomething that matters "
107 " I feel like I’m broken—like I don’t fit together anymore. Like there’s no more room for me in the world or something. Like I’ve overstayed my welcome here on Earth, and everyone’s trying to give me hints about that constantly. Like I should just check out.” ― Matthew Quick, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock "
108 " You start a revolution one decision at a time, with each breath you take "
109 " Kids are like blind passengers. They just don’t see what’s coming down the road. "
110 " I don’t have to make shit up because what we have as friends is real and true already. "
111 " Stop a stranger and ask her to explain her greatest fears and her secret hopes and aspirations in detail and then tell her you care because she is a human being. Sit down on the sidewalk and make pictures with colorful chalk. Close your eyes and try to see the world with your nose—allow smells to be your vision. Catch up on your sleep. Call an old friend you haven’t seen in years. Roll up your pant legs and walk into the sea. See a foreign film. Feed squirrels. Do anything! Something! Because you start a revolution one decision at a time, with each breath you take. Just don’t go back to that miserable place you go every day. 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 "
112 " If I give you my cell phone number will you promise to call me if you feel like you’re going to kill yourself? "
113 " I say, “It’s really really Bogart’s hat, I swear to god. Really. Just don’t tell my mom about this because I had to spend some serious money—like upwards of twenty-five grand I debited from her Visa card, which all goes to cancer research, all of it—and I had to get the hat just so that we might have a little piece of Bogie history, just so we might at least have that forever. Right?”I feel so awful, because the truth is that I bought the hat at the thrift store for four dollars and fifty cents. "
114 " Sometimes I actually hope that he did once feel empty and hopeless and helpless enough to slash his wrists to the bone, because if he felt that horrible and survived to be such a fantastic grown-up, then maybe there’s hope for me.Whenever I have some free time I wonder about what Herr Silverman might be hiding, and I try to unlock his mystery in my mind, creating all sorts of suicide-inducing scenarios, inventing his past.Some days I have his parents beat him with clothes hangers and starve him.Other days his classmates throw him to the ground and kick him until he’s wet with blood, at which point they take turns pissing on his head.Sometimes he suffers from unrequited love and cries every single night alone in his closet clutching a pillow to his chest. "
115 " Whenever I have some free time I wonder about what Herr Silverman might be hiding, and I try to unlock his mystery in my mind, creating all sorts of suicide-inducing scenarios, inventing his past.Some days I have his parents beat him with clothes hangers and starve him.Other days his classmates throw him to the ground and kick him until he’s wet with blood, at which point they take turns pissing on his head.Sometimes he suffers from unrequited love and cries every single night alone in his closet clutching a pillow to his chest. "
116 " My murder-suicide will make Breakfast of a Teenage Killer a priceless masterpiece because people want artists to be unlike them in every way. If you are boring, nice, normal - like I used to be - you will definitely fail your high school art class and be a subpar artist for life. "
117 " How do you measure suffering? I mean, the fact that I live in a democratic country doesn't guarantee my life will be problem free. Far from it... I bet there are people in Iran who are happier than I am - who wish to keep living there regardless of who is in charge politically, while I'm miserable here in the supposedly free country and just want out of this life at any cost. "
118 " Two presents left to deliver, and then I can open the P-38 and go out on the same day I came in. Happy birthday to me! God, I can't wait. "
119 " Ich weiß, dass Du am Ende Deiner Kräfte bist. Aber bitte halte noch ein bisschen durch. Für uns. Für Dich selbst. "
120 " But please hold on a little longer. For us. For yourself. "