The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives Quotes

“I like the stars. It’s the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they’re always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don’t last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend...”

“She said we all not only could know everything. We do. We just tell ourselves we don’t to make it all bearable.”

“You know the best thing about aeroplanes? Apart from the peanuts in the little silver bags, I mean. It’s looking out of the windows at the clouds, and thinking, maybe I could go walking in there. Maybe it’s a special place where everything’s okay. Sometimes I do go walking in the clouds, but it’s just cold and wet and empty. But when you look out of a plane it’s a special world... and I like that.”

“You got a lifetime. No more. No less.”

“You lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime. No more. No less.”

“I like airplanes. I like anywhere that isn’t a proper place. I like in betweens.”

“The stuff you bring back from dreams is free.”

“Have you ever spent days and days and days making up flavors of ice cream that no one’s ever eaten before? Like chicken and telepone ice cream? Green mouse ice cream was the worst. I didn’t like that at all.”

“Change. Change. Change. Change … change. Change. Chaaange. When you say words a lot they don’t mean anything. Or maybe they don’t mean anything anyway, and we just think they do.”

“There are a number of paths that lead to this place. I have been avoiding them for some small time, now.”

“I like the stars. It’s the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they’re always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last.”

“Delirium: “What’s the name of the word for the precise moment when you realize that you’ve actually forgotten how it felt to make love to somebody you really liked a long time ago?” Dream: “There isn’t one.” Delirium: “Oh. I thought maybe there was.”

“Is there a word for forgetting the name of someone when you want to introduce them to someone else at the same time you realize you’ve forgotten the name of the person you’re introducing them to as well?” “No.”

“Do you know why I stopped being Delight, my brother? I do. There are things not in your book. There are paths outside this garden.”