The Vampire Lestat Quotes Part I

I really enjoy Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles." I am intrigued by the philosophy, theology and perspective that the immortal characters have to offer. My favorite character, for better or worse, is Lestat. He is very dynamic and extremely quotable. I am re-reading the book "The Vampire Lestat," the second book in "The Vampire Chronicles," for the purpose of writing down quotes to remember. I wanted to share them here. It is a way for me to catalog them and perhaps you might enjoy them as well.

The Vampire Lestat Quotes: Part I

Downtown Saturday Night in the Twentieth Century, 1984 (p. 2-21)

"Then a self-consciousness developed in me. I realized I was no longer dreaming. I was thinking about what I heard. I was wide awake." (p. 5)

"But I can't say that in the very beginning there was great thought behind my wish. It was rather a ruling impulse, strong enough to bring me up from the earth." (p. 5)

"I was enchanted by the world of rock music--the way the singers could scream of good and evil, proclaim themselves angels or devils, and mortals would stand up and cheer. Sometimes they seemed the pure embodiment of madness. And yet it was technologically dazzling, the intricacy of their performance. It was barbaric and cerebral in a way that I don't think the world of ages past had ever seen." (p. 5)

I also love the way Lestat, an "old world monster," sees our present day society (p. 7-11). The feminist movement being a particular highlight: "For the first time in history, perhaps, they [women] were as strong as and as interesting as men" (p. 7). How "the simplest people of this age were driven by a vigorous secular morality as strong as any religious morality I had ever known" (p. 9).

And "As for sexuality, it was no longer a matter of superstition and fear. The last religious overtones were being stripped from it. That was why the people went around half naked. That was why they kissed and hugged each other in the streets" (p. 9).

In all of my debates about "religious overtones" it is important to remember that this century is very different from any prior to it. Society how it is today is all I have ever known. It is very interesting to see the perspective of someone who is immortal and has lived through many centuries before to illustrate how completely the world has changed.