Quotes from Daniel Silva

Tariq said, "You never answered my question." "Which question was that?" "Do you like fado music?" "I suppose it's an acquired taste." He smiled and added, "Like Lisbon itself. For some reason it reminds me of home." "Fado is a music devoted to suffering and pain. That's why it reminds you of home." "I suppose you're right.

The strongman and the "corporate state"—by another name, fascism—are all the rage. Western-style democracy and the global institutions that created an unprecedented period of peace in Europe are suddenly out of vogue.

Look at the snow, the woman was saying to the child. The snow absolves Vienna of its sins. The snow falls on Vienna while the missiles rain on Tel Aviv.

The civilized world has abandoned us to our fate. We would never have come back to this land if we weren't pushed here by the hatred of Europe's Christians, and now that we're here, they won't let us fight, lest we antagonize the Arabs in their midst.

She helped Shamron into his jacket and kissed his cheek. There was simple ritual in this act. How many times had he separated from his wife after hearing that Jews had been killed by a bomb? He had lost count long ago. He had resigned himself, late in life, that it would never end.

Civility is for divorced couples with children. – Chiara

The French like anyone with money and power. - Mikhail Abramov

Your system (Russia) allows for no viable opposition, and, without a viable opposition, there can be no democracy. - Sarah Crawford

I warn you against shedding blood, indulging in it and making a habit of it, for blood never sleeps. SALADIN

The engines of America run on Saudi oil, but the networks of global Islamic terrorism run largely on Saudi money.

Behind every fortune lies a great crime," said Ramirez. "Honoré de Balzac

with the key taped inside the left-rear wheel well.

What followed was the worst massacre in the history of the modern Middle East, a monthlong frenzy of killing, torture, and destruction that left at least twenty thousand people dead and a city reduced to rubble. The ruler never denied the massacre, nor did he quibble over the number of dead. In fact, he allowed the city to lie in ruins for months as a reminder of what would happen to those who dared to challenge him. In the Middle East, a new term came into vogue: Hama Rules.

Russia will never be a democracy again, Allon. We cannot live as normal people.

He was xenophobic, intolerant, distrustful of the free press, and had little patience for niceties such as parliamentary democracy or the rule of law.

You know the old Russian proverb, Allon. What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine.

The sky was a dome of pale blue streaked with alabaster. Crossing the Stephansplatz, he was nearly toppled by the wind. It was an Arctic wind, chilled by the fjords and glaciers of Norway, strengthened by the icy plains of Poland, and now it was hammering against the gates of Vienna like a barbarian horde.

Yes, one could prepare, one could strive, one could make choices, but ultimately life was an elaborate game of providence and probability.

Two minutes after she entered the building, a light appeared in a third-floor window. A rapid check of a government property database indicated that the unit in question was owned by an Isabel Brenner, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany. A further check revealed that she served as a compliance officer in the Zurich office of RhineBank AG, otherwise known as the world's dirtiest bank

I must say it's the one thing about growing old I don't mind. The eternal craving for female flesh has finally left me in peace.

one needed to be careful what one wished for.

The nexus between crime and radical Islam is one of the most disturbing emerging trends confronting U.S. and Western European counterterrorism officials.

Shamron had always believed careers were defined less by the successes achieved than the calamities survived. "Any fool can take a victory lap," he once famously remarked during a lecture at the Academy, "but only a truly great officer can maintain his composure and his cover when his heart is breaking.

Anti-Semitism in France, much of it emanating from Muslim communities, has compelled thousands of French Jews to leave their homes and emigrate to Israel. Indeed, eight thousand departed in the twelve months following the brutal murder of four Jews at the Hypercacher kosher market in January 2015.