Daniel Keyes
Daniel Keyes
Daniel Keyeswas an American author best known for his Hugo award-winning short story and Nebula award-winning novel Flowers for Algernon. Keyes was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth9 August 1927
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
alone damn intelligence leads learned mean
I've learned that intelligence alone doesn't mean a damn thing. It only leads to violence and pain.
mean expression ideas
I’m “exceptional”- a democratic term used to avoid the damning labels of “gifted” and “deprived” (which used to mean “bright” and “retarded”) and as soon as “exceptional” begins to mean anything to anyone they’ll change it. The idea seems to be: use an expression as long as it doesn’t mean anything to anybody. “Exceptional” refers to both ends of the spectrum, so all my life I’ve been exceptional.
driving education happen increase love people possible
I thought: 'My education is driving a wedge between me and the people I love.' And then I wondered: 'What would happen if it were possible to increase a person's intelligence?'
fact love people
I love the fact that 'Flowers for Algernon' is doing its part to get people reading.
giving people affection
There are a lot of people who will give money or materials, but very few who will give time and affection.
order people annoyed
When he admitted this to me, I found myself almost annoyed. It was as if he'd hidden this part of himself in order to deceive me, pretending-- as do many people I've discovered--to be what he is not. No one I've ever known is what he appears to be on the surface.
window
Why am I always looking at life through a window?
want able enough
Because I want to see. I've got to know what's going to happen while I'm still enough in control to be able to do something about it.
may
I may not have all the time I thought I had...
body cheese backyards
I put Algernon's body in a cheese box and buried him in the backyard. I cried.
children book people
The answer can't be found in books - or be solved by bringing it to other people. Not unless you want to remain a child all your life. You've got to find the answer inside you - feel the right thing to do. Charlie, you've got to learn to trust yourself
light darkness
Who's to say that my light is better than your darkness? Who's to say death is better than your darkness? Who am I to say?
men wonderful wonderful-things
Life and work are the most wonderful things a man can have.
mother past hands
Remembering how my mother looked before she gave birth to my sister is frightening. But even more frightening is the feeling that I wanted them to catch me and beat me. Why did I want to be punished? Shadows out of the past clutch at my legs and drag me down. I open my mouth to scream, but I am voiceless. My hands are trembling, I feel cold, and there is a distant humming in my ears.