“They looked happy, but, of course, that didn't say much. Everyone smiles for a photograph. ” — Marisha Pessl Happiness Copy Share Image
“Love? Dopamine released in the brain, which gets depleted over time, leaving contempt.” — Marisha Pessl Depleted Copy Share Image
“The dark side of life has a way of finding us all anyway, so stop chasing it.” — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
“The truth about what happens to us in this world keeps changing … it never stops.” — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
“A deus ex machina will never appear in real life so you best make other arrangements.” — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
“In the end, a man turns into what he thinks he is, however large or small. It is the reason why certain… — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
“Well, everyone and their grandmother knows she's still banging Charles after all these years —" "Like a screen in a tornado. Sure.” — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
In college I studied '60s and '70s radicalism, student activism, forms of political violence, groups like the Weathermen, the Black Panthers, the… — Marisha Pessl Activism Copy Share Image
It was never the act itself but our own understanding of it that defeated us, over and over again. — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
In America, people of a certain age ask, 'Where were you when Kennedy was shot?' In my house you were more likely… — Marisha Pessl Age Copy Share Image
“One or two individuals in times of crisis turn into Heroes, a handful into Villains, the rest into Fools.” — Marisha Pessl Crisis Copy Share Image
“One of my pet peeves was when an adult imagined they had to encapsulate Life for you, hand you Life in a… — Marisha Pessl Adults Copy Share Image
“(Carnations) The only flower that, when given to someone, is marginally superior to dead ones.” — Marisha Pessl Carnations Copy Share Image
When I'm creating characters, I definitely think of theme songs. Writing for me is very visual, so I sometimes think of it… — Marisha Pessl Character Copy Share Image
“...somewhere, nearby voices filled with dusk, cabs and panhandlers and one drunken girl screeching like a wounded bird - all of it… — Marisha Pessl Beauty Copy Share Image
I think every writer has a book that haunts them, and on some level, every book you write is a reaction to… — Marisha Pessl Book Copy Share Image
“I’d actually questioned my sanity, wondered if this was it: the substandard past few years had finally led to a mental break… — Marisha Pessl Sanity Copy Share Image
Life had been a suit I'd only put on for special occasions. Most of the time I kept it in the back… — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
“ Secrets —even in hardened criminals, they were just air pockets lodged under debris at the bottom of an ocean. It might… — Marisha Pessl Criminals Copy Share Image
... suddenly I was a kid in the hall standing outside my locker about to head to Math. But that was how… — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
“All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, and when it comes to the… — Marisha Pessl Family Copy Share Image
Those around you can have their novellas, sweet, their short stories of cliché and coincidence, occasionally spiced up with tricks of the… — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
“The Shadow is what people are hunting throughout the tale. Or else it can dog the hero, refusing to leave him alone.… — Marisha Pessl Shadow Copy Share Image
“So I would die in here. I’d leave my little life. I’d barely worn it out. Life had been a suit I’d… — Marisha Pessl Life Copy Share Image
“The mountains hugged each other sternly, similar to the way men hugged other men, not letting their chests touch. Thin clouds hung… — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
“I need to give you one last bit of advice in the off chance this rather extraordinary and enviable situation in which… — Marisha Pessl Bad guy Copy Share Image
It felt as if we'd been to war together. Deep in a jungle, alone, I had relied on them, these strangers. They'd… — Marisha Pessl Closest friends Copy Share Image
“I pretended not to notice, but Dad looked sort of deflated there on the edge of my bed. A lost, even humbled… — Marisha Pessl Great leader Copy Share Image
“Dad on Child-rearing: "There's no education superior to travel. Think of The Motorcycle Diaries, or what Montrose St. Millet wrote in Ages… — Marisha Pessl Children Copy Share Image
“Only the greatest of personal demons can force you to do powerful work.” — Marisha Pessl Personal demons Copy Share Image
“But that was how it went sometimes, the English language, when you really needed it, crumbled to clay in your mouth. That’s… — Marisha Pessl English language Copy Share Image
He said you couldn't pretend the terrible things in life didn't happen. You can't clean it up. You keep all the refuse… — Marisha Pessl Improvement Copy Share Image
It was as if Hannah had sprung a leak and her character, usually so meticulous and contained, was spilling all over the… — Marisha Pessl Character Copy Share Image
But when you flee someone, no matter how far you roam, that person will follow you as doggedly as the stars. — Marisha Pessl Copy Share Image
Happiness is a hound dog in the sun. We aren't on Earth to be happy, but to experience incredible things. - Hannah… — Marisha Pessl Dog Copy Share Image
What, really, was the difference between something hounding you and something leading you somewhere? — Marisha Pessl Difference Copy Share Image
