Del Bilello > Del's Quotes

“this person saw Mrs. Gunness as “a maniac of the much-dreaded type that includes the White Chapel murderer.” It is “not money” that drives such killers “but the constantly growing appetite for blood, to cut deep and watch the blood flow, to dabble the hands in it, to revel in the odor of it.” One “distinguishing features of these criminals is their invariable use of the same methods in every case. Mrs. Gunness decapitated every one of her victims. In every case she severed the limbs. Always there was the maximum of mutilation.”[9]”
― Harold Schechter, Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men

“Do you know the difference between neurotics and psychotics?”

“Neurotics build castles in the sky; psychotics move into them.”
― Tanya Thompson, Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade

“Maybe I read too many comics as a kid,” Musk said. “In the comics, it always seems like they are trying to save the world. It seemed like one should try to make the world a better place because the inverse makes no sense.”
― Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk: Inventing the Future

“And if the readers of this book should ever chance to see the poverty, the hopelessness, and the squalor of a modern Indian reservation, they may find it possible to truly understand the reasons why.”
― Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West

“I think that people's nature is always to want a better life. So from that, we should not expect human beings to behave for benefit of the rest of nature-of the environment. You can only expect people to help the environment out of their own interest" Proffessor Zheng Zhe”
― Alan Weisman, Countdown: Our Last Best Hope for a Future on Earth?

“Whereas today people often understate their age to census takers, studies of past censuses have revealed that they used to overstate it.”
― Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

“What are they, Dad? Cows, son. What are cows, Dad? Cows are cows, son.”
― Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes

“Hans Moravec’s book Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind.”
― Randall Munroe, What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

“The questions are always more important than the answers.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

“Mohandas’s marriage, which was arranged when he was thirteen, lasted for the next sixty-two years. Despite his enduring reputation for living a life of simplicity and self-denial, he did not come to this easily and struggled in his youth with uncontrolled appetites, both sexual and gastronomic. In violation of his family’s religious code, he experimented with meat eating, hoping it would make him large and strong like the carnivorous English.”
― Mark Kurlansky, Salt: A World History

“15. In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“But she was uncomfortable with what the professors called 'participation,' and did not see why it should be part of the final grade; it merely made students talk and talk, class time wasted on obvious words, hollow words, sometimes meaningless words.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah

“Somehow human authority is never enough; we must have special effects.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich, Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything

“Asked at one point why he had slain so many of his neighbors, Unruh replied: “I’d have killed a thousand if I’d had bullets enough.”[55]”
― Harold Schechter, Rampage

“I calculated the backstop value, and it was something like fifty cents on the dollar, while the actual debt was trading at twenty-five cents,” Musk said.”
― Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future

“Bill Clinton ended that fugitive hunt with a stroke of his pen. Now I was the United States Attorney investigating whether that pen stroke had been bought.”
― James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership

“All that summer, as I end up in his flat over and over, drinking his wine, having his bad pervy sex, and then lying on the bed, talking about Auden’s influence on Morrissey, I feel like we’re in a huge, ongoing surreal session of the Post-it Game, in which Rich has stuck a Post-it on my head on which is written either “My girlfriend” or “Not my girlfriend,” and I am having to guess which it is with a series of questions that he can only answer yes or no. This whole situation seems like a massive societal problem. Why have we not yet discovered a way to find out if someone’s in love with you? Why can’t I press a litmus paper to Tony’s sweaty brow, when we’re fucking, and see if it turns pink for love—or blue for casual fuck? Why is there no information on this? Why has science not attended to this matter?”
― Caitlin Moran, How to Build a Girl

“So, to all you introverts out there, do not feel embarrassed or boring for being a person who prefers things that are hygge.”
― Meik Wiking, The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living

“She made me love her,” said Colson, “and she scared me at the same time. I was suspicious of her on account of the way her husband, Peter Gunness, died.”
― Harold Schechter, Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men

“I guess what concerned me most about the small lie was the danger of it becoming a habit. I’ve seen many times over the years how liars get so good at lying, they lose the ability to distinguish between what’s true and what’s not. They surround themselves with other liars. The circle becomes closer and smaller, with those unwilling to surrender their moral compasses pushed out and those willing to tolerate deceit brought closer to the center of power. Perks and access are given to those willing to lie and tolerate lies. This creates a culture, which becomes an entire way of life. The easy, casual lies—those are a very dangerous thing. They open up the path to the bigger lies, in more important places, where the consequences aren’t so harmless.”
― James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership

“You never know what you can achieve so long as you never stop trying.”
― Stephanie Thornton, The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora

“I expected to feel only empty and heartbroken after Paul died. It never occurred to me that you could love someone the same way after he was gone, that I would continue to feel such love and gratitude alongside the terrible sorrow, the grief so heavy that at times I shiver and moan under the weight of it. Paul is gone, and I miss him acutely nearly every moment, but I somehow feel I’m still taking part in the life we created together. “Bereavement is not the truncation of married love,” C. S. Lewis wrote, “but one of its regular phases—like the honeymoon. What we want is to live our marriage well and faithfully through that phase too.” Caring for our daughter, nurturing relationships with family, publishing this book, pursuing meaningful work, visiting Paul’s grave, grieving and honoring him, persisting…my love goes on—lives on—in a way I’d never expected.”
― Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air

“Nothing," I said. "It's quiet. It's like― I don't know. It's like falling off a cliff." I laughed. "I guess my life will just stop when I get married."
It didn't. It wasn't quiet either. And in the end, I lost him. I did it on purpose, the way Garance lost Baptiste in the crowd. I needed to be alone, I felt. I wanted to be going on alone to my future.”
― Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted

“I must be getting old; it's getting harder and harder to remember who I owe an apology too anymore.”
― Michael Deeze, The Deathbed Confessions

“Oskar Scultetus said, “Two of my men have been ordered to cut two of the guy wires holding the transmission tower in place, and they are already doing so  using  oxy-acetylene torches. When they have done it, the tower will fall!”
― Michael G. Kramer, His Forefathers and Mick

“Are you really a reporter?” asked Brown.
“You already asked me that. Come back to Levita, take the pardon.”
 “I doubt I’ll live long enough to get there,” said Brown bitterly.
“I hope you survive. You are a fighter. And we have the antidote for your habit on
Levita. I suggest you take a vacation. There’s nothing much that’s going to happen here.”
With that she left, leaving Brown more confused than ever.
He was a father, he had a son. And, the Levitians had a cure for his drug-addled body.”
― Max Nowaz, The Arbitrator

“I understand more that pain is evidence to our awakening to truth and also a measure of closeness to truth.”
― Adam Scott Huerta, Motive Black

“And Ethan? That boy lived in his own little wonderland, convinced he could save the world one organic radish at a time.”
― Stella Sinclaire, Fertile Ground for Murder

“Teacher,” I said. “Can you feel love?”
― Steven Decker, Child of Another Kind

“It's amazin’ what people tell you when they’re relaxed and sittin’ in a barber chair.”
― A.G. Russo, Bangtails, Grifters, and a Liar's Kiss