Why bother? I was right all along: the second you make yourself vulnerable to someone, they start drawing blood. Poppy Z. Brite More Quotes by Poppy Z. Brite More Quotes From Poppy Z. Brite I certainly wanted to write a book that was honest about New Orleans without explaining it to death, so much so that the first draft contained references absolutely incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't lived here for several years. Poppy Z. Brite new-orleanswritingbook In the Netherlands I read the first chapter of Exquisite Corpse to an audience that laughed in all the places I thought were funny - an experience I've never had in America! Poppy Z. Brite netherlandsamericafirsts New Orleans cuisine is Creole rather than Cajun. Poppy Z. Brite cajunscuisinenew-orleans Celebrities, even insignificant ones like me, are created to be abused by the Great Unwashed. Poppy Z. Brite insignificantlike-me And I can't think of a reason I'd ever use a pseudonym, as I wouldn't want to publish something that I didn't like enough to put my name on it. Poppy Z. Brite pseudonymsnamesthinking Sometimes we gotta be brave even when we're scared. We gotta not let being scared keep us from thinkin' straight. That's all brave is, boy, when you come right down to it, not lettin' the fear get you so turned around you start doin' stupid things, instead of what you know you ought to do. Poppy Z. Brite stupidbraveboys The sky is purple, the flare of a match behind a cupped hand is gold; the liquor is green, bright green, made from a thousand herbs, made from altars. Those who know enough to drink Chartreuse at Mardi Gras are lucky, because the distilled essence of the town burns in their bellies. Chartreuse glows in the dark, and if you drink enough of it, your eyes will turn bright green. Poppy Z. Brite eyedarkhands When you have too much faith in something, it's bound to hurt you. Too much faith in anything will suck you dry. In this way, all the world is a vampire. Poppy Z. Brite vampirehurtworld With the first kiss his mouth will taste of wormwood. Poppy Z. Brite first-kisskissingmouths Maybe they did what they had to do to live, and tried to get a little love and have a little fun before the darkness took them. Poppy Z. Brite darknesslittlesfun All at once it hit him: this was power too, just as surely as smashing your fist into someone’s face, just as surely as putting a hammer through someone’s skull. The power to make another person crazy with pleasure instead of fear and pain, to have every cell in another person’s body at your thrall. Poppy Z. Brite paincellscrazy If you're a freelance writer and aren't used to being ignored, neglected, and generally given short shrift, you must not have been in the business very long. Poppy Z. Brite being-ignoredwritinglong If you find yourself imitating another writer, that doesn't have to be a bad thing, especially if you are a young or a new writer. However, you should be conscious of exactly how you are imitating him - word choice, sentence structure, motifs? - and think about why you're doing it. Poppy Z. Brite choiceswritingthinking Mostly I enjoy the restaurants (my husband is a chef), though I wish we had a wider diversity of ethnic food. Poppy Z. Brite diversityhusbandwish I don't like to talk about work in progress, but the novel I'm working on now is definitely not horror. Poppy Z. Brite work-in-progressprogresshorror It was like discovering that your innermost fires and terrors, the things you believed no one else could fathom, were in fact the basis of a recognized philosophy. Some part of you felt intimately invaded, threatened; some other part fell to its knees and sobbed in gratitude that it was no longer alone. Poppy Z. Brite gratitudefirephilosophy In France, for instance, one magazine writer was convinced that On The Road had been a huge influence on Lost Souls and was crushed to learn that I hadn't read the one until after I'd written the other. Poppy Z. Brite magazinesfrancesoul Yeah, I think A Confederacy of Dunces is probably the perfect New Orleans book. Poppy Z. Brite new-orleansbookthinking I like visiting peoples homes on Saint Josephs Day, when people set up altars, serve food as a tribute to the saint, and invite the public - I enjoy that much more than Mardi Gras. Poppy Z. Brite sainthomepeople My mother is an office manager, my father a professor of economics and financial planner. Poppy Z. Brite officemotherfather
