Stephen Leather > Quotes

“Jack Nightingale: "So I'm a hero?"
Supt. Chalmers: "No, Nightingale, you're an arsehole. But I can't arrest you for that.”
― Stephen Leather, Midnight

“New York always brings out the serial killer in me. It’s a great city to kill in. The best. You've got something like fifteen million people living cheek by jowl, and most of them couldn't give a damn about anyone else. No one wants to get involved. No one cares.”
― Stephen Leather, The Basement

“Baltimore's slogan was 'The City that Reads', but like the rest of its one million or so inhabitants Lori knew that was a pipedream; the city had one of the lowest literacy rates in the country, and along with illiteracy went a lack of morals.”
― Stephen Leather, The Birthday Girl

“Arab terrorist, international hitman, it's all a bit Andy McNab, isn't it?”
― Stephen Leather, Dead Men

“bollocks.”
― Stephen Leather, Nightfall

“Shepherd sat next to him close to the front of the plane. As it taxied for take-off, Muller took a pair of reading glasses out of his jacket pocket, a sheaf of papers from a leather briefcase and began to read, occasionally making marks in the margin with a gold fountain pen. After an hour a stewardess in a tight-fitting green uniform handed out plastic trays with finger sandwiches, followed by a colleague offering coffee or tea. Shepherd passed on the food and the drink. Muller took a cheese sandwich and put away his paperwork. ‘This is your first time in Baghdad, right?’ he asked. ‘Yeah,’ said Shepherd. The lie came easily. He doubted that Yokely would want too many people knowing that he had been a passenger on a rendition flight. ‘Although I was in Afghanistan when I was with the Regiment. Another life.’ ‘Iraq’s not dissimilar,’ said Muller. ‘The difference is that before Saddam Iraq was a decent enough country. He ran it into the ground.’ ‘The Major said you were special forces. Delta Force,”
― Stephen Leather, Hot Blood

“Remember the six Ps. Perfect Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.”
― Stephen Leather, Killing Time: Serial Killers Never Retire - They Just Go On Hiatus

“And after we’ve killed”
― Stephen Leather, Last Man Standing

“pontificating about how you should live your life and yes, I had no qualms about putting you in harm’s way.’ She reached out and touched his arm. ‘My heart was in my mouth all the time you were out there. I would really miss you, if anything ever happened to you.’ ‘I’d miss you too, Charlie.’ She took her hand away. ‘I’m being serious.’ He could see from her eyes that his flippancy had offended her so he stepped forward and hugged”
― Stephen Leather, Tall Order

“Sure, we're physically bigger and we have more money, but they reckon we're not much smarter than animals. They call us water buffaloes or monitor lizards. There's no bigger insult than to say that a person is an animal, and that's what they think we are. We're”
― Stephen Leather, Private Dancer

“moment”
― Stephen Leather, Still Standing

“gunfight with a Yardie posse.’ He”
― Stephen Leather, Soft Target

“Death and taxes are the only two certainties in life, as Mark Twain once said. Or was it Benjamin Franklin?”
― Stephen Leather, Nightfall

“It’s here!’ he shouted.”
― Stephen Leather, Last Man Standing

“aren’t sure if it’s genuine or not without further”
― Stephen Leather, Plausible Deniability: The explosive Lex Harper novella

“Yokely. ‘If it wasn’t for the pension, I’d go freelance. But I’ve got three kids in college and a wife who wants a holiday home in Florida.’ ‘The NSA’s not so bad, Dean,’ said Yokely. ‘At least you don’t spend half your life at thirty thousand feet.’ ‘And what brings you to Crypto City?”
― Stephen Leather, Hot Blood

“Organized Satanism was born in San Francisco on April 30, 1966.”
― Stephen Leather, San Francisco Night

“Charles Baudelaire. “The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist”,”
― Stephen Leather, New York Night

“He was twenty-two years old, his skin the colour of weak coffee with plenty of milk. He had soft brown eyes that belonged more to a lovesick spaniel than the tried and tested assassin he was. His beard was long and bushy but his nails were neatly clipped and glistened as if they had been varnished. Around his head was a knotted black scarf with the white insignia of Islamic State, the caliphate that claimed authority over all Muslims around the world. His weapon was lying on a sandbag”
― Stephen Leather, Dark Forces

“Yokely had carried out missions for every American President since Reagan, except the current Twitter-obsessed incumbent, who could not be trusted, as the Senator himself said, ‘To keep his fool mouth shut about anything.”
― Stephen Leather, The Chase

“to. However,”
― Stephen Leather, Takedown

“Smoking’s good for you,” said Nightingale. “It’s packed with vitamins and minerals and has zero calories and fat.” He gestured at the stairs. “It’s exercise that’s bad for you. Look what it’s doing to me.”
― Stephen Leather, Nightfall

“up the engines of all of them and began”
― Stephen Leather, Planning Pack

“and time to think. He drove”
― Stephen Leather, Nightfall

“deafening roar had faded before continuing. ‘This is how it’s going to work,’ he said. ‘You’re to be attached to the various armed police units attending the four incidents around the capital. You will be acting under the orders of the local Silver Commander in each case. For those of you not familiar with the way the cops operate, a Silver Commander is in charge on site. Usually an inspector but not always. He in turn reports to a Gold Commander, who in this case is at the special operations room in Lambeth. The Gold Commander decides overall strategy, the Silver Commander makes decisions on the ground. You do what the Silver Commander says. But I also want you using our own comms to stay in touch with Captain Alex Murray. He’s in the SOR so he’ll always have the big picture.’ The men nodded. Most of them were chewing gum, the only sign of the building tension. ‘Under no circumstances are you even to think of firing your weapon without being ordered to do so by the Silver Commander,’ said the major. ‘At the moment the cops are running the show so we have to play by their rules.’ ‘What”
― Stephen Leather, First Response

“for that,’ said Nightingale. ‘The new corporate website mentions”
― Stephen Leather, Lastnight

“What is this world, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?”
― Stephen Leather, Las Vegas Night: The 10th Jack Nightingale Supernatural Thriller

“tomorrow”
― Stephen Leather, Hard Landing

“though”
― Stephen Leather, Tennessee Night

“But do you ever see butterflies hanging out with caterpillars? No you don’t. They’ve nothing in common.”
― Stephen Leather, Nightfall