Quotes from The Power of the Dog

“You don’t let them knock you out, you make them knock you out. You make them break their fucking hands knocking you out, you let them know that they’ve been in a fight, you give them something to remember you by every time they look in a mirror.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“The Americans take a product that literally grows on trees and turn it into a valuable commodity. Without
them, cocaine and marijuana would be like oranges, and instead of making billions smuggling it, I’d be making pennies doing stoop labor in some California field, picking it.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“This is Tío’s genius—he knows that a man who would never have the weakness to set a great evil into motion doesn’t have the strength to stop it once it’s moving. That the hardest thing in the world isn’t to refrain from committing an evil, it’s to stand up and stop one.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“And the most dangerous place on earth— Is where you’re safe.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Six bad hombres have tried to kill Ramos. Ramos went to all six funerals, just in case any of the bereaved wanted to take a shot at revenge. None of them did. He calls his Uzi “Mi Esposa”—my wife. He’s thirty-two years old. Within hours he has in custody the three policemen who picked up Ernie Hidalgo. One of them is the chief of the Jalisco State Police. Ramos tells Art, “We can do this the fast way or the slow way.” Ramos takes two cigars from his shirt pocket, offers one to Art and shrugs when he refuses it. He takes a long time to light the cigar, rolling it so that the tip lights evenly, then takes a long pull and raises his black eyebrows at Art. The theologians are right, Art thinks—we become what we hate. Then he says, “The fast way.” Ramos says. “Come back in a little while.” “No,” Art says. “I’ll do my part.” “That’s a man’s answer,” Ramos says. “But I don’t want a witness.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Deliver my soul from the sword. My love from the power of the dog.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“It’s the Law of Unintended Consequences, Art thinks as he watches the federales. Operation Condor was intended to cut the Sinaloan cancer out of Mexico, but what it did instead was spread it through the entire body. And you have to give the Sinaloans credit—their response to their little diaspora was pure genius. Somewhere along the line they figured out that their real product isn’t drugs, it’s the two-thousand-mile border they share with the United States, and their ability to move contraband across it. Land can be burned, crops can be poisoned, people can be displaced, but that border—that border isn’t going anywhere. A product that might be worth a few cents one inch on their side of the border is worth thousands just one inch on the other side.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“All this and the wine's coming in and out, and by the time the waiters set the espressos down Callan’s about half in the bag. He watches Calabrese take a long sip from an espresso cup. Then the boss says, “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you.” 
One motherfuck of an essay question.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“You know the word 'barbarian’ came from the Romans? It meant 'redheaded.’ They was talking about you people. I saw that on the—what do you call it?—the History Channel, last night.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“What’s the problem?” Fuck it, Art thought. Too late now. So he answered, “That we look at 'these people’ like 'targets.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“This train carries saints and sinners. This train carries losers and winners. This train carries whores and gamblers. This train carries lost souls…   Canción popular”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Not in San Salvador, he thinks, where the shanty slums press against gleaming high-rises like the thatched huts of medieval peasants pressed against castle walls. Except these castle walls are patrolled by private security guards wielding automatic rifles and machine pistols. And at night, the guards venture out from the castle walls and ride through the villages ...and slaughter the peasants, leaving their bodies at crossroads and in the middle of village squares, and rape and kill women and execute children in front of their parents. 

So the survivors will know their place. 

It’s a killing ground, Art thinks. 

El Salvador. 

The Savior, my ass.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“All this and the wines coming in and out, and by the time the waiters set the espressos down Callan’s about half in the bag. He watches Calabrese take a long sip from an espresso cup. Then the boss says, 'Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you.' 

One motherfuck of an essay question. ”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“All this and the wine's coming in and out, and by the time the waiters set the espressos down Callan’s about half in the bag. He watches Calabrese take a long sip from an espresso cup. Then the boss says, 'Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you.' 

One motherfuck of an essay question. ”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“They got the absolute freedom to choose what we want them to.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Deliver my soul from the sword; my love from the power of the dog. Psalms 22:20”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“When you’re headin’ for the border lord, you’re bound to cross the line.   KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, «Border Lord»”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“The lost, the lonely, the bicultural misfits with a foot in two worlds and a place in neither. And”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Adán fell asleep to these stories and slept like the dead until the sun struck him in the eyes and the whole long, wonderful summer day started again with the smell of fresh tortillas, manchaca, chorizo, and fat, sweet oranges.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“The lost, the lonely, the bicultural misfits with a foot in two worlds and a place in neither.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Conquistaron el fuerte, utilizando morteros y cargas explosivas de gran potencia, mataron a sesenta soldados y capturaron al resto. Las FARC cortaron la principal autopista que comunica los distritos del sudoeste con el resto del país.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“The Americans take a product that literally grows on trees and turn it into a valuable commodity. Without them, cocaine and marijuana would be like oranges, and instead of making billions smuggling it, I’d be making pennies doing stoop labor in some California field, picking it.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“This is what Mexican cops appreciate that American cops don’t. We are partners, mi hermano Arturo, in the same enterprise. Comrades in the War on Drugs. We could not exist without each other.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Ser invencible depende de uno mismo. Ser vulnerable, del enemigo”».”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Art can’t decide whether the War on Drugs is an obscene absurdity or an absurd obscenity. In either case, it’s a tragic, bloody farce.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“Libra mi cuello de la espada. Y mi vida de las garras del perro.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“In America, everything is about systems,” Barrera said. “In Mexico, everything is about personal relationships.”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

“The reaction at Manhattan South is going to go something like Someone blanked Eddie Friel? Oh. Anyone want this last chocolate glazed?”
― Don Winslow, quote from The Power of the Dog

About the author

Popular quotes

“I was conscious all the time that I was following mad whims without being able to do anything about it … . Despite my alienation from myself at that moment, and even though I was nothing but a battleground for invisible forces, I was aware of every detail of what was going on around me.”
― Knut Hamsun, quote from Hunger

“Give me your trust, said the Aes Sedai.
On my shoulders I support the sky.
Trust me to know and to do what is best,
And I will take care of the rest.
But trust is the color of a dark seed growing.
Trust is the color of a heart's blood flowing.
Trust is the color of a soul's last breath.
Trust is the color of death.

Give me your trust said the queen on her throne,
for I must bear the burden alone.
Trust me to lead and to judge and to rule, and no man will think you a fool.
But trust is the sound of the grave-dog's bark.
Trust is the sound of betrayal in the dark.
Trust is the sound of a soul's last breath.
Trust is the sound of death.”
― Robert Jordan, quote from Lord of Chaos

“You know how chickens are, imagining the world coming to an end one moment, then pecking corn the next.”
― Lloyd Alexander, quote from The Book of Three

“Sweetest of all is liberty. This we have chosen and this we pay for. We have embraced the laws of Lykurgus, and they are stern laws. They have schooled us to scorn the life of leisure, which this rich land of ours would bestow upon us if we wished, and instead to enroll ourselves in the academy of discipline and sacrifice. Guided by these laws, our fathers for twenty generations have breathed the blessed air of freedom and have paid the bill in full when it was presented. We, their sons, can do no less.”
― Steven Pressfield, quote from Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae

“La sua cecità intellettuale non gli permetteva di capire che questi fratelli, con istinto sicuro, hanno orientato la loro rivolta verso il nemico primo della libertà: il potere. E qual è il potere che li opprime, che nega loro il diritto alla terra, alla cultura, all'uguaglianza? Non è forse la Repubblica? E se sono armati per combatterla ciò significa che hanno indovinato anche il metodo, l'unico che posseggono gli sfruttati per spezzare le loro catene: la forza.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, quote from The War of the End of the World

Interesting books

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.