David McCloskey > Quotes

“Minus the grinding poverty and the terror, of course.”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“Only the worst mental cases—the sociopaths and megalomaniacs—didn’t sweat the treason.”
― David McCloskey, The Seventh Floor

“I need to eat something so I can take my back pills.”
― David McCloskey, The Seventh Floor

“And it turned out the grocer’s daughter from Grafton could not write so good.”
― David McCloskey, The Seventh Floor

“The SDR to the new office”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“A brave Syrian woman leading the foreign opposition, well respected by many of the fighting groups on the ground. A constant thorn in Assad’s side. Mariam put down the file as her boss, the political counselor to the President, Bouthaina Najjar, ended her phone call. Bouthaina had placed Mariam in charge of the negotiations with foreign-based oppositionists, namely the National Council, the umbrella group claiming to represent the fighters on the ground. Mariam’s goal was simple: persuade them to renounce the Islamist fighters now leading the civil war, denounce their fellow exiles, then come home, where safety and pardon would be granted in exchange for silence. It was Mariam’s most important assignment yet, and it promised to be a stepping-stone to greater things. Bouthaina joined Mariam at the table, opened her own file on Fatimah, and, as she always did when concentrating, began nibbling on her Gucci eyeglasses. “So, Mariam, what do you think about Fatimah? What angle should we take in Paris?”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“The Americans he knew best possessed a rosy nostalgia about the past and a preposterous hope for the future.”
― David McCloskey, The Persian: A Novel

“Paulina returned to her workbench and began wiring the circuits that would link a passive infrared (PIR) sensor to a satellite phone. The CIA would call the sat phone to arm the circuit. When Ali crossed the plane of the PIR sensor, the circuit would close, allowing power to flow from the battery into a blasting cap snuggled”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“Kanaan opened the cell door and Ali walked in. Owens”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“He had spent his adult life hoping Israel might become a normal country, that Jews might be normal people.”
― David McCloskey, The Persian: A Novel

“For even friendly intelligence services do not share, they trade.”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“A recreational root canal is a more pleasant experience than discussions”
― David McCloskey, The Persian: A Novel

“MARIAM”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“Irene took a shower, packed up, and checked out. She walked two blocks to McDonald’s. She ordered the Mir Aimal Kansi. The precarious nature of her situation hit home about halfway through the Big Mac.”
― David McCloskey, The Seventh Floor

“She picked up the pieces of the peel and walked them to the trash.”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“Fatimah stopped and turned to Mariam. “Arrest my mother if you must, Mariam. But beware: You are”
― David McCloskey, Damascus Station

“At first the General was disappointed. He failed to break a man! But slowly his frustration has matured to wonderment at the sight of the man’s soul blinking through his eyes. He has kept it. All along the pris oner has kept his soul. Sometimes, though the General never says this aloud, he wonders if captivity was required for the man to find one at all.”
― David McCloskey, The Persian: A Novel