Neil Sharpson > Quotes

“Nominally, the currency of the Caspian Republic was the moneta, but in truth the coin of the nation was fear. Whoever could inspire fear was rich, whoever lived in fear was poor.”
― Neil Sharpson, When the Sparrow Falls

“Power is a poison.”
― Neil Sharpson, When the Sparrow Falls

“It's the kind of job that, a few months down the line, if things go badly, could end with you standing in a darkened room, in front of a row of men whose faces you cannot see, being asked questions to which there are no right answers.”
― Neil Sharpson, When the Sparrow Falls

“The Progressive Caspian People’s Party. A footnote that dreamed it was a chapter.”
― Neil Sharpson, When the Sparrow Falls

“Ah, there was the word. “Family.” It was an old Irish word. It meant: “Do nothing. Challenge nothing. Change nothing.” Ireland was a rocky garden, dig a few inches deep and you found stone; solid and impassable. And carved into its face, as like as not; the word FAMILY.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“No one is worse at keeping secrets than the secret services”
― Neil Sharpson, When the Sparrow Falls

“Ah, but this is Ireland,” said the jeweler softly. “There’s more of the pagan in us than we might like to admit, isn’t that right?”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“When the party orders you to break the law, who do you obey? The party or the law?”
― Neil Sharpson, When the Sparrow Falls

“What a beautiful moon. So bright. I see the moon and the moon sees me. God bless the moon. And God bless me.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“I’ve just realized that I’ve been talking about Grier as if he’s dead. But he could still be alive. Stranger things have happened, after all. All kinds of people are still alive.”
― Neil Sharpson, When the Sparrow Falls

“You have trouble trusting anything that loves you unconditionally,” Kate had once said, which was no less cruel for being true.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“A changeling story often begins with a once-healthy baby suddenly becoming weak, pale, unhealthy. Failing to thrive. The parents discover that their true child has been taken by Na Daoine Maithe and replaced with this pitiful doppelgänger. The changeling is exposed and sent back to the otherworld, and the true child is returned.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“Diana, the beloved golden child, had edged out Margaret, the overlooked sister.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“Memory was ephemeral. Hatred was a rock.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“But something about the yellow streetlamps going past soothed her nerves. They were so ordinary, and so very urban. The city was safe and rational. Outside its borders, she now knew, you could trust nothing.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“It didn’t matter that neither Feidhlim nor his neighbors could remember the details of his great-grandfather’s transgression. Memory was ephemeral. Hatred was a rock.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry. How did he die?” Brian had become very interested in the dirty mugs on the other side of the room. “Ah well,” he said. “He wasn’t a well man. He was very large. Fried food. Nothing but fried food. And of course with the stress of this job, it put a terrible strain on him.” Ashling nodded. “Heart attack.” “No,” said Brian. “No. He shot himself.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“HUMPTY DUMPTY WAS PUSHED”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“She stepped into the hallway and the smell of childhood and anger and resentment hit her, disguised as the scent of varnish and kitchen spices and bathroom soap.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“But for most of the journey, the passengers remained as still as the hands on a broken clock.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“Fourteen years ago she had seen Puckeen’s box open and her sister had vanished and reemerged and then vanished again, this time forever.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide

“Betty’s first term in UCD passed in a mad rush of stress, drinking too much, eating too little, insecurity, and anxiety that would years later, somehow, bake and cool in her memory as happiness.”
― Neil Sharpson, Knock Knock, Open Wide