Quotes from Body of Evidence

Patricia Cornwell ·  403 pages

Rating: (55.7K votes)


“Has all the trappings of a mystery novel, doesn't it?”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


“I didn't know what I wanted. Maybe I never had. The emotional distance was never worth the togetherness, and yet I didn't learn. Nothing had changed. Had he reached for me, I would have forgotten to behave sensibly. Desire has no reason, and the need for intimacy had never stopped. I had not conjured up the images in years, his lips on mine, his hands, the urgency of our hunger. Now I was tormented by the memories.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


“A significant portion of the human race has no idea what it is like to be attached to short legs, and I am forever finding myself indignantly pumping along like a handcar in a world of express trains.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


“Desire has no reason, and the need for intimacy had never stopped. I had not conjured up the images in years, his lips on mine, his hands, the urgency of our hunger. Now I was tormented by the memories.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


“The older I got, the more I was of the opinion that love can be experienced in many different ways. There is no right or wrong way to love, only in how it is expressed.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence



“You can never be real sure who's all right and who ain't... It's real hard to know these days, that's for damn sure.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


“Most of us feel isolated and paranoid during stressful times. We feel alone in the wilderness.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


“Like every other mortal who has ever been touched by suicide, I had the fallacious belief that I could have done something to stop it.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


“It is hard to leave your iron lung, Dr. Scarpetta.”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


“I’m too old for change,” she explained. “I’m too old to pursue good health and new relationships. The past breathes for me. It is my life. You are young, Dr. Scarpetta. Someday you will see what it is like to look back. You will find it inescapable. You will find your personal history drawing you back into familiar rooms where, ironically, events occurred that set into motion your eventual estrangement from life. You will find the hard furniture of heartbreak more comfortable and the people who failed you friendlier with time. You will find yourself running back into the arms of the pain you once ran away from. It is easier. That’s all I can say. It is easier.” “Do”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence



“i had fired 9-millimeters before and didn't like them. they weren't as accurate as my .38 special. they weren't as safe, and they could jam. i had never been one to substitute quantity for quality, and there was no substitution for being informed and practiced”
― Patricia Cornwell, quote from Body of Evidence


About the author

Patricia Cornwell
Born place: in Miami, Florida, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Sometimes the weak will last for years, while the strong will suddenly collapse and die.”
― Ruskin Bond, quote from Delhi Is Not Far


“I’m not the smartest guy, but I can outwork you. It’s the one thing I can control.”
― Linda Kaplan Thaler, quote from Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion, and Pluck Take You from Ordinary to Extraordinary


“The truth is that the goal of existence is to kill you.”
― Ian C. Esslemont, quote from Orb Sceptre Throne


“In the end, it is not by knowledge that we make our journeys but by hope and faith: hope that our walk will be worthy of our steps and faith that we are going somewhere. And only when we come to the end of our journeys do we truly understand that every step of the way we were walking on water.”
― Richard Paul Evans, quote from Walking on Water


“First lesson taught to doctors in medical college:

"Be emotional about the disease, not the patient.”
― Durjoy Datta, quote from Till the Last Breath . . .


Interesting books

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
(42.7K)
Lies My Teacher Told...
by James W. Loewen
Collected Poems, 1909-1962
(18.2K)
Collected Poems, 190...
by T.S. Eliot
Sweet Peril
(41.7K)
Sweet Peril
by Wendy Higgins
The Solitude of Prime Numbers
(37.8K)
The Solitude of Prim...
by Paolo Giordano
Thief
(30.4K)
Thief
by Tarryn Fisher
Wolfsbane
(44.1K)
Wolfsbane
by Andrea Cremer

About BookQuoters

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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.