Hope could be a wonderful thing. But hope could crush you anew every single day. Hope could be the cruelest thing in the world.
Harlan Coben in Stay CloseMemories, you see, hurt. The good ones most of all.
Harlan Coben in Tell No OneBefore we go forward, we have to look back.
Harlan Coben in Gone for GoodDon't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon!
AmbitionHarlan Coben in The WoodsSummer romances come to an end. That was part of the deal. They are built like certain plants or insects, not able to survive more than one season. I thought we would be different. We were, I guess, but not in the way I thought. I truly believed that we would never let each other go. The young are so dumb.
Harlan Coben in The WoodsYou've made plenty of short stories long. But never, ever, have you made a long story short.
Harlan Coben in Promise MeThat's the problem with falling in love. It makes you start talking like a bad country song.
Harlan Coben in Six YearsWe get mad at someone for cutting us off in traffic or for taking too long to order at Starbucks or for not responding exactly as we see fit, and we have no idea that behind their facade, they may be dealing with some industrial-strength shit. Their lives may be in pieces. They may be in the midst of incalculable tragedy and turmoil, and they may be hanging on to their sanity by a thread. But we don't care. We don't see. We just keep pushing.
Harlan Coben in The StrangerIt was obvious and a bit of cliché, but we don't really age in a straight line. We age in a circle, curving back to childhood, but in all the wrong ways.
Harlan Coben in Stay CloseI kept hearing that "better to have loved and lost" bullshit. Another falsehood. Trust me, it is not better. Don't show me paradise and then burn it down.
Harlan Coben in Tell No OneLove your parents - while we are busy growing up, they are growing old.
Harlan Coben in Run AwayA beating hurts for a little while. The shame of cowardice never leaves.
Harlan Coben in Gone for GoodPerception is often more important than reality.
Harlan Coben in Run AwaySome people, no matter how easy the path they are given on the walk of life, will find a way to mess it all up. Ray Levine was one of those people.
Harlan Coben in Stay CloseYou want people lined up, Will. You want the good guys on one side, the bad on the other. It doesn't work that way, does it? It is never that simple. Love, for example, leads to hate. I think that was what started it all. Primitive love.
Harlan Coben in Gone for GoodAnd bad stays. Bad doesn't go away. You bury bad, it digs itself out. You throw bad in the middle of the ocean, it comes back at you like a tidal wave.
Harlan Coben in Run AwayThe first sip of beer on a hot day is like that first finger-dip when you open a new jar of peanut butter.
BeerHarlan Coben in The Woods"Terrific," Simon said. "The psychos are on my side."
Harlan Coben in Run AwayShe dabbed her eye. A sarcastic rejoinder came to my lips, but I bit it back.
Harlan Coben in Gone for GoodThe world doesn't give even the slightest damn about us or our petty problems.
Harlan Coben in The StrangerTrust is like that. You can break it for a good reason. But it still remains broken.
Harlan Coben in Hold TightFeeding teenage boys was like filling a bathtub with a grapefruit spoon.
TeenagersHarlan Coben in The StrangerYears fly by, but the heart stays in the same place.
Harlan Coben in Promise MeThe cardinal rule: You never have to take back words you don't say.
Harlan Coben in The StrangerThe hunchback sees the hump of others - never his own.
Harlan Coben in The StrangerWe humans can't see straight. We are always biased. We always protect our own interests.
Harlan Coben in The StrangerThis was a place where tattoos outnumbered teeth.
Harlan Coben in The InnocentSurvival is the thing. The mind will twist to survive. Anything can become normal.
Harlan Coben in The InnocentHere is the truth about tragedy: it's good for the soul.
Harlan Coben in Tell No OneHe didn't believe in karma, but then again there was no reason to poke karma in the ribs.
KarmaHarlan Coben in Run AwayThere are virtually no major life decisions you make that are not in some way based on your finances.
Harlan Coben in Run AwayThose who believe that we are anything other than animals are blind. All humans are savages. The ones who are well fed are just lazier. They don't need to kill to get their food. So they dress up and find so-called loftier pursuits that make them believe that they are somehow above it all. Such nonsense. Savages are just hungrier. That was all. You do horrible things to survive. Anyone who believes that they are above that is delusional.
Harlan Coben in The WoodsI ordered a cheeseburger and a beer from a waitress who looked as though she wanted to be in one of those want-to-get-away? commercials. She called me hon. I love when a waitress calls me hon.
Harlan Coben in The WoodsHope is cruel. Hope reminds me of what almost was. Hope makes the physical ache return.
Harlan Coben in Six YearsKids don't do what their parents say - they do what they see their parents do. So who was to blame here?
Harlan Coben in Hold TightSure, on a larger scale, it was healthy to have people out there you cared about more than yourself. She knew that. But then there was the abject fear you would lose it. They say possessions own you. Not so. Loved ones own you. You are forever held hostage once you care so much.
Harlan Coben in Hold TightYvonne started humming the QuickGo jingle, one of those torturous tunes that enters through the ear canal and proceeds to ricochet around the skull in search of an escape route it will never find.
Harlan Coben in Gone for GoodI said everyone looks happy. That was kinda my point. If you judge the world by Facebook, you wonder why so many people take Prozac.
Harlan Coben in The StrangerYou look like several large orangutans made you their love slave.
Harlan Coben in Stay CloseYou don't worry about happiness and fulfilment when you're starving.
Harlan Coben in The WoodsMost religious people don't believe the dogma, Ash. We take from it what we want, we discard what we don't. We form whatever narrative we like - kind God, vengeful God, active God, laid-back God, whatever. We just make sure we get something out of it. Maybe we get life everlasting while people we resent burn for eternity. Maybe we get something more concrete - money, a job, friends. You just change the narrative.
Harlan Coben in Run AwayMost were conspiracy nuts, the kind who think Elvis and Jimi Hendrix are jamming on some island off Fiji.
Conspiracy TheoriesHarlan Coben in Gone for GoodA voice flat enough to fit under a door crack.
Harlan Coben in Stay CloseSome people are drawn to trouble. Some people, no matter how easy the path they are given on the walk of life, will find a way to mess it all up.
Harlan Coben in Stay ClosePart of the human condition is that we all think that we are uniquely complex while everyone else is somewhat simpler to read. That is not true, of course. We all have our own dreams and hopes and wants and lust and heartaches. We all have our own brand of crazy.
Harlan Coben in Six YearsYou live among this ridiculous wealth and you get lost. You worry about nonsense like spirituality and inner health and satisfaction and relationships. You have no idea what it is like to starve, to watch yourself turn to bones.
Harlan Coben in The WoodsThis is the price you pay for having a great father. You get the wonder, the joy, the tender moments - and you get the tears at the end, too.
Harlan CobenThe state of New Jersey is really two places - terrible cities and wonderful suburbs. I live in the suburbs, the final battleground of the American dream, where people get married and have kids and try to scratch out a happy life for themselves. It's very romantic in that way, but a bit naive. I like to play with that in my work.
New JerseyHarlan Coben