"Getting fired," Tyler says, "is the best thing that could happen to any of
us. That way, we'd quit treading water and do something with our lives."
club is too loud to talk, so after
a couple of drinks, everyone feels like the center of attention but
completely cutoff from participating with anyone else.
The insomnia distance
of everything, a copy of a copy of a copy
On my penis, only I say, dick. I went to the medical school to have it
removed. The wart.
"I'm breaking my attachment to physical power and possessions,' Tyler
whispered, "because only through destroying myself can I discover the
greater power of my spirit."
Nothing is static.
Everything is falling apart.
All a gun does is
focus an explosion in one direction.
A man on the street will do anything not to fight.
When Tyler invented Project Mayhem, Tyler said the goal of Project
Mayhem had nothing to do with other people. Tyler didn't care if other
people got hurt or not. The goal was to teach each man in the project that he had the power to control history. We, each of us, can take control of the world.
"Recycling and speed limits are bullshit," Tyler said. "They're like
someone who quits smoking on his deathbed."
"You are not a beautiful
and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as
everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile."
"Our culture has made us all the same. No
one is truly white or black or rich, anymore. We all want the same.
Individually, we are nothing."
A law is a law, Tyler would say. Driving too fast was the same as setting a fire was the same as planting a bomb was the same as shooting a man. A criminal is a criminal is a criminal.
"You have a class of young strong men and women, and they want to give their lives to something. Advertising has these people chasing cars and clothes they don't need. Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they don't really need.
"We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is our lives. We have a spiritual depression.
I was tired and crazy and rushed, and every time I boarded a plane, I
wanted the plane to crash. I envied people dying of cancer. I hated my life. I was tired and bored with my job and my furniture, and I couldn't see any way to change things.
Only end them.
I felt trapped.
I was too complete.
I was too perfect.
I wanted a way out of my tiny life. Single-serving butter and cramped
airline seat role in the world.