The Bullet That Missed

Everyone wants to feel special, but nobody wants to feel different,

If murder were easy, none of us would survive Christmas.

There are scars, yes, but that at least means the bleeding has stopped.

If life ever seems too complicated, if you think no one can help, sometimes the right person to turn to is an eight-year-old.

It’s the people, in the end, isn’t it?” says Viktor. “It’s always the people. You can move halfway around the world to find your perfect life, move to Australia if you like, but it always comes down to the people you meet.

Very few things are so important you would risk your life for them, but all sorts of things are important enough to risk somebody else’s life.

People drift in and out of your life, and, when you are younger, you know you will see them again. But now every old friend is a miracle.

It was best to grab everything while you could. Who knows when your final swim might come, your final walk, your final kiss?

I have been Googling, but there’s not much out there. I got so desperate I even used Bing,

At one point he brushed my hand and there was electricity, but I think that was the combination of the deep carpet outside the restaurant and my new cardigan.

Life is about understanding opportunities. Understanding how rarely they come along, and then rising to meet them when they do.

Night-time is for questions without answers,

Would Ron like a team of officers rooting through his underwear?” “I don’t think anyone would like that,” says Ibrahim. “Least of all the officers.

Not rollercoasters, not skyscrapers, just the accumulation of small moments that turn acquaintance into friendship.

Stephen shrugs. “We all go at some point, my Viking friend. I’d rather she wasn’t killed by a cowardly Swede, but best to bow out doing something decent. I’m sure I’d miss her, but someone else would turn up soon enough. Beautiful spies everywhere you look. Falling out of trees.

They can take me as they find me,' says Ron. 'I've earned this face, it tells a story.

Ever so ambitious, but they only use 'ambitious' as a criticism about women, don't they?

What was he thinking? That was the one question she knew not to ask a man. They were almost always thinking nothing at all, so were thrown by the question, and felt compelled to make something up.

the pool would still be here in the summer. “Ah, but we may not be,” Joyce had replied, and she was right. It was best to grab everything while you could. Who knows when your final swim

He eats salmon and broccoli now. He eats so much broccoli he can spell it without looking it up.

The prophet is often unheralded in his own land.

That’s all it was in the end. People were always trying to tell you something, and all you really had to do was let them.

And, second, I thought I shouldn’t have given her the knitting needles,” says Connie. “But you can’t be ruled by hindsight, can you?” “That is a wise thing to say.

But, however tempting it is to kill people, it is also bad. And difficult.

It is far too cold to swim, but Joyce would not be dissuaded. Elizabeth had told her not to be so silly, and that the pool would still be here in the summer. “Ah, but we may not be,” Joyce had replied, and she was right. It was best to grab everything while you could. Who knows when your final swim might come, your final walk, your final kiss? Elizabeth has an idea what secret Bogdan is keeping from her. So be it.

In chess you're only really ever as good as the person you play against.

When you look backwards, everything is inevitable.

If you are disappointed with your face, eventually it shows.

Some people need everything to stay the same – I am a little like that. If they changed the music on the Shipping Forecast, for example, I would hyperventilate. But some people need everything to change. You need everything to change. That chaos is where you are able to hide yourself.