Val McDermid > Quotes

“A society gets the criminals it deserves.”
― Val MacDermid, Killing the Shadows

“Time for the likeliest story since Mary told Joseph it was God’s.”
― Val McDermid

“He frowned as he struggled to remember. It was like watching an elephant crochet.”
― Val McDermid, Kick Back

“That was the trouble with moving houses; no matter how carefully you packed the books, they never ended up on the new shelves in quite the right place.”
― Val McDermid, The Torment of Others

“When all else fails, go for the ego.”
― Val McDermid, Crack Down

“Sometimes, the only things that make you feel good are the same ones that worked when you were five. Yes, I slammed the door”
― Val McDermid, Blue Genes

“I don't like fighting,' he said. 'It makes me hurt inside. Like I'm a kid again. In the cupboard, in the dark. If the grown-ups are fighting, it must be my fault. That's why I don't do rows.' He blinked hard, to keep the tears at bay. She was the only person in the world who could make him feel so exposed. It din't always feel like a good thing. 'Carol, I'm going home tomorrow. I can't manage without you. Not in any sense. So can we stop this no? I can't do it.”
― Val McDermid, Beneath the Bleeding

“The hardest thing about being a grown up is realizing there are no magic formulas to release the ones we love from pain. Maybe that's why I enjoy computer games so much; you get to be God.”
― Val McDermid, Crack Down

“The Glasgow accent was so strong you could have built a bridge with it and known it would outlast the civilization that spawned it”
― Val McDermid

“You know it's a bad case when the only way you can catch up on your sleep is to get unconscious.”
― Val McDermid, Crack Down

“It's only hunting you that keeps me from being you.”
― Val McDermid, The Mermaids Singing

“I failed her. And she's out of my life. I don't even know where she's living. What she's doing to get through the days. And I miss her. Every single day, I miss her.”
― Val McDermid, Cross and Burn

“We make high demands on the people we expect to deliver justice, and we don’t always appreciate how much it eats away at them.”
― Val McDermid, Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime

“You know, I've often wondered. It's pretty clear what they were up to in Sodom, but what do you suppose the sin of Gomorrah was?' Carol asked.”
― Val McDermid, The Mermaids Singing

“You've always been handy with a knife, Mother”
― Val McDermid, The Retribution

“It forced me to realise that I'd been blaming you for not being flawless. And none of us is flawless.' Another sigh. 'I was so angry with myself for what happened to Michael and Lucy that I had to turn my anger somewhere else and you were the easiest target.”
― Val McDermid, Cross and Burn

“It's a piece of cake, being a lawyer or a doctor or a computer systems analyst or an accountant. Libraries are full of books telling you how to do it. The only textbooks for private eyes are on fiction shelves, and I don't remember ever reading one that told me how to interrogate an eight-year old without feeling like I was auditioning for the Gestapo.”
― Val McDermid, Crack Down

“We never want to talk about the difficult things. But if we don’t they poison the good things in our lives.”
― Val McDermid, Insidious Intent

“Father, everybody has mugs these days. It's not a sign of debauchery and disrepute to drink tea from a mug.”
― Val McDermid, Northanger Abbey

“Everybody's got the right to go to hell in the handcart of their choice.”
― Val McDermid, Dead Beat

“No two bodies will decompose in the same way, and at the same rate. You can have two bodies that are literally six feet apart and they will decompose in entirely different manners. It could be the amount of fat on the body. It could be the drugs they were taking, or the medication. It could be the type of clothing they’re wearing. It could be that one has a particular odour that is more attractive to flies than the other. Absolutely anything.”
― Val McDermid, Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime

“If I didn't like her so much, I'd hate her.”
― Val McDermid, Crack Down

“It was a lot easier to be optimistic about equality when you didn’t have to confront the Neanderthals on a daily basis. When you could imagine that people were actually changing their minds because they’d stopped groping secretaries at the photocopier.”
― Val McDermid, Splinter the Silence

“To come up against someone who appeared not to give a damn about exerting petty power almost restored his faith in the public.”
― Val McDermid, Insidious Intent

“I'm not into little boys till they're old enough to have their own credit card.”
― Val McDermid, Crack Down

“Look at you. Finally, you look upset. Is that what's bothering you now?' She stepped close to him and pushed him hard in the chest, making him stumble backwards. 'The fact that you didn't predict this? Didn't work it out? That you're not as smart as you thought you were? the great Tony Hill fucked up and now my brother's dead?' She pushed him again and he had to twist away to avoid falling down the stairs.”
― Val McDermid, The Retribution

“Patsy McDonald had the artificial brightness and dead eyes that go hand in hand with prescription antidepressants. They”
― Val McDermid, Out of Bounds

“No. It's no the same. The interviewers want you to say what they want to hear. I want to hear what you have to say.”
― Val McDermid, Beneath the Bleeding

“I was just finishing up my drink then I was off to get the night bus.' Carol grinned. 'Your sophistication never ceases to amaze me. What's wrong with a taxi?' 'You get a better class of nutter on the night bus. I blend in perfectly”
― Val McDermid, The Torment of Others

“The discipline is based on one grisly fact: a corpse makes a good lunch.”
― Val McDermid, Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime