You have to go out of your way as a suspense novelist to find situations where the protagonists are somewhat helpless and in real danger.
A boat is sort of a litmus test for relationships, the close quarters and solitude compelling people into either a warm bond or into mutiny and murder. As.
The good news was that the streets were litter-free, maybe because no one had anything to throw away.
Amicitia sine fraude – to friendship without deceit.
The journey home is never a direct route; it is, in fact, always circuitous, and somewhere along the way, we discover that the journey is more significant than the destination and that the people we meet along the way will be the traveling companions of our memories forever.
Tutte le strade conducono a Roma. All roads lead to Rome.
Fate whispered to the warrior, “You cannot withstand the coming storm.” And the warrior whispered back, “I am the storm.
And they looked like poor fishermen. But this was Cuba, where everyone had a second job.
It’s a problem, you know, Paul, dealing with stupid people. You project your own intelligence and rationality onto a person who is a complete idiot, and he lets you down.
Anyway, I’m getting really intolerant of liars, fools, blowhards, and power freaks.
Well, I was on the slippery slope into the abyss of love, companionship, and happiness – and you know where that leads. Misery.
Cursed are the peacemakers for they make the next war harder than the last.
You’re smarter than you look. Did you ever have anti-terrorist training?” “Sort of. I was married.
The short-timers, who’d gone through hell without even a small pee in their pants, were all jittery that something was going to happen before they boarded the freedom bird home. I mean, after you’ve cheated death for so long, you become paranoid, sure that death had just remembered you were leaving.
I’m always ready for anything, but prepared for nothing.
You can get away with a bad decision, but not a bad mistake.
Old guys have seen too much, and they trust no one.
On the other hand, as every cop knows, lies are like cockroaches – if you see one, there are others.
They brought with them seventeen American POWs who were secretly imprisoned in Villa Marista for advanced experiments with drugs.” It was hard to imagine being taken prisoner in Vietnam, tortured there, then being shipped to Cuba for more of the same.
Most accidents, I’m convinced, are God’s way of getting rid of stupid people. Or if you believe in Darwinism, you wonder why there are any stupid people left in the world. Well, I guess they can reproduce before they remove themselves from the gene pool.
What do you do, Jack, when any move you make is the wrong move?” “You hope the other guy makes a bad move.