Quotes from John Kennedy Toole

you can always tell employees of the government by the total vacancy which occupies the space where most other people have faces.

Having once been so high, humanity fell so low. What had once been dedicated to the soul was now dedicated to the sale.

My life is a rather grim one. One day I shall perhaps describe it to you in great detail.

When Fortuna spins you downward, go out to a movie and get more out of life.

You could tell by the way he talked, though, that he had gone to school a long time. That was probably what was wrong with him.

I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip.

Apparently I lack some particular perversion which today's employer is seeking.

Is my paranoia getting completely out of hand, or are you mongoloids really talking about me?

I doubt very seriously whether anyone will hire me.' What do you mean, babe? You a fine boy with a good education.' Employers sense in me a denial of their values.' He rolled over onto his back. 'They fear me. I suspect that they can see that I am forced to function in a century I loathe. This was true even when I worked for the New Orleans Public Library.

You could tell by the way he talked, though, that he had gone to school a long time. That was probably what was wrong with him.

I mingle with my peers or no one, and since I have no peers, I mingle with no one.

I refuse to "look up." Optimism nauseates me. It is perverse. Since man's fall, his proper position in the universe has been one of misery.

The day before me is fraught with God knows what horrors.

When Fortuna spins you downward, go out to a movie and get more out of life.

I avoid that bleak first hour of the working day during which my still sluggish senses and body make every chore a penance. I find that in arriving later, the work which I do perform is of a much higher quality.

My life is a rather grim one. One day I shall perhaps describe it to you in great detail.

Canned food is a perversion,' Ignatius said. 'I suspect that it is ultimately very damaging to the soul.

Leaving New Orleans also frightened me considerably. Outside of the city limits the heart of darkness, the true wasteland begins.

you can always tell employees of the government by the total vacancy which occupies the space where most other people have faces.

I suspect that I am the result of particularly weak conception on the part of my father. His sperm was probably emitted in a rather offhand manner.

Oh, Fortuna, you capricious sprite!

A firm rule must be imposed upon our nation before it destroys itself. The United States needs some theology and geometry, some taste and decency. I suspect that we are teetering on the edge of the abyss.

I really don't have the time to discuss the errors of your value judgements.

It's not your fate to be well treated," Ignatius cried. "You're an overt masochist. Nice treatment will confuse and destroy you.