Quotes from A is for Alibi

Sue Grafton ·  308 pages

Rating: (133.3K votes)


“Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they're right - a chilling thought when you sit down to dinner with a family of five. All those potential killers passing their plates.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“You try to keep life simple but it never works, and in the end all you have left is yourself.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“I don't know what is love about and I'm not sure I believe in it anyway.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“People can hold out just so long and then they fold.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“You kill people you hate or you kill in rage or you kill to get even, but you don't kill someone you're indifferent to.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi



“A lot of people were mistaken about a lot of things.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“My own mystery, unplumed, undetected, was sorted into files that were neatly labeled but really didn't say much.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“There were pieces missing yet but they would fall into place and then maybe the whole of it would make sense.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“So far, I felt like I had a lapful of confetti and the notion of piecing it all together to make a picture seemed very remote indeed.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“Haven’t you ever heard of compromise?” “Oh sure,” I said. “That’s when you give away half the things you want. That’s when you give the other guy half of what’s rightfully yours. I’ve done that lots of times. It sucks.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi



“Vegas tends to affect me that way, some combination of tension and dread to which my body responds with all the symptoms of incipient flu.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“The basic characteristics of any good investigator are a plodding nature and infinite patience. Society has inadvertently been grooming women to this end for years.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they’re right—a chilling thought when you sit down to dinner with a family of five.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“I don’t know what love is about and I’m not sure I believe in it anyway.”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi


“A man in a nylon bikini, with that little knot sticking out in front, isn’t half as interesting as a man in a good-looking business suit. Charlie”
― Sue Grafton, quote from A is for Alibi



About the author

Sue Grafton
Born place: in Louisville, Kentucky
Born date April 24, 1940
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― Dave Matthes, quote from Sleepeth Not, the Bastard


“Oft times, we must fight a battle, if only to learn to lay down our arms.”
― Elizabeth M. Herrera, quote from Earth Sentinels: The Storm Creators


When You Return

Fallen leaves will climb back into trees.
Shards of the shattered vase will rise
and reassemble on the table.
Plastic raincoats will refold
into their flat envelopes. The egg,
bald yolk and its transparent halo,
slide back in the thin, calcium shell.
Curses will pour back into mouths,
letters un-write themselves, words
siphoned up into the pen. My gray hair
will darken and become the feathers
of a black swan. Bullets will snap
back into their chambers, the powder
tamped tight in brass casings. Borders
will disappear from maps. Rust
revert to oxygen and time. The fire
return to the log, the log to the tree,
the white root curled up
in the un-split seed. Birdsong will fly
into the lark’s lungs, answers
become questions again.
When you return, sweaters will unravel
and wool grow on the sheep.
Rock will go home to mountain, gold
to vein. Wine crushed into the grape,
oil pressed into the olive. Silk reeled in
to the spider’s belly. Night moths
tucked close into cocoons, ink drained
from the indigo tattoo. Diamonds
will be returned to coal, coal
to rotting ferns, rain to clouds, light
to stars sucked back and back
into one timeless point, the way it was
before the world was born,
that fresh, that whole, nothing
broken, nothing torn apart.”
― Ellen Bass, quote from Like a Beggar


“Come closer.” “I…I need to take a shower.” “I can see the grimace on your face when you walk. Come. Here.” I turned to him and shifted my feet across the floor. “It won’t happen again without a prior discussion. And it will be the first and only time that I don’t make you come. Okay?”
― Courtney Lane, quote from The Sordid Promise


“But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.”
― The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, quote from The LDS Scriptures: Unabridged Complete King James Version Holy Bible /The Book of Mormon / Doctrine and Covenants / The Pearl of Great Price


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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

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