Espionage Thriller Quotes

“Theodora was able to reflect on the events of the past few hours. Her headache had gone, and she felt a lot better after a brandy, a bath and a clean set of clothes. As she smoked her cigarette, and feeling a little more normal, she played back the horror of what had happened in Sussex. Watching the murder of her close friends, the horrendous way they had died … How was she going to tell Charlotte? Not only about the slaying of Christina and Bernard, but also that Jost Krupp was responsible – not just for the murders of Christine and Bernard, but also, it seemed, for Ferdi. And to crown it all, that he was still alive! Charlotte was convinced she had killed him in Auch in 1943.”
― Hugo Woolley, The Wasp Trap

“Far off, I heard a rumble. A land slip perhaps. Or maybe tank fire from thirty miles away. I figured the sounds of war would carry this far into the desert mountains.”
― Murray Bailey, The Prisoner of Acre

“What could drive someone to that depth of depravity, taking the lives of men, women, and children he does not know and has no personal grudge against, just to make some deranged political or religious point?”
― Jeffrey S. Stephens, Enemies Among Us

“The United States has taught the world how to outsource war, which in turn has created a new breed of fighter. Trained in the armed services, they become highly efficient and highly paid killers.”
― Jeffrey S. Stephens, Enemies Among Us

“Although botulism is one of the most toxic substances known to man, it does not work immediately on its victim. It attacks the nervous system, which takes some time.
“If she doesn’t survive this poisoning, if she suffers any permanent damage, I promise the two of you that you’re as good as dead. You can hire all the protection there is in the world, but I will get to you.”
― Jeffrey S. Stephens, Enemies Among Us

“Plastic flowers last for hours”
― Bill Fairclough, Beyond Enkription - The Burlington Files

“Never coming back here, she thought.
With a groan, she levered herself into a sitting position and discovered a painful crick in her neck. Never ever. She launched herself off the bed and limped over to the door and put here eye to the viewer, was treated to a fish-eye view of a small, dapper, well-dressed man holding a bunch of white roses.
Okay. Man with flowers. Carey looked around the room. The windows opened on short tethers so guests couldn't throw furniture or each other out into the street, and she was too high to jump anyway. She looked around the room again, looking for possible weapons. There was a rickety-looking chair by the desk in the corner, but it would probably fall to bits even before she hit anyone with it. She looked through the viewer. The little man knocked again. Not urgently, not in an official we-have-come-to-take-you-to-the-gulag kind of way, but in the manner of a gentleman visiting his lady friend with a nice bunch of roses.”
― Dave Hutchinson, Europe in Winter

“Don't ask me, I'm British.”
― Bill Fairclough, Beyond Enkription

“I just wanted to buy a spy novel. I didn't want to be in one.”
― Jeffrey Westhoff, The Boy Who Knew Too Much

“Misdirection. False signals. Spreading confusion. This is the Tao of deception.”
― David Ignatius, The Quantum Spy

“The men were smashing windows and aiming their weapons through them. The driver had opened the door and was shouting for the women and children to get out and run and hide. But Ilina realized in some vague way that he never managed to actually say the word "hide." He really said, "Women and children, get out, get out, get out! Run and..." The clerk's wife thought it was odd that he had stopped in the middle of a sentence, and even stranger that she herself knew the word, heard the word "hide" in her head when the driver stopped talking.”
― Clark Zlotchew, The Caucasian Menace

“On a basic level, he had seen first-hand how his government used the element of fear to accomplish its objectives; the same element of fear that had been used as an excuse to engage its huge war machine in conflicts for the profits of America’s oligarchy.”
― Kenneth Eade

“on board a train wreck in slow motion dragging distances of time in phantom carriages behind it”
― Bill Fairclough, Beyond Enkription

“Semtex, PE4, C-4, Plastrite, Netrolit, Spring Korper, Rowanex-- Cono felt slightly shameful about his familiarity with plastics, and yet seeing them here, even so amateurishly arranged, gave him a perverse comfort.”
― Victor Robert Lee, Performance Anomalies

“Governments, nations, borders, they're all surface, they always have been. The real structure underlying it all is money, and the institutions which control it. Finance houses, banks, organised crime; if you drill down deep enough, it's all the same. Money has no nationality, no allegiance. While nations rise and fall, it remains the same. It's the most powerful polity of all.”
― Dave Hutchinson, Europe in Winter

“In the intelligence community, a rumor was almost as good as a confirmation.”
― Kenneth Eade, Unwanted

“In the pillared bowl atop the tower, a great pyre blazed, casting a golden glow over the granite walls. The bloody body of a man painted with the white four-pointed star of Kimisara hung by his neck below.
“I think that Kimisar you saw is still here,” Alex observed dryly.”
― Erin Beaty, The Traitor's Kiss

“... he upended his suitcase just inside the door and balanced the three glasses on top of it. It was a simple booby trap but it would give him all the warning he needed.”
― Ian Fleming, The Man With the Golden Gun

“TheBurlingtonFiles ... #BetterThanBond”
― Bill Fairclough, Beyond Enkription

“... her eyes smoldering in the charred silk of their brows and lashes, taking you in and giving you nothing back ...”
― Elleston Trevor (aka Adam Hall)

“Welcome to my Goodreads author page! Thank you for stopping by.

My new thriller, THE DEVIL DRAGON PILOT is now available. If you are new to where aviation meets espionage, this is an excellent place to begin.

I have also created a website, complete with a Group Readers Guide and Photos at ColbyAviationThrillers and hope you will stop in. While visiting, you can sign up for my newsletter and receive a special Devil Dragon gift.

Thank you for all of your support!”
― Lawrence Colby

“If this were some kind of entertainment, this would be roughly the point where Rupert said, "We don't have any more time, Professor, you must complete your research as soon as possible," but there was no great sense of urgency, no sense that it even mattered. It was just something that Rudi was interested in, for his own reasons. They could be working on this for years and still not understand it, and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference.
He said, "Look, Professor, a lot of effort went into getting you that information. We'd be grateful if you could make some kind of sense of it reasonably soon.
"There is one thing I can tell you right now," Lev said..."Whoever is running this thing, they're really interested in railways.”
― Dave Hutchinson, Europe in Winter

“Both men looked cadaverous and sinister as the single dim light hanging from the ceiling cast dark shadows across their features.”
― John Day, Espionage - London

“He could hear Matthews saying, 'Worry before, and you'll be prepared. Worry afterwards and you'll keep your feet on the ground. But don't worry during action; that's fatal.”
― Helen MacInnes, Assignment in Brittany

“The first law for a secret agent is to get his geography right, his means of access and exit, and assure his communications with the outside world.”
― Ian Fleming

“No tardaría en descubrir que el más tonto puede ser el más listo y el menos amenazador puede ser el más peligroso”
― Cristina Redondo, Clandestina

“His father whispered to his son to pay him no heed as the shaman had once told him he would have many beautiful wives and grow a long penis, both of which had never happened.”
― Philip R. Broom

“You’ve got to have balls of steel to do this job!”
― Philip R. Broom

“Reader’s Favorite Five-Star Review: "A modern-day spy thriller set amongst the windswept and remote Scottish Isles of Uist. Fun and exciting! A fast-paced, riveting story.”
― Paige Edwards

“Morals are the first sacrifice at the alter of ambition.”
― Ruby Gupta, The Secret of Leifeng Pagoda