Quotes from Lisa Scottoline

And wouldn't we be better off if every New Year's, we thought about the things we did right and we resolved to keep doing them, no matter how wacky they were.

You can really help support a character if you understand the setting. So for that reason I generally write about Philadelphia.

Testosterone should be a controlled substance.

I am really, I think, truly an easygoing, positive, fun person.

Ellen had long ago stopped being embarrassed by temper tantrums. She flipped it and wore it like a badge of honor. A temper tantrum was a sign that a mom said no when it counted.

There was no known cure for a Catholic education.

I like terrific writing, but I also like a terrific story. My favorite books have both, and they're by contemporary, commercial American writers.

Yes. He knows I'm dying, but he can't really accept it and he'll be all alone when I'm gone. Can't you help him?

Ellen had long ago stopped being embarrassed by temper tantrums. She flipped it and wore it like a badge of honor. A temper tantrum was a sign that a mom said no when it counted.

I read, therefore, I matter.

One out of twenty-three is a sociopath and that's 4 percent of the population, that's a lot of sociopaths. Anorexic's are 3 percent and everybody talks about them.

If you can't be brave, be determined. And you'll end up in the same place.

Even people who counted their blessings never counted them in the morning. For one thing, there wasn't time.

His fee was $300 an hour, and for clients who couldn't afford that, he had a sliding scale that was never less than $250— except for crying old ladies facing terminal diagnoses.

Likewise, I would never be so rude as to not interrupt a friend. How else would she know I was listening?

We can't control what people do or say, even if it's dumb.

Let's talk about a decision that women have to make every morning- Big purse or little purse?

It's the Snickers bars. Snickers equal romance.

Bad things are like waves. They're going to happen to you, and there's nothing you can do about it. They're part of life, like waves are a part of the ocean. If you're standing on the shoreline, you don't know when the waves are coming. But they'll come. You gotta make sure you get back to the surface, after every wave. That's all.

There were twenty questions, and forty was the top score. I scored a thirty- eight, which means I would be graduating with honors if I majored in being a sociopath.

I always win in the end

Writing had always helped her, before. It always clarified her feelings and her thoughts, and she never felt like she could understand something fully until the very minute that she'd written about it, as if each story was one she told herself and her readers, at the same time.

The thing about love is that we can't control whether we get it, but we can control whether we give it. And each feels as good as the other. Your heart doesn't know if it's loving a man, a book, or a puppy. If your heart were that smart, it would be your brain.

I plan everything. I set everyone in motion, and when the moment comes, I strike. I always win in the end. They never see me coming. Know why? Because I'm already there.