Kugel was a firm believer that death was not always a bad thing - that life often reached such levels of crapitude that dying was preferable to living. Shalom Auslander More Quotes by Shalom Auslander More Quotes From Shalom Auslander It couldn't be an all-bad world, could it, not with birds who warble and call? Maybe that was the secret - to find the few things that made life just a fraction better, and to focus on those. Bird warbles. Peach fuzz. Puppies barking as if they're full grown dogs. Nothing great, certainly nothing to justify the rest of it, but enough to keep you going. Shalom Auslander focus dog bird Write something dangerous. Say something you shouldn’t. Blow something up. But well. Shalom Auslander dangerous blow writing Roads are no place for naive chickens dreaming of nirvana. Shalom Auslander naive chickens dream Anger and depression are not diseases or dysfunctions or anomalies; they are perfectly rational responses to the myriad avoidable disappointments that begin in a thoroughly irrational hope. Shalom Auslander dysfunction anomalies disappointment ...the greatest source of misery in the world, the greatest cause of anguish and hatred and sadness and death, was neither disease nor race nor religion. It was hope. Shalom Auslander sadness hatred race My point is that death is more tragic than life, than any life, because every life has hope of some kind. Shalom Auslander tragic having-hope kind Vans are the vehicles of murderers. Serial Killers. Rapists. Thieves. Nothing good ever happens in a van. Police should be allowed to arrest van drivers without cause. The van is the cause, asshole. Shalom Auslander serial-killer thieves police Written with passion, honesty, humor, and a stubborn, rebellious optimism, Dear Marcus is like nothing I've ever read. When a bullet in the back told Jerry McGill not to go on, Jerry went on-smiling. Shalom Auslander optimism passion honesty His intelligence only exacerbated the guilt Kugel felt for bringing him into the world. It was one thing to have condemned a child to life, that was criminal enough, but life was a sentence more easily served by fools. Shalom Auslander criminals guilt children Expecting hell, we're ill prepared for heaven. Shalom Auslander expecting hell heaven
