Gregg Olsen > Quotes

“If only these walls could talk…the world would know just how hard it is to tell the truth in a story in which everyone’s a liar.”
― Gregg Olsen, Envy

“Some of this story is completely true. And some of it isn't. Like truth, evil comes in all sorts of flavors. Some bitter. Some deceptively sweet. Sometimes it comes with a heavy price. While most people don't invite evil into their lives, the dirty little secret is that an invitation isn't necessary. Locked doors don't matter. Neither do fancy security systems. Evil is kind of amazing when you think about it. She knows how to get inside.”
― Gregg Olsen, Envy

“no one can help a troubled person who doesn’t think they need it.”
― Gregg Olsen, If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

“Why you need a reason for everything? Reason is something people say to make sense of things that don't make sense.”
― Gregg Olsen, Envy

“I loved my mother because I didn’t know I had a choice. I had to love her.”
― Gregg Olsen, If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

“Her daughter's comment amused Emily. 'I didn't know stalking could be a group activity”
― Gregg Olsen, Heart of Ice

“Trust and stupidity are close friends. Of course, no one really knows that until it’s too late.”
― Gregg Olsen, Lying Next to Me

“From the inside, a violent home looks starkly different than it does to outsiders. Children who grow up with cold, narcissistic, or sadistic parents don’t know that a caretaker with the potential for extreme cruelty is not the norm. Even when they see a contrast in the families of friends, they’ve already been robbed of the ability to challenge parental authority. Instead of seeking help, they hunker down and adapt.”
― Gregg Olsen, If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

“Maybe it was more than that. Maybe some things shouldn't be explained.”
― Gregg Olsen, Envy

“She’d done exactly what she’d wanted to do. Making people unhappy was her way of having fun.”
― Gregg Olsen, If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

“You poke at evil with a stick," Valerie had said, offering chilling advice they'd never forget. "Never use your fingers.”
― Gregg Olsen, Envy

“Dying, she thought, is the only way out of what is happening to me.”
― Gregg Olsen, If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

“I was free. Free also means nothing.”
― Gregg Olsen, The Sound of Rain

“I'd tell my mother to, you know, go you-know-what herself and I would go help those children. They're in an orphanage and they've got family! That's sickening. What does John do? Nothing. His kids are in an orphanage... and he does nothing.
~ Michelle Jarvis”
― Gregg Olsen, If Loving You is Wrong

“Victims of abuse can still love the monster. This ambivalent loyalty might just be the predator’s ultimate form of damage.”
― Gregg Olsen, If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

“But in late March in the Pacific Northwest, a cease-fire on precipitation only meant the clouds were taking a coffee break.”
― Gregg Olsen, The Girl in the Woods

“No one speaks the truth to anyone anymore. Lies either by omission or purposefully have become our national pastime. Backstabbing is an Olympic sport. Or at least it should be.”
― Gregg Olsen, The Sound of Rain

“I'm a successful businessman, a very successful bussinessman,' he said, dead-eyed to the camera. 'Guys like me don't kill our wives. We trade 'em in and get a new one”
― Gregg Olsen, Heart of Ice

“leathery tan face and eyes popping from white rings of flesh left by tanning goggles, had his head so far up his ass that he needed a snorkel to breathe. At least most thought so.”
― Gregg Olsen, A Wicked Snow

“The women laugh a little. I do too. Though I’m only mimicking their laughter. Nothing is funny to me.”
― Gregg Olsen, The Sound of Rain

“The ones that test the limits sometimes do the most amazing things in life. That’s what I’ve always thought.”
― Gregg Olsen, Lying Next to Me

“Around forty children die every year after they’re forgotten in a car,”
― Gregg Olsen, Fundamental Love

“And he'd kill Lily Ann Denton, put her in the trunkm and go to arbys. Godm he was hungry. ”
― Gregg Olsen, Heart of Ice

“She was only fifteen! What is the matter with these kids today? Can't they wait to have sex until they get their driver's license and can go somewhere?”
― Gregg Olsen, Envy

“He always told his girl, "If only these walls could talk... the world would know just how hard it is to tell the truth in a story in which everyone's a liar."

But the walls didn't talk.”
― Gregg Olsen, Envy

“She looked at ways to quantify life. Analytic in nature, her head almost always overruled her heart. Love it? Hate it? She wanted to KNOW it.”
― Gregg Olsen, Envy

“Only in the campfire-stoked stories of Boy Scouts, bedtime tales baby-sitters employ to frighten bratty charges, or in the sweet delight of grandpas who never grew up, would the stories live on.”
― Gregg Olsen, Starvation Heights: A True Story of Murder and Malice in the Woods of the Pacific Northwest

“A bent toward sadism forms during certain associations in early adolescence, coupled with a callous temperament that needs control and lacks remorse. Even so, more than one-third of sadists report discovering their perverted propensities well into adulthood; they enjoy the sense of authority that arises from having their way with a vulnerable and submissive human being, and their fantasies grow increasingly more sophisticated and perverse. Because they seek stimulation, they become quite inventive in the types of cruelties they inflict on others. The usual nurturing that accompanies parenthood means nothing to them.”
― Gregg Olsen, If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

“Victims who want to get help recognize how difficult it would be to convince authorities of the sadist’s behavior. They know that if they try but fail, the punishment will be severe. So, they often decide to just wait it out and hope they can eventually flee.”
― Gregg Olsen, If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

“And he'd kill Lily Ann Denton, put her in the trunkm and go to arbys. God. he was hungry. ”
― Gregg Olsen, Heart of Ice