Quotes from Michael Connelly

He knew there were two kinds of truth in this world. The truth that was the unalterable bedrock of one's life and mission. And the other, malleable truth of politicians, charlatans, corrupt lawyers, and their clients, bent and molded to serve whatever purpose was at hand......The weight and guilt of possibly having made a horrible mistake so long ago was lifted. It was Bosch who felt like the man proven innocent and released from a cage.

He knew that in his internal universe, there was a mission etched in a secret language, like drawings on the wall of an ancient cave, that gave him his direction and meaning. It could not be altered and it would always be there to guide him to the right path.

It's an angry world," Bosch said.

He looked at the old case file he had pulled and still held in his hand. He put the phone down on the coffee table and leaned back on the couch and opened the file.

That's extortion," Cerrone said. "No, asshole, that's justice.

For Bosch such cynical thoughts came easily. He had been around the block a few times.

that everybody counted or nobody counted

Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.

The question of how you can hope and expect someone to forgive you when deep down you don't forgive yourself.

He also knew that if he waited, somehow he would see, that there was lost light in all places of darkness, and if he found it, it would save him.

She was cremated.

When you have more to look back at than forward to, you start thinking about the things you've done.

There were elegantly made up women sitting on bus benches who were not really women and not really waiting for buses.

You know what they say: the FBI doesn't share. It eats like an elephant and shits like a mouse.

The law could bend. If there were lawyers involved, then there was always a deal to be made.

He called them human tumbleweeds moving with the winds of fate.

On my way out of rent-a-car row I saw a sign with an arrow pointing the way to Paradise Road. I thought that everybody needed a sign like that. I wished that it was that easy.

The doctor told her that more than thirty cops had showed up the night of her surgery to donate blood for her. He gave her a list of names. Many were from the late

Non… Gratum… Anum… Ro—' I can't make that out." "Rodentum," Bosch said. Sakai looked at him. "Dog Latin," Bosch told him. "Not worth a rat's ass. He was a tunnel rat. Vietnam.

I don't remember what it stood for," Ballard said. "I was on patrol in Pacific Division and I remember filling out the forms on the MDC. Geographic something or other." "Geographic Reporting and Safety Program," Bosch said. "The guys down in the ASS Office really worked some OT on it." "Ass Office?" "The Acronym Selection Section. You never heard of it? They got about ten guys down there full-time.

It was the Holy Grail of detective work. It had nothing to do with evidence or legal procedure or probable cause. It was just knowing it in your gut. Nothing in her life beat it.

Bosch always thought that if you started with the assumption that murder is an unreasonable action, then how could there ever be a fully reasonable explanation for it? It was that understanding that kept him from watching and being able to enjoy films and television shows about detectives. He found them unrealistic in their delivery of what the general audience wanted: all of the answers.

I told him through the door that he could take his job and shove it up his ass. 'Course, a week later I had to ask him to pull it out of his ass and give it back to me.

It was the era of fake news and reporters being labeled by those in power as enemies of the people. Newspapers were folding right and left and some said the industry was in a death spiral. Meanwhile, there was a rise in biased and unchecked reporting and media sites, the line increasingly blurring between impartial and agenda-based journalism.