Nemesis

With regard to power, women don’t have the vanity men have. They don’t need to make power visible, they only want the power to give them the other things they want. Security. Food. Enjoyment. Revenge. Peace. They are rational, power-seeking planners, who think beyond the battle, beyond the victory celebrations. And because they have an inborn capacity to see weakness in their victims, they know instinctively when and how to strike. And when to stop. You can’t learn that...

Losing your ife is not the worst think that can happen. The worst thing is to lose your reason for living.

Who was the mad bastard who taught you to drive?’ he asked, holding on tight as they swerved in and out between cars on the three-lane motorway leading to Ekeberg tunnel. ‘Self-taught,’ Beate said.

They maintain he wrote The Art of War. Personally, I believe it was a woman. On the surface, The Art of War is a manual about tactics on the battlefield, but at its deepest level it describes how to win conflicts. Or to be more precise, the art of getting what you want at the lowest possible price. The winner of a war is not necessarily the victor. Many have won the crown, but lost so much of their army that they can only rule on their ostensibly defeated enemies’ terms. With regard to power, women don’t have the vanity men have. They don’t need to make power visible, they only want the power to give them the other things they want. Security. Food. Enjoyment. Revenge. Peace. They are rational, power-seeking planners, who think beyond the battle, beyond the victory celebrations. And because they have an inborn capacity to see weakness in their victims, they know instinctively when and how to strike. And when to stop. You can’t learn that, Spiuni.

Should a person be punished for showing no consideration towards an idiot behaving like an idiot?

Everyone asks what the meaning of life is, but no one asks about the meaning of death.

It was gone now, the little smile, the glee that Spite gives. The Small-mindedness. The Self-righteousness. The Sadism. The four ‘S’s of revenge.

A personality disorder doesn’t mean he is stupid. Sufferers are just as good, frequently better, at achieving their aims. What distinguishes them from us is that they want different things.

As beautiful as an electric chair,

Harry sighed and turned to the queue crowding towards the counter. ‘The till is not free. I am from Oslo Police.’ He held up his ID. ‘And this person is arrested for being unable to pronounce th.’ Harry could be small-minded on certain matters. At this particular moment, though, he was extremely pleased with the response. He appreciated being smiled at.

One maintained that a country like the USA, which stands for certain values like freedom and democracy, has a moral responsibility to avenge attacks on its territory as they are also attacks on its values. ‘Alone the desire for retaliation–and the execution of it–can protect such a vulnerable system as democracy.

watched the close-cropped, long-legged policeman with the bad back stride quickly out of the canteen.

Catharsis. Revenge cleanses. Aristotle wrote that the human soul is purged by the fear and compassion that tragedy evokes. It’s a frightening thought that we fulfil the soul’s innermost desire through the tragedy of revenge, isn’t it.

The great thing about facts is that you don't have to ponder whether they're desirable or not.

research into why people commit suicide. Do you know what they found the most common cause was?’ ‘That was the sort of thing I was hoping you could answer.’ Harry had to slalom between people on the narrow pavement to keep up with the tubby psychologist. ‘That they didn’t want to live any longer,’ Aune said. ‘Sounds like someone deserves a Nobel Prize.

The social space between people who don't know each other is form one to three and a half metres. - Beate Lonne

The social space between people who don't know each other is from one to three and a half metres. - Beate Lonn

Aristotle wrote that the human soul is purged by the fear and compassion that tragedy evokes.

Møller hesitated in front of the DON’T WALK ON THE GRASS sign. ‘It’s the shortest route, boss.’ ‘Yes,’ Møller said. ‘But my shoes will get dirty.’ ‘As you wish,’ Harry said, walking up the track. ‘Mine are filthy already.

Did you know that humans are the only living creatures to practice revenge ? - Ståle Aune

We were hounded everywhere we went. They claimed we were thieves. Of course we were, but they didn’t even bother to gather evidence. The proof was we were gypsies. I’m telling you this because to recognise a gypsy you have to know he was born with a low-caste mark on his forehead. We have been persecuted by every single regime in Europe There is no difference between fascists, communists and democrats; the fascists were just a little more efficient. Gypsies make no particular fuss about the Holocaust because the difference from the persecution we were used to was not that great. You don’t seem to believe me?

In 1589, Denmark introduced the death penalty for gypsy ringleaders,’ he said. ‘Fifty years later the Swedes decided all male gypsies should be hanged. In Moravia they cut the left ear off gypsy women, in Bohemia the right. The Archbishop of Mainz proclaimed that all gypsies should be executed without a conviction as their way of life was outlawed. In 1725, a law was passed in Prussia that all gypsies over eighteen should be executed without a trial, but later this law was repealed–the age limit was put down to fourteen. Four of my father’s brothers died in captivity. Only one of them during the War. Shall I continue?

I’ll never forget the expression in his eyes when he led home a small, tame brown bear. He had bought it with his last money from a group of Ursari. “It can dance,” my father said. The communists paid to see a dancing bear. It made them feel better about themselves. Stefan, my brother, tried to feed the bear, but it wouldn’t eat, and my mother asked if it was sick. He answered that they had walked all the way from Bucharest and just needed to rest. The bear died four days later.

Fate. Hell and karma. It’s what governs our lives.

On Christmas Day we broke into our first kiosk, and we knew we had come to the right place.’ Raskol beamed. ‘It was like taking candy from a baby.

Aye, aye, boss. Regards to your wife.’ Harry craned his head round on the way out. ‘Coriander’s on the far left, bottom shelf.’ Bjarne Møller stood staring into his shopping basket. He remembered the reason now. He liked the alcoholic, obstreperous, stubborn bastard.