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Quotes from Vivian Apple at the End of the World — Katie Coyle

born 1986 United States

← All quotes by Katie Coyle

14 quotes

I wonder if this is what bravery is: adrenaline plus love plus absolute stupidity.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

Believer culture seems to shift so quickly, from benign to terrifying and back again.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

“But it was probably nothing.”
“Nothing is nothing anymore, Viv.”

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

What Harp doesn’t understand is that I like my parents—current hiccups in sanity not withstanding.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

It’s funny now to think that we were ever confused by extreme action taken in the name of God.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

“I mean, these people really believe what they believe.”
“But what they believe is so absurd.”

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

Behind him shines the blinking neon of a casino: sinners—if you’re going to hell, don’t go broke.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

“I’m Harp,” my best friend says, business-like. “This is Viv. Personally, I think you guys would make really cute babies together.”

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

“This whole country,” says my grandmother evenly, “supports a culture of ignorance and anti-intellectualism which posits that not understanding a phenomenon is just as valid as understanding one, and frankly I’m sick of it.”

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

I’ve always believed Frick to be detached from reality, but I thought he was just a megalomaniac, a manipulator, a con artist. Now I begin to slowly understand. He’s far more dangerous than any of those things. He’s a true Believer.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

“That’s part of the prophecy of the Rapture, right? The dead will rise and crash our parties?”
He laughs. “Do you really think that’s a priority, for the reanimated corpses?”
“Absolutely,” I say. “No French onion dip in purgatory.”

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

Even now I think I could only list for him the various things I don’t believe in. But still I wish I could. Because I’m starting to narrow it down. I don’t believe in hate. I don’t believe in money. I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe it’s too late.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

(“For God saw that Americans were industrious and made money in His name, and he saw that it was good”). It’s one of the many parts of the Book of Frick that makes you wonder whether or not Frick was just straight-up on ’shrooms when he was writing it.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

But I can’t justify the act to myself, no matter how much I like making out with the boy I’d be trying to save. That would be playing by Believer rules—telling myself that violence and the threat of it is okay, if that’s what it takes to get you what you want. “For God so loved the world,” says the Book of Frick, “that he sent us guns with which to protect our homes and women.”

Vivian Apple at the End of the World (2013)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Katie Coyle (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.