When you punish a person for dreaming his dream, don't expect him to thank or forgive you.

- John Darnielle

Life is hard, you're tired, and there's disease. The strategy that works for children is to be delighted by the things that delight you.

- John Darnielle

There's no such thing as mental illness. We're all mentally ill and we're all haunted by something, and some people manage to find a way to ride it o…

- John Darnielle

One way you can get really close to God is to sin as hard as you can.

- John Darnielle

Normal adult shopping is something I will never actually do, because it's no more possible for me to go shopping like normal adults do than it is for…

- John Darnielle

There are only two stories: either you go forward or you die.

- John Darnielle

You can get really good reads on your dreams if you think of every character in them as actually being you.

- John Darnielle

Anything that is within you is a gift. To be able to take possession of that and say, "Whatever it is, I am bigger than it," is to learn to cherish e…

- John Darnielle

It's good to be young, but let's not kid ourselves/ It's better to pass on through those years and come out the other side/ With our hearts still bea…

- John Darnielle