Beginning with Santa Claus as ...

Beginning with Santa Claus as a cognitive exercise, a child is encouraged to share the same idea of reality as his peers. Even if that reality is patently invented and ludicrous, belief is encouraged with gifts that support and promote the common cultural lies. The greatest consensus in modern society is our traffic systems. The way a flood of strangers can interact, sharing a path, almost all of them traveling without incident. It only takes one dissenting driver to create anarchy.
Beginning with Santa Claus as a cognitive exercise, a child is encouraged to share the same idea of reality as his peers. Even if that reality is patently invented and ludicrous, belief is encouraged with gifts that support and promote the common cultural lies. The greatest consensus in modern society is our traffic systems. The way a flood of strangers can interact, sharing a path, almost all of them traveling without incident. It only takes one dissenting driver to create anarchy.
 Chuck Palahniuk

Quotes from the same author

The greatest weapon any warrior can carry into battle is absolute certainty of her eternal soul.
 See image
 Chuck Palahniuk
I'm always looking for context in which people tell stories. In "Fight Club" it's these support groups for dying people, and then in "Choke" it's 12-step recovery groups. In one novel it's artists' colonies, in another novel it's a diary form that submariners' wives typically keep so that when their husband comes back from serving on a submarine they have an accounting of their spouse's time. So I'm always looking for, number one, a non-fiction context - because you can tell a more outrageous story if you use a non-fiction form.
 See image
 Chuck Palahniuk
Kids, she says. When they’re little, they believe everything you tell them about the world. As a mother, you’re the world almanac and the encyclopedia and the dictionary and the Bible, all rolled up together. But after they hit some magic age, it’s just the opposite. After that, you’re either a liar or a fool or a villain.
 See image
 Chuck Palahniuk
How can you possibly believe he really loves you? Miss Sneezy looks from the Mother to the Saint to Mr. Whittier’s hand.You have no choice, Mr. Whittier tells her. If you need to be loved.
 See image
 Chuck Palahniuk
Fathers. Mothers. With all their caring and attention. They will fuck you up, every time.
 See image
 Chuck Palahniuk