Vance Ferkel > Vance's Quotes

“Alexandra Malkovic woke out of the nightmare that had bedevilled her sleep for days. She sat up, shivering, her heart thumping. For a few seconds she could not recognise her surroundings, then the outlines of the sparse furnishings of the room solidified in the faint moonlight coming through a gap in the curtains. This was her room in the house they had commandeered in Bihac, the city Tito’s Partisans had captured after a bitter battle a few weeks before Christmas – a battle in which she had played an important part. This was safety, an end to the long weeks on the march, sleeping on the hard ground, alert always to the sound of movement in the surrounding forest and the distant howling of wolves. So why could she not sleep in peace?”
― Holly Green, A Call to Home

“Just now he was on a mind-blowing adventure and it was rapidly spiralling out of control, and this is what he needed to concentrate his mind on. How could he squeeze Daley to get the book back; that’s if Daley had it in his possession in the first place? The next few days were going to be crucial.”
― Max Nowaz, Get Rich or Get Lucky

“Hours passed—or maybe days. It didn’t matter. The body adapted. But the mind—
The mind needed purpose.
      ”
― D.L. Maddox, The Dog Walker: The Prequel

“Which is the greater sin? To care too much? Or too little?”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

“Crete, May 1941. It was nearly five o’clock when the three soldiers reached the end of the olive grove. The dust-filled air shimmered in the late-afternoon heat. Their bodies ached, their uniforms were caked with dirt and sweat and they were hungry, thirsty and exhausted. The sensible thing now would be to lay up where they were for a few hours’ rest, then finish the journey under cover of darkness. But there was a tight deadline to meet. The evacuation vessel was scheduled to leave at midnight and they had been warned the captain wouldn’t wait for stragglers.”
― Mark Ellis, The French Spy

“You piece of shit, you need a wife; a woman’s touch in your life.’ But who would marry someone like me? Being a PI isn’t exactly the best profession to be in to attract a wife. I’ve read about too many investigators and policemen who end up divorced and I certainly fall into that category.”
― Behcet Kaya, Treacherous Estate

“Never forget, Caelius, that a great man makes his luck. Luck is there for everyone to seize. Most of us miss our chances; we're blind to our luck. He never misses a chance because he's never blind to the opportunity of the moment.”
― Colleen McCullough, Caesar

“He said: “Now there’s another thing: I had some morphine I was experimenting with and somebody stole it, about twenty grains.” “Experimenting how?” “Taking it. I wanted to study the effects.” “And how’d you like them?” I asked. “Oh, I didn’t expect to like it. I just wanted to know about it. I don’t like things that dull my mind. That’s why I don’t very often drink, or even smoke. I want to try cocaine, though, because that’s supposed to sharpen the brain, isn’t it?”
― Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man

“I had no doubt that I could do something, but what, and how? I had no contacts and I believed in nothing. And the obsession with my identity which I had developed in the factory hospital returned with a vengeance. Who was I, how had I come to be?”
― Ralph Ellison

“A surging, seething, murmuring crowd, of beings that are human only in name, for to the eye and ear they seem naught but savage creatures, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and of hate.”
― Emmuska Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel

“Be the person you really are and not the person you'e allowed yourself to become," Kate said to Nikki.
From 'Life Song”
― Christine M. Knight

“No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his
own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.
If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay
where you are.
Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded
by content.
But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again
into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.”
― Sun Tzu