Jim Chee Quotes

“You’re not playing the game,’ Mary Landon said. ‘I told you about me. You’re just telling me about your family.’

The statement surprised Chee. One defined himself by his family. How else? And then it occurred to him that white people didn’t. They identified themselves by what they had done as individuals.”
― Tony Hillerman, People of Darkness

“She was a young woman with that pink complexion which made Jimmy Chee wonder why the white men called Indians redskins.”
― Tony Hillerman, People of Darkness

“It seemed an odd thing to put on a tombstone, but then everything about the white man’s burial customs seemed odd to Chee. The Navajos lacked this sentimentality about corpses. Death robbed the body of its value.”
― Tony Hillerman, People of Darkness

“Captain,' he said.

Largo looked up.

'Johnson had trouble with that lost fifty minutes at the airplane. Do you?'

'I don't think so,' Largo said. His expression was totally neutral. 'I know something Johnson doesn't.' He held up the folder. 'I know how slow you work.”
― Tony Hillerman, The Dark Wind

“Not much,’ Chee said, looking embarrassed.

It wasn’t much. Leaphorn couldn’t imagine how it would be useful. In fact, it seemed to symbolize just how little they had to work on in any of these cases. ‘But it’s something,’ he said. His imagination made the figure squatting behind the juniper, watching the Chee trailer, a small figure holding a pump shotgun in his right hand, reaching into his shirt pocket with his left hand, fishing out a packet of gum. No furious emotion here. Calm. A man doing a job, being careful, taking his time. And, as an accidental by-product, giving the cat crouched under the juniper a case of nerves, eroding its instinct to stay human until this human left, sending it into a panicky dash for a safer place. Leaphorn smiled slightly, enjoying the irony.

‘We know he chews gum. Or she does,’ Chee said. ‘And what kind he sometimes chews. And that he’s…’ Chee searched for the right word. ‘Cool.’

And I know, Leaphorn thought, that Jim Chee is smart enough to think about what might have spooked the cat.”
― Tony Hillerman, Skinwalkers

“Not much,’ Chee said, looking embarrassed.

It wasn’t much. Leaphorn couldn’t imagine how it would be useful. In fact, it seemed to symbolize just how little they had to work on in any of these cases. ‘But it’s something,’ he said. His imagination made the figure squatting behind the juniper, watching the Chee trailer, a small figure holding a pump shotgun in his right hand, reaching into his shirt pocket with his left hand, fishing out a packet of gum. No furious emotion here. Calm. A man doing a job, being careful, taking his time. And, as an accidental by-product, giving the cat crouched under the juniper a case of nerves, eroding its instinct to stay hidden until this human left, sending it into a panicky dash for a safer place. Leaphorn smiled slightly, enjoying the irony.

‘We know he chews gum. Or she does,’ Chee said. ‘And what kind he sometimes chews. And that he’s…’ Chee searched for the right word. ‘Cool.’

And I know, Leaphorn thought, that Jim Chee is smart enough to think about what might have spooked the cat.”
― Tony Hillerman, Skinwalkers