Remarkably Bright Creatures Quotes

“Humans. For the most part, you are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Why can humans not use their millions of words to simply tell one another what they desire?”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Tova has always felt more than a bit of empathy for the sharks, with their never-ending laps around the tank. She understands what it means to never be able to stop moving, lest you find yourself unable to breathe.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Secrets are everywhere. Some humans are crammed full of them. How do they not explode? It seems to be a hallmark of the human species: abysmal communication skills.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“As a general rule, I like holes. A hole at the top of my tank gives me freedom. But I do not like the hole in her heart. She only has one, not three, like me. Tova’s heart. I will do everything I can to help her fill it.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Smart cookie. I am smart, but I am not a snack object dispensed from a packaged food machine. What a preposterous thing to say.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Some trees aren’t meant to sprout tender new branches, but to stand stoically on the forest floor, silently decaying.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“What do you think I’m trying to do? Not my fault I was dealt a shitty hand.” “No, the deal is never anyone’s fault. But you control the way you play.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Humans are the only species who subvert truth for their own entertainment. They call them jokes. Sometimes puns.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“It seems to be a hallmark of the human species: abysmal communication skills. Not that any other species are much better, mind you, but even a herring can tell which way the school it belongs to is turning and follow accordingly. Why can humans not use their millions of words to simply tell one another what they desire?”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Tova knew there was a bottom to those depths of despair. Once your soul was soaked through with grief, any more simply ran off, overflowed, the way maple syrup on Saturday morning pancakes always cascaded onto the table whenever Erik was allowed to pour it on himself.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Day 1,361 of My Captiv- Oh, Let Us Cut the Shit, Shall We? We Have a Ring to Retrieve.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“You can't fix someone who is determined to stay broken.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Conscience does make cowards of us all.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Tell me again about the intelligence of humans. They cannot even manage to comprehend predictable meteorological events.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“All of these things had been stored away for her to pass along someday, relics to be carried up the branches of the family tree. But the family tree stopped growing long ago, its canopy thinned and frayed, not a single sap springing from the old rotting trunk. Some trees aren't meant to sprout tender new branches, but to stand stoically on the forest floor, silently decaying.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Tova wonders sometimes if it’s better that way, to have one’s tragedies clustered together, to make good use of the existing rawness. Get it over with in one shot. Tova knew there was a bottom to those depths of despair. Once your soul was soaked though with grief, any more simply ran off, overflowed, the way maple syrup on Saturday-morning pancakes always cascaded onto the table whenever Erik was allowed to pour it himself.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Ah, to be a human, for whom bliss can be achieved by mere ignorance! Here, in the kingdom of animals, ignorance is dangerous. The poor herring dropped into the tank lacks any awareness of the shark lurking below. Ask the herring whether what he doesn’t know can hurt him.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“The Knit-Wits have been her friends for years, and sometimes she still feels as if she’s a mistaken jigsaw piece who found her way into the wrong puzzle.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“She understands what it means to never be able to stop moving, lest you find yourself unable to breathe.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Humans… For the most part you are dull and blundering. But occasionally you can be remarkably bright creatures.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“My death is imminent. But I am not dead yet.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“We must say goodbye, friend. But I’m glad Terry saved you, because you saved me.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“sometimes she still feels as if she’s a mistaken jigsaw piece who found her way into the wrong puzzle.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“How did you, like, go on?” He looks down at her and swallows hard. “I mean, he was here one day and gone the next. How do you recover from something like that?” Tova hesitates. “You don’t recover. Not all the way. But you do move on. You have to.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“My neurons number half a billion, and they are distributed among my eight arms. On occasion, I have wondered whether I might have more intelligence in a single tentacle than a human does in its entire skull.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“But I do not like the hole in her heart. She only has one, not three, like me.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“The parents will grow old atop this mountain of a family they’ve built, and even if parts of it crumble, from time to time, there will be enough left to support them.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“But I have grown to enjoy the bucket. With the bucket comes a sensation of total nothingness, which, in most ways, is more pleasant than the everything-ness.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures

“But I do not like the hole in her heart. She only has one, not three, like me. Tova’s heart. I will do everything I can to help her fill it.”
― Shelby Van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures