David Thibodeau > Quotes

“Our agony was the government's triumph.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“It was as if he'd arrived at the center of himself after a long journey through the wilderness of his own soul.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“They didn't believe me," I exclaimed when I saw Gary. "I told the truth, but they didn't want to hear!”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“In today's media-saturated climate, the word "cult" is an instant road sign for the audience: WARNING: WEIRDOS AHEAD.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“It must be said that the intended use of CS gas also troubled Janet Reno. Carl Stern, director of the Justice Department’s public-affairs office, sent word to Reno that he was worried that there might be a public outcry over the use of tear gas on women and children, comparing it to Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurds in Iraq. But a U.S. Army toxicologist she consulted unaccountably assured her that the gas would “cause temporary distress but no lasting damage.” And in the rush of events climaxing during that second week of April, Reno later admitted that she hadn’t known then that the United States was a signatory to the international convention banning the use of CS gas in warfare.”
― David Thibodeau, Waco: A Survivor's Story

“In January 1993 the United States and 130 other countries had signed the Chemical Weapons Convention banning the use of CS gas in warfare; apparently there is no prohibition on its use against American citizens.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“Everything American in me was stunned by the possibility that my own government might wipe us out. Where's Paul Revere when we need him? I thought childishly. Where are the Minute Men who should stand by our side?”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“Whether anyone believed it or not, David felt he had to wait on God's word, and that Old Guy in the Sky takes his own, sweet time.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“Day after day, for more than seven weeks, the audience heard lurid stories of wild sex, biblical rantings, beaten babies, and armed fanatics ready to fight and die for their crazy notions of heaven and hell at the command of a madman.”
― David Thibodeau

“...Two struggling musicians, always broke, forever hopeful.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“I must admit I hadn't realized my knees were so sexy.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“If they thought we were a bunch of crazies, why did they drive us to the limit?”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“It was clear that being mentally prepared to die was not quite the same as staring death in the face.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“Sadly, the now-accepted, international church forgot that it, too, was once considered a mere cult.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“The dehumanization of those inside Mt. Carmel, coupled with the thoroughgoing demonization of Koresh, made it easier for those in authority to develop tactics that seemed organized for disaster.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“Silence is a form of consent, and I just couldn't let the evil popular picture of David and our community stand without trying to combat it.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“...Besides, he felt it was good policy to let some of the locals see where we lived and find out for themselves that we weren't just a bunch of crazies.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“But where's it leading you?' he asked. 'To where I have to go,' I replied.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“For the first month of the siege FBI commanders had isolated us from all contact with the outside world in order to preserve the official view that we were dangerously weird.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“It won't always be wonderful. It depends on your state of grace.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“Fear is a cruel master. It is not, however, unconquerable.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“Otherwise, everything I'd ever felt about this great country was a crock of shit.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“When we listen to one another, we heal and learn. When we condemn and vilify one another, at best we lose the ability to grow; at worst, people get hurt.”
― David Thibodeau, Waco: A Survivor's Story

“...Even if you totally believe in something, there's always an element of doubt.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“We came from many different places, had many different pasts, belonged to a variety of races and nationalities; but under the boiling summer sun, when shade temperatures often reached the century mark, the heat beating our backs like hammer until I felt like a nail myself, we were brothers sharing sweat, building our own Jerusalem in a desolate place.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“For a while I saw myself as an outcast from an America that had always been mine.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“Having been tagged a "cult" by the government and the media, we became fair game, removed beyond the bounds of common sympathy.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“All my life I'd wanted to be special, and for a while I was, sharing David's spirit. Now I'd have to find a way to be special in my own right.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“With my nose buried in the floorboards, I reflected that, in such situations, there are three kinds of people: those who stand in front of a tank and dare it to run over them, like the guy in Tiananmen Square; those who make brave speeches behind the barricades, like the students in Paris in 1968; and those, like me, who chew dirt.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story

“I was eternally earthbound, a witness but no prophet.”
― David Thibodeau, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story