Quotes by Bret Easton Ellis

“Im not a big believer in disciplined writers. What does discipline mean? The writer who forces himself to sit down and write for seven hours every day might be wasting those seven hours if hes not in the mood and doesnt feel the juice. I dont discipline equals creativity.”

“you simply didnt have to pay as much attention to things. The precise pose was no longer required.”

“I like the idea of a writer being haunted by his own creation, especially if the writer resents the way the character defines him,”

“I convinced myself I hadnt seen anything, ... I had done this many times before ... I was adept at erasing reality.”

“I feel like Im not smart enough to answer the questions Im asked.”

“Mailer is a genius. Hes the one I most connect with in terms of fiction — his range is so wide. Thats the sort of boldness I aspire to.”

“It should have been written already,”

“After spending three years with Patrick Bateman (from 1991s ”

“We were all such Didion junkies in college that might still be the highlight of my career.”

“I hadnt published a book in six years so I didnt know what to expect. It has been going very well. Theyve all been packed.”

I have to return some videotapes

Sex is mathematics. Individuality no longer an issue. What does intelligence signify? Define reason. Desire - meaningless. Intellect is not a cure. Justice is dead.

whats right? If you want something, you have the right to take it. If you want to do something, you have the right to do it.

I want to stay, and then, more weakly, Need some more sun.A fly from a batch of seaweed lands on a white, bony thigh. She doesnt slap at it. It doesnt go away.But theres no sun, dude. I tell her.I start to walk away. So what, I mutter under my breath. When she wants to come in, she will. Imagine a blind person dreaming. I head back up toward the house. Wonder if Griffin will stick around, if Mona made reservations for dinner, if Spin will call back. I know what the word dead means, I whisper to myself as softly as I can because it sounds like an omen.

The book was blunt and had an honesty about it, whereas the movie was just a beautiful lie.

The real Julian Wells didnt die in a cherry-red convertible, overdosing on a highway in Joshua Tree while a choir soared over the sound track.

What? Did we end up hating each other? Did we end up the way we thought we always knew would? Did I end up wearing khakis because of that fucking ad?

People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles. This is the first thing I hear when I come back to the city. Blair picks me up from LAX and mutters this under her breath as she drives up the onramp. She says, People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles. Though that sentence shouldnt bother me, it stays in my mind for an uncomfortably long time. Nothing else seems to matter. Not the fact that Im eighteen and its December and the ride on the plane had been rough and the couple from Santa Barbara, who were sitting across from me in first class, had gotten pretty drunk. Not the mud that had splattered on the legs of my jeans, which felt kind of cold and loose, earlier that day at an airport in New Hampshire. Not the stain on the arm of the wrinkled, damp shirt I wear, a shirt which looked fresh and clean this morning. Not the tear on the neck of my gray argyle vest, which seems vaguely more eastern than before, especially next to Blairs clean tight jeans and her pale-blue shirt. All of this seems irrelevant next to that one sentence. It seems easier to hear that people are afraid to merge than Im pretty sure Muriel is anorexic or the singer on the radio crying out about magnetic waves. Nothing else seems to matter to me but those ten words. Not the warm winds, which seem to propel the car down the empty asphalt freeway, or the faded smell of marijuana which still faintly permeates Blaires car. All it comes down to is the fact that Im a boy coming home for a month and meeting someone whom I havent seen for four months and people are afraid to merge.

I needed something--the distraction of another life--to alleviate fear.

You learn to move on without the people you love.