Quotes from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“What takes more guts? To fight for your own life at any cost—or prove that you're willing to lose it?”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“You’re never ready for the truth. No matter how much you think you know, it always takes you by surprise.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“Where's the course called How to Lead a Life of Crime? That's what this is about, isn't it? You've got everyone thinking this is the best school in the country, but it's really just a Hogwarts for hustlers.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“You've either bat-shit insane or you've watched too many movies. This isn't Star Wars, Mandel. I'm not Luke Skywalker. My dad's not Darth Vader. And you sure as hell aren't my Obi-Wan.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“Aside from the nagging, he's the most entertaining hallucination I've ever had.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“What would it be like to exist in a world without suffering? To have no needs, only desires? To be surrounded by so much beauty that you forget how ugly life is for everyone else? Who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t be willing to fight for it? What the alumni did to get there – lie, cheat, steal, kill – I’m sure they’d all say it was worth it. And I bet they sleep soundly because they know that their nameless, faceless victims would have done the same thing.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“See? You’re the crazy one, you redheaded freak.

I’ve been attempting to translate the phrase into Latin. If I ever succeed, I shall make it my personal motto.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“Gwendolyn and I have a beautiful relationship. She tells me everything. I haven't killed her yet.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“I kept my arms around Joi and my face buried deep in her hair while I waited for Peter Pan to slip through the window. I thought I needed him to tell me what I should do. But he never showed up. He left me alone with a girl who smelled of jasmine and cocoa butter. And before I fell asleep, I finally realized that was more than enough.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“Why are you here?"
"Because you never said goodbye.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“You're my one good thing now.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“Can I ask you a question? I swear it's not about heaven."
Joi laughs. "Shoot."
"Why do you love me?" I ask her.
"Because you love me back," she says without hesitation.
"You have no idea how much," I tell her.
"Yes, I do," she says.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“Joi..."
"Shut up," she says as she unbuttons my shirt. "I didn't bring you here for a heart-to-heart. How do I get this thing off without hurting you?”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

“You will also be called upon to provide well-timed distractions. Get the whole country arguing about sex education or gays in the military, and Americans will stop paying attention to all the things they should fear.”
― Kirsten Miller, quote from How to Lead a Life of Crime

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Popular quotes

“The abbot told me once that lying was a betrayal to one's self. It's evidence of self-loathing. You see, when you are so ashamed of your actions, thoughts, or intentions, you lie to hide it rather than accept yourself for who you really are. The idea of how others see you becomes more important than the reality of you. It's like when a man would rather die than be thought of as a coward. His life is not as important to him as his reputation. In the end, who is the braver? The man who dies rather than be thought of as a coward or the man who lives willing to face who he really is?”
― Michael J. Sullivan, quote from The Crown Conspiracy

“Love doesn't think like that. All right, it's blind as a bat--'
'Bats have radar. Yours doesn't seem to be working.”
― Iris Murdoch, quote from The Sea, the Sea

“All useful things have a price, and are bought only with money, as that is the way the world is run. You know without having to reason about it the price of a bale of cotton, or a quart of molasses. But no value has been put on human life; it is given to us free and taken without being paid for. What is it worth? If you look around, at times the value may seem to be little or nothing at all. Often after you have sweated and tried and things are not better for you, there comes a feeling deep down in the soul that you are not worth much.”
― Carson McCullers, quote from The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories

“It was funny how dad was more honest in a book that anyone in the world could pick up and read than he could be talking to me. Or maybe it was sad. One or the other. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, quote from Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

“His word alone stood between Kahlan and oblivion.”
― Terry Goodkind, quote from Chainfire

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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.