Quotes from William Peter Blatty

smarting and smoke was hanging thick in the air while the ashtray on Karras's desk was mounded high with ashes and the twisted butts of cigarettes.

No, autosuggestion would explain that, he recalled, as well as reports that, in certain instances, the mentally ill seemed able to unconsciously direct their bodies to emit a variety of odors.

he drank and behaved outrageously because it was expected of him: he was living up to his legend.

There was a strangeness in the house. Like settling stillness. Weighted dust.

To keep up with the times these days, it seems you have to be a little bit demented. — "William F. Kinderman".

carrot-and-stick reinforcement' the behaviorists are telling us is needed for this bird to carry out these operations, thirteen different types of construction jobs? B. F. Skinner did a very good thing: in World War

For I think belief in God is not a matter of reason at all; I think it finally is a matter of love: of accepting the possibility that God could ever love us.

hyperreactive skin and could herself have produced the mysterious letters by tracing them on her flesh with a finger a short time prior to their appearance, by a process known as dermatographia, a theory buttressed by the fact that as soon as Regan's hands had been immobilized by restraining straps, the mysterious phenomena ceased. Karras lifted his head and

And perhaps even Satan—Satan, in spite of himself—somehow serves to work out the will of God.

Bugiardo! Bugiardo bastardo! Dicci, dov'è la tua umiltà, Merrin? Dove l'hai lasciata, nel deserto? Nelle rovine? Nelle tombe dove cerchi di fuggire dal tuo prossimo? Fuggire dagli ultimi, da quelli che non hanno una mente acuta come la tua? Sei capace di parlare agli uomini, feccia d'un prete?…»

it made me wonder whether the brothers karamazov would have ever come down to us as a classic if its title had been the karamzov brothers.

I tend to see possession most often in the little things, Damien: in the senseless, petty spites and misunderstandings; the cruel and cutting word that leaps unbidden to the tongue between friends. Between lovers. Between husbands and wives. Enough of these and we have no need of Satan to manage our wars; these we manage for ourselves … for ourselves.

For a time, Karras watched him as he listed down the street; watched with fondness and with wonder at the heart's labyrinthine turnings and improbable redemptions.

Prime Neuron Untriggered? First Decider Undecided?

Yes, you'll join our little family," Regan continued. "You see, the trouble with signs in the sky is that, once having seen them, one has no excuse. Have you noticed how few miracles one hears about lately? Not our fault, dear Karras. We try!

It's all ka-ka, saying mind is really brain. Sure, my hand is in my pocket. Is my pocket my hand? Every wino on M Street knows a thought is a thought and not some cells or chazerei going on in the brain. They know that jealousy is not some kind of game from Atari.

El sol se esconde para alzarse de nuevo, el día es engullido por la oscuridad de la noche para nacer de ella, tan puro como si nunca se hubiera apagado.

His eyes tight, his head angled in surmise, Karras rose and stared down at the priest, demanding huskily, "Who in the hell are you, pal? Who are you?" The soft

at last I realised that God would never ask of me that which I know to be psychologically impossible; that the love which He asked was in my will and not meant to be felt as emotion at all. Not at all. He was asking that I act with love; that I do unto others; and that I should do it unto those who repelled me, I believe, was a greater act of love than any other.

Mom, my bed was shaking.

Whenever she grinned, her entire face appeared to crinkle.

The psychiatrist motioned Klein to come over to him. "Let's get her tranquilized," he whispered. "Maybe I can talk to her.

Karras glanced at the tape of Regan's voice, and then wearily sat down at the desk, where he lit another cigarette and blew out a ragged cone of bluish-gray smoke as he thought once again of the

Her condition isn't quite what it seems," explained Klein. "It's a form of overcompensation, an overreaction to depression.