Quotes by Mark Z. Danielewski

About Mark Z. Danielewski:

Mark Z. Danielewski is an American author, best known for his debut novel House of Leaves (2000). Danielewski's work is characterized by experimental choices in form, such as intricate and multi-layered narratives, typographical variation, and inconsistent page layouts, otherwise known as visual writing, or as he refers to it, "signiconic" literature.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Anger is one way to respond to fear. I say one way because responses are categorically multiple.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Maturity, one discovers, has everything to do with the acceptance of ‘not knowing.

Mark Z. Danielewski

You wouldn't believe how much harder it's getting for me to just leave my studio. It's really sad. In fact these days the only thing that gets me outside is when I say: Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck you. Fuck me. Fuck this. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Mark Z. Danielewski

I do not know anything about Art with a capital A. What I do know about is my art. Because it concerns me. I do not speak for others. So I do not speak for things which profess to speak for others. My art, however, speaks for me. It lights my way.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Physics depends on a universe infinitely centred on an equals sign.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Beautiful women are always drawn to men they think will keep them beautiful.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Prometheus, thief of light, giver of light, bound by the gods, must have been a book.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Make no mistake, those who write long books have nothing to say. Of course those who write short books have even less to say.

Mark Z. Danielewski

In the end Navidson is left with one page and one match. For a long time he waits in darkness and cold, postponing this final bit of illumination. At last though, he grips the match by the neck and after locating the friction strip sparks to life a f...

Mark Z. Danielewski

I went outside. Tried taking in the billions of stars above, lingering long enough to allow each point of light the chance to scratch a deep hole in the back of my retina, so that when I finally did turn to face the dark surrounding forest I thought ...

Mark Z. Danielewski

Darkness is impossible to remember. Consequently cavers desire to return to those unseen depths where they have just been. It is an addiction. No one is ever satisfied. Darkness never satisfies. Especially if it takes something away which it almost a...

Mark Z. Danielewski

Your eye will no longer linger on the light, it will no longer trace constellations. You'll care only about the darkness and you'll watch it for hours, for days, maybe even for years, trying in vain to believe you're some kind of indispensable, unive...

Mark Z. Danielewski

Here then at long last is my darkness. No cry of light, no glimmer, not even the faintest shard of hope to break free across the hold.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Even the brightest magnesium flare can do little against such dark except blind the eyes of the one holding it. Thus one craves what by seeing one has in fact not seen.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Of course there always will be darkness but I realize now something inhabits it. Historical or not. Sometimes it seems like a cat, the panther with its moon mad gait or a tiger with stripes of ash and eyes as wild as winter oceans. Sometimes it's the...

Mark Z. Danielewski

...and there you have it, another body on the floor surrounded by things that don't mean much to anyone except to the one who can't take any of them along.

Mark Z. Danielewski

I want something else. I’m not even sure what to call it anymore except I know it feels roomy and it’s drenched in sunlight and it’s weightless and I know it’s not cheap. It’s probably not even real.

Mark Z. Danielewski

I still get nightmares. In fact, I get them so often I should be used to them by now. I'm not. No one ever really gets used to nightmares.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Sublime is something you choke on after a shot of tequila.

Mark Z. Danielewski

I think that's what finally stopped me. I slid right to the edge. My legs were hanging over. And I could feel it too. I don't know how. There was no wind, no sound, no change of temperature. There was just this terrible emptiness reaching up for me.

Mark Z. Danielewski

Author Bio

  • NameMark Z. Danielewski
  • DescriptionNovelist
  • BornMarch 5, 1966
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Novelist
  • WorksHouse Of Leaves