Quotes from Nelson DeMille

I honestly don't know how anyone functions in this society without a law degree.

Oddly enough, I didn't recall feeling that way the week before. I wasn't certain how this revelation came about, but revelations are like that; they just smack you across the face one day, and you know you've arrived at the truth without even knowing you were looking for it. What you do about it is another matter. I

wanted to sleep with Beth tonight, but I didn't want to get involved tomorrow. On

And she was still here, five years later, and she knew she'd be here for a long time. Life was a continuing series of compromises, disappointments, betrayals, and what-ifs. Now and then, you get it right the first time, and more rarely, you get a chance to do it over and get it right the second time.

Muslims, Christians, and Jews all trace their origins to the prophet and patriarch Abraham. The Prophet Muhammad is descended from Abraham's oldest son, Ishmael, and Moses and Jesus are descended from Isaac," he informed

I was much less paranoid now that I discovered there really were people following me, and wanting to kill me. This was a big relief.

had a local FM station on, cranking out some Billy Joel and Harry Chapin, who the manic DJ kept informing his listening audience were Long Island boys. So were Joey Buttafuoco and the serial killer Joel Rifkin, but the DJ didn't mention this.

Americans lived in the moment, without history and thus without prophecy.

every cop knows, lies are like cockroaches—if you see one, there are others.

Better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.

Somewhere in between the cynical lies and a naïve trust in the human race was the true human condition: complex and capable of anything from heroism and self-sacrifice to betrayal and murder.

Before you go on any mission, you need to understand what you know, identify what you don't know, and try to guess what could go wrong.

one of Jack's informative T-shirts: "Join The Army, See The World, Meet New People And Kill Them.

Tolkien said, 'It doesn't do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations if you live near him.

the past was so strong, it obscured the present.

couldn't see anything sinister about the place, no paintings of burning churches on the walls, no black candles, no needlepoint pentagrams or black cats, and the kitchen had no bubbling witch's cauldron.

Second place is just the first loser.

You know what an idealist is? That's a man who notices that a rose smells better than a cabbage, so he thinks the rose will make a better soup.

If you are given the responsibility, you must be given the authority to match the responsibility.

By now, the three assholes were probably running out the back door and heading around both sides of the house to outflank

As we say, if your only tool is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.

he looked like one of those whistle and clipboard types: short blond hair, icy blue eyes, Mr. Can-Do, ex-jock, fit and trim, ready to organize a sporting event or assign people to boxcars, whatever needed doing.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD once wrote, "The rich are different from you and me," to which Hemingway famously replied, "Yes, they have more money.

I'd obviously fallen hard, but the reality was that we had not a single thing going for us outside of Cuba. Holiday romance can be intense, but as the old song said, too many moonlight kisses seem to cool in the warmth of the sun