Pulp Quotes

“Dismissing fantasy writing because some of it is bad is exactly like saying I'm not reading Jane Eyre because it is a romance and I know romance is crap.”
― China Miéville

“Sometimes things are just what they seem to be and that's all there is to it.”
― Charles Bukowski

“We must be bound to one another then," Elric murmured despairingly. "Bound by hell-forged chains and fate-haunted circumstance. Well, then—let it be thus so—and men will have cause to tremble and flee when they hear the names of Elric of Melinbone and Stormbringer, his sword. We are two of a kind—produced by an age which has deserted us. Let us give this age cause to hate us!”
― Michael Moorcock, Elric: The Stealer of Souls

“It was no ape, neither was it a man. It was some shambling horror spawned in the mysterious, nameless jungles of the south, where strange life teemed in the reeking rot without the dominance of man, and drums thundered in temples that had never known the tread of a human foot.”
― Robert E. Howard

“She is a great gobbler of books, but reads only trash, memorizing nothing and leaving out the longer descriptions.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Despair

“Kandinski looked up. 'Do you read science fiction?' he asked matter-of-factly.

'Not as a rule,' Ward admitted. When Kandinski said nothing he went on: 'Perhaps I’m too skeptical, but I can’t take it too seriously.'

Kandinski pulled at a blister on his palm. 'No one suggests you should. What you mean is that you take it too seriously.'

Accepting the rebuke with a smile at himself, Ward pulled out one of the magazines and sat down at a table next to Kandinski. On the cover was a placid suburban setting of snugly eaved houses, yew trees, and children’s bicycles. Spreading slowly across the roof-tops was an enormous pulpy nightmare, blocking out the sun behind it and throwing a weird phosphorescent glow over the roofs and lawns. 'You’re probably right,' Ward said, showing the cover to Kandinski. 'I’d hate to want to take that seriously.'

("The Venus Hunters")”
― J.G. Ballard

“What kind of d*ck are you? Celine asked.
-The best in L.A.
-Yes? What's L.A. stand for?
-Lost as*holes.”
― Charles Bukowski, Pulp

“His belly was flabby, and it got softer every time I hit it. I hit it often.”
― Carroll John Daly, Race Williams' Double Date and Other Stories

“If these yarns were trash - and millions of parents must have regarded them as such - then they were the best of all kinds of trash. They were trash for connoisseurs of trash. Trash for people who understood just how good trash could really be.”
― Don Hutchison, The Great Pulp Heroes

“Look, barkeeper, I'm a peaceful man. Fairly normal. I don't sniff armpits or wear ladies' underwear. But everywhere I go, somebody is pushing shots at me, they give me no rest. Why is this?
-I think you got it comin' somehow.
-Well, Eddie, you stop thinking and see if you can fix me a double vodka and tonic, touch of lime.
-We don't got no lime.
-Yeah, you have. I can see it from here.
-That lime's not for you
-Yeah? Who's it for? Elizabeth Taylor? Now, if you want to sleep in your own bed tonight, I'll have that lime. In my drink. Pronto.”
― Charles Bukowski, Pulp

“Questo è il mio pesciolino numero 641 in una vita costellata di pesciolini rossi.
I miei genitori mi comprarono il primo per insegnarmi cosa significasse amare e prendersi cura di una creatura vivente del Signore. Seicentoquaranta pesci dopo, l’unica cosa che ho imparato è che tutto quello che ami morirà.”
― Chuck Palahniuk

“La prima regola del Fight Club è che non si parla del Fight Club.
La seconda regola del Fight Club è che non si parla del Fight Club.
La terza regola del Fight Club è che quando qualcuno dice basta o non reagisce più, anche se sta solo facendo finta, il combattimento è finito.
La quarta regola del Fight Club è solo due per ogni combattimento.
La quinta regola del Fight Club è un combattimento per volta.
La sesta regola del Fight Club è che si combatte senza camicia e senza scarpe.
La settima regola del Fight Club è che il combattimento dura per tutto il tempo che stabiliscono i combattenti.
L’ottava e ultima regola del Fight Club è che se questa è la vostra prima sera al Fight Club, dovete combattere.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

“The tin pan notes of a piano drift faintly into the night. A man curses and a window slams. Far distant an ash can clatters on stone and the almost human screech of a cat pierces the night.”
― Carroll John Daly, The Snarl of the Beast

“Life isn't a pulp novel, Joe, and death isn't either.”
― Lavie Tidhar, Osama

“Pulp is almost zen, very nearly pure stream of unconsciousness. Here´s a good guy. There´s a bad guy. They hit each other. Oh, the bad guy is unmasked and it´s the greedy banker who was trying to foreclose on the old Beesby place! Wow. Next story, please.”
― D.A. Madigan

“Never believe everything you read; all writers are liars, it’s what we do.”
― Callie Press, Queen Kegel and the Arena Planet: A Smutpunk Epic

“We are all born equal until such time as we or a group chooses not to be equal; then I the avatar of vengeance will come for you." - Bishop Kincaid

Taken from From the Paranormal Case Files of Bishop Kincaid, "The Rembrandt Stratagem" by Kellie Austin”
― Kellie Austin, From The Paranormal Case Files of Bishop Kincaid: The Rembrandt Stratagem

“Duna avanzó en silencio entre los turistas, procurando no apartar la vista del suelo. No estaba acostumbrada a caminar descalza, pero era un requisito ineludible para acceder al Templo Karni Mata. Éste era famoso por sus habitantes, a los cuáles se veneraba y alimentaba desde hacía más de seiscientos años: las ratas.”
― Ana Nieto Morillo, Ánima Barda (Ed. Impresa)

“Casi siempre lo mejor de la vida consistía en no hacer nada en absoluto, en pasar el rato reflexionando, rumiando sobre ello. Quiero decir que pongamos que uno comprende que todo es absurdo, entones no puede ser tan absurdo porque uno es consciente de que es absurdo y la conciencia de ellos es lo que le otorga sentido. ¿Me entienden? Es un pesimismo optimista.”
― Charles Bukowski

“There's no difference between pulp fiction and highbrow fiction, one is as good as the other, the only difference is the aura they have, and that's determined by the people who read the stuff, not by the book itself. There's no such thing as 'the book itself.”
― Karl Ove Knausgård, Min kamp 5

“She told me to answer yes or no, and to quit wasting her time. I told her I'd place it under my consideration, and would get back to her just as soon as humanly possible. That's when I made the mistake of mentioning my ex-girlfriend. I almost always gag whenever I talk about my ex. Sometimes that gagging leads to puking. Women don't like it when a man pukes on them. That's one thing I have learned about women.”
― Tony Arnold, Wigglers

“Well, like, I've always thought somebody ought to write a novel in blank verse that starts out when the angels come inside the daughters of men and they bear the children which were giants in them days, which the flood wiped 'em all out, but their spirits become demons and have to follow Satan around for the rest of eternity. And them spirits still like to have sex, so when they infect nonbelievers or pigs, or what-have-you, that copulatin' urge is still inside of 'em, and so there's generally just a whole lot of ruttin' going on everywheres. And then one day there's a private detective who discovers a hidden tomb underneath a trailer park where his Mama still lives and there's a ancient codex that turns out to be a book that them sex-giants wrote about. the coming Hypocalypse. Something like that's what I like to read.”
― Tony Arnold, Tales From the Horny Panda

“Well, like, I've always thought somebody ought to write a novel in blank verse that starts out when the angels come inside the daughters of men and they bear the children which were giants in them days, which the flood wiped 'em all out, but their spirits become demons and have to follow Satan around for the rest of eternity. And them spirits still like to have sex, so when they infect nonbelievers or pigs, or what-have-you, that copulatin' urge is still inside of 'em, and so there's generally just a whole lot of ruttin' going on everywheres. And then one day there's a private detective who discovers a hidden tomb underneath a trailer park where his Mama still lives and there's a ancient codex that turns out to be a book that them sex-giants wrote about the coming Hypocalypse. Something like that's what I like to read.”
― Tony Arnold, Tales From the Horny Panda

“I know what it's like to be a under-valued, despised fat-ass in a uniform that frequents the used sex toy trailer way too regular. And nobody appreciates more than me the way ya'll protect the weak and innocent from minorities. But every time ya'll pull over some poor slob gratuitously, just fishing for some gotcha to fine 'em with, you disgrace the noble acts ya'll have to do like rescuing maidens from railroad tracks and pulling burning babies out of trailer fires. You cheapen the great things ya'll do with the low-rent, scum-sucking dirtbag shit you do by way of economic predation.”
― Tony Arnold, Codename: White Devil

“The storyline also changed with the times, and went from Marla Drake held captive by Nazis in the war years, to mad scientists, gangsters and kidnapping after the war. Miss Fury's adventures were part pulp, part film noir.”
― Trina Robbins, Women And The Comics

“How many diners should a man rob before he turns the gun on himself? The question whispered in Richie’s ear as he swallowed the last bite of pancake. He and Alabama had gotten the idea of stealing from diners when they caught Pulp Fiction at a four-year anniversary screening in the New Beverly Cinema in LA last year where they’d gone to shoot dope and drift among the neon haze of Hollywood glitz, thinking Shit, look how in love they are holding up that diner, that could be us. But a dozen diners later the charm had worn off and they’d returned to being just a couple junkie losers stuck in the small-time.”
― Philip Elliott, Porno Valley

“Which of my friends would make such an offer? I may be a calm man, but there is nothing inside of me that will stop from beating him to a pulp.”

Is it weird that I find his threat hot? “No, I, uh, just meant Prince Cobar.”

“Prince Cobar?” The fury fades from his face, and he takes a shaky breath. “Well, that’s different, I have no choice but to share you with him.” Now, I’m truly curious.

“You were about to kill some random guy a minute ago, why is it different with him?”
― Lacey Carter Andersen, Shadow of the Crown

“I, Satampra Zeiros of Uzuldaroum, shall write with my left hand, since I have no longer any other, the tale of everything that befell Tirouv Ompallios and myself in the shrine of the god Tsathoggua, which lies neglected by the worship of man in the jungle-taken suburbs of Commoriom, that long-deserted capital of the Hyperborean rulers. I shall write it with the violet juice of the suvana-palm, which turns to a blood-red rubric with the passage of years, on a strong vellum that is made from the skin of the mastodon, as a warning to all good thieves and adventurers who may hear some lying legend of the lost treasures of Commoriom and be tempted thereby.”
― Clark Ashton Smith, The Tale Of Satampra Zeiros

“And this is Isabella's nonna's, made with the whole Moro orange from her grove--- pulped into the mix and no dusting, no glaze. Plain."
"You mean perfect," says Isabella, scolding Luca.
There was no doubting Isabella's would win. The pulp added something even softer and more luscious to the crumb. If the cake we had yesterday, warm from the oven, was divine, this was magic.
"I told you," says Luca. "The orange."”
― Lizzy Dent, Just One Taste

“There is real hope for a culture that makes it as easy to buy a book as it does a pack of cigarettes."--a civic leader quoted in a New American Library ad (1951) American Pulp tells the story of the midcentury golden age of pulp paperbacks and how they brought modernism to Main Street, democratized literature and ideas, spurred social mobility, and helped readers fashion new identities.”
― Paula Rabinowitz