I miss when everyone on my dash listened to Welcome to Night Vale so thereβs be a good chance that on any ole day someone would reblog a quote that would grab me by the throat and forcibly ascend me to a higher plane where I understood myself and the universe better and with more kindness but also a little spook
βThe past is gone, and cannot harm you anymore. And while the future is fast coming for you, it always flinches first and settles in as the gentle presentβ are you kidding me this quote has propelled me through at least three emotional crises
βThe desert seems vast, even endless. And yet scientists tell us that somewhere, even now, there is snow.β That quote literally got me through grieving my brother like WTNV goes HARD
A List of Some of My Favorite Quotes From This Insane Podcast:
"You are beautiful when you do beautiful things."
"The present tense of regret is indecision."
"We understand so much, but the sky behind those lights-- mostly void, partially stars-- that sky reminds us we don't understand even more."
"Be proud of your place in the Cosmos. It is small and yet it is."
"Believe in yourself. You are an ancient, absent god, discussed only rarely by literary scholars. So if you don't believe, no one will."
"Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you."
βWhisper a dangerous secret to someone you care about. Now they have the power to destroy you, but they wonβt. Thatβs what love is.β
"Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not. We never are. But thatβs not the right question. The question is are we living a life that is worth the harm?"
"When we talk about teenagers, we adults often talk with an air of scorn, of expectation for disappointment. And this can make people who are presently teenagers feel very defensive. But what everyone should understand is that none of us are talking to the teenagers that exist now, but talking back to the teenager we ourselves once were β all stupid mistakes and lack of fear, and bodies that hadnβt yet begun to slump into a lasting nothing. Any teenager who exists now is incidental to the potent mix of nostalgia and shame with which we speak to our younger selves."
"We are not history yet. We are happening now. How miraculous is that?"
"Wednesday has been cancelled due to a scheduling error."
"We have nothing to fear except ourselves. We are unholy, awful people."
"A million dollars isnβt cool. You know whatβs cool? A basilisk."
"There's nothing under your bed. There's nothing in your closet. Nothing waits in every darkness. Nothing is the most terrifying thing of all."
"The night sky is ten miles wide, eight miles deep, and floats three miles up. Its favourite food is grape jelly. It wants to be a drummer."
"Look to the sky. You will not find answers there, but you will certainly see what everyone is screaming about."
"Ignorance might not actually be bliss, but it is certainly less work."
"And now, a special report. Crocodiles: Can they eat your children? *YES.*"
"Lie down and look up at the ceiling and breathe with those curiously fragile lungs of yours and remind yourself: Donβt worry. Donβt worry. All is as it was meant to be. It was meant to be lonely and terrifying and unfair and fleeting. Donβt worry."
"As long as Iβm reminding myself things, Iβm a good person, worthy of love β both from myself and others."
"Guns don't kill people! It's impossible to be killed by a gun. We are all invincible to bullets and it's a miracle!"
"Everything is exciting! Particularly existence. Existence is the most thrilling fact of all."
"There is a monster under your bed. A monster at your window. A monster any place you imagine one. You project your monsters on the world."
"You miss 100% of the bank robberies you don't commit."
"I like my coffee like I like my nights. Dark, endless, and impossible to sleep through. "
"A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale."
"And now, the weather."
I discovered this podcast at the beginning of high school, and let me tell you, it rewired my synapses.
Not only was it my first experience with positive LGBT representation, it was the show I clung to when everything else went to shit. Whatever was going on in my life, I knew I had this show in my corner, making me laugh, making me cry, making me feel okay about my place in the universe.
I owe the creators of this podcast more than I could express.
"the lights over the Arby's" is such an intrinsically queer piece of writing that it hits me *hard* every time.
"We will never be the same again. But here's a little secret for you: no one is ever the same thing again after anything. You are never the same twice, and much of your unhappiness comes from trying to pretend that you are. Accept that you are different each day, and do so joyfully, recognizing it for the gift it is. Work within the desires and goals of the person you are currently, until you aren't that person anymore, and everything changes once again." (from Episode 75)
"The universe is vast. You are also vast. So is an ant. There are different sizes of infinity."
"The living tell the dying not to leave, and the dying do not listen. The dying tell the living not to be sad for them, and we do not listen.
The dialogue between the living and the dead is full of misunderstanding and silence."
βTime is weird. So is space. I hope our match again someday.β
βShe was angry, which is the more productive cousin of fear.β
βOften it takes us to that most dangerous place: the library. You know who said that? No? George Washington did. Minutes before librarians ate him.β
And I canβt remember the exact quote, but I remember hearing it in a sunlit kitchen and being so deeply affected by it:
βWe lost because we expected the battle to be won for us, and not by us.β
Finally:
βHe is holdingβ¦a cat.β
βWe have survived all the way from birth to this very moment, and we look at each other, and some of us start laughing, and others start weeping, and one or two of us break out into a wordless humming song, and all of us mean the exact same thing. Look at us. Look at us out in the honey light of the finished day.
Look at us and rejoice in our sheer being.
Night has arrived, ladies. Night is here, gentlemen.
Night falls on our weary bodies. And night falls on you too. You too have survived.
Survived everything up to this moment.β
-Episode 15: Street Cleaning Day




















