“Some people make choices hoping for the best; Korsak had made a choice simply to avoid the worst.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“Society thinks of violent acts as manifestations of evil or immorality. We're told we have ultimate control over our own behavior, that each and every one of us has the free will to choose not to hurt another human being. But it's not just morality that guides us. Biology does as well. Our frontal lobs helps us integrate thoughts and actions. They help us weight the consequences of those actions. Without such control, we'd give in to every wild impulse.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“Is this all we are? A necklace of chemicals? Where, in the double helix, does the soul lie?”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“She had never paid much attention to the heart beating in her own chest. As she watched the pattern traced by Korsak's, she became aware of her own pulse. She had always taken her heartbeat for granted, and she wondered what it would be like, to hang on every beat, fearful that the next might not come. That the throb of life in her chest would suddenly go still.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“We dream our dreams, she thought, and sometimes they take us places we never anticipate.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“But death wouldn’t deter her killer. It would whet his appetite. He’d look at her corpse and see only an object of desire. Someone he can control. She doesn’t resist him. She is cool, passive flesh, yielding to any and all indignities. She is the perfect lover. The”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“When one hears hoofbeats, medical students are taught, one must think of horses, not zebras. But the doctor who sees my blood count will surely think of horses. He will arrive at a perfectly logical conclusion. It will no occur to him that, this time, it is truly a zebra galloping by.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“So much of what passes for excitement in our lives cannot be anticipated, and we must learn to savor the spectacles as they come, and appreciate the rare thrills that punctuate the otherwise monotonous passage of time.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“Rizzoli wanted to be heard, and so she sat shoulder to shoulder with the boys in the trumpet section.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“muscles burned and her knees ached, but she did not stop. She owed that much to him and would not abandon him a second”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“Only animals should have to pee in the woods.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“Predators go on vacations, too. They take drives in the country and enjoy the smell of the sea, just like everyone else. They are perfectly human. Outside,”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“we must learn to savor the spectacles as they come, and appreciate the rare thrills that punctuate the otherwise monotonous passage of time.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“Think of what it means to manually strangle someone. How personal it is. The close contact. Skin to skin. Your hands against her flesh. Pressing her throat as you feel her life drain away.’ Rizzoli”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“Look into his mind, his universe. We may think it's sick, but for him, this place is a little slice of paradise. A place where the dead are laid to rest. Just the place the Dominator would come. He walks around here and probably imagines a whole harem of sleeping women right beneath his feet.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“and for a moment she was left blessedly alone.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“You have been getting all worked up about not looking out for me. Me, I've been lying here getting pissed about falling down on the job. I mean literally. Kerplunk.”
― Tess Gerritsen, quote from The Apprentice
“Something always turned up. That was Tom's philosophy.”
― Patricia Highsmith, quote from The Talented Mr. Ripley
“Maybe the critics are right. Maybe there's no escaping our great political divide, an endless clash of armies, and any attempts to alter the rules of engagement are futile. Or maybe the trivialization of politics has reached a point of no return, so that most people see it as just one more diversion, a sport, with politicians our paunch-bellied gladiators and those who bother to pay attention just fans on the sidelines: We paint our faces red or blue and cheer our side and boo their side, and if it takes a late hit or cheap shot to beat the other team, so be it, for winning is all that matters.
But I don't think so. They are out there, I think to myself, those ordinary citizens who have grown up in the midst of all the political and cultural battles, but who have found a way-in their own lives, at least- to make peace with their neighbors, and themselves.
...I imagine they are waiting for a politics with the maturity to balance idealism and realism, to distinguish between what can and cannot be compromised, to admit the possibility that the other side might sometimes have a point. They don't always understand the arguments between right and left, conservative and liberal, but they recognize the difference between dogma and common sense, responsibility and irresponsibility, between those things that last and those that are fleeting. They are out there, waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”
― Barack Obama, quote from The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
“You’ll run out of expletives soon; I’d advise saving some for later. Not that keeping forces in reserve has ever been precisely you guys’ strong point, has it?”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from Use of Weapons
“I will rain down silver and gold for you. I will shatter the black night, break it open, and pour out a million stars. Turn away from the darkness, the madness, the pain. Open your eyes and know that I am here. That I remember and hope. Open your eyes and look at the light.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, quote from Revolution
“Pero ¿podemos permitirnos el lujo de arriesgarnos? ¿Podemos arriesgar el presente por el bien de un nebuloso futuro?”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from The Foundation Trilogy
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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