c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
Actions have consequences. Kids today don’t think about that. It’s like, ‘Hey, wouldn’t this be awesome?!’ Consequences? What are those?
— Theodore Jerome Cohen, Night Shadows
Your best kicks ass and takes names,” Jack says, and he punches my shoulder again.
— Allen Zadoff, Boy Nobody
You want to come back to the bank vault?” Jack says.The bank vault. That’s what Jack calls his house.
— Allen Zadoff, Boy Nobody
There was some violence a year ago. An important kid got shot during an attempted kidnapping while on spring break in Mexico. The Fortune 500 went security crazy. Now rich kids like Jack need a commando team to take a dump.
— Allen Zadoff, Boy Nobody
Like most bad ideas, it started with alcohol.
— Cy Wyss, Polygraph
You don’t look injured to me. What am I supposed to think? Have you been with them this whole time? My god, Brook. Where were you?
— Wodke Hawkinson, Betrayed: Alternate Ending
1484Hi Goodreads. My first day. I read all of the time but I must promote my own 2 books - Vulnerabilia and Legacy.VULNERABILIA
— James Dalton
If you live your life in fear and had the opportunity to change. . .could you muster the strength?
— P.C. Chinick
Everything is red, freakin pink, and all heartsy. Everywhere! It’s driving me insane!
— A.R. Von, Blood Dance
Kill Piracy; Save Creativity"!
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
Wanna become a Billionaire...?Try to become a 'Thrillonare' first
— Nitin Yadav
there are men who are ancient and determined enemies of the Church of Rome who live in perpetual hope of its destruction
— Glenn Cooper, The Devil Will Come
When you go to sleep, where do you really go?
— Brian Lovestar, Dream Myself Alive
Create a Piracy Free World fora Creative Tomorrow
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
Pirates of Bollywood, or Bollywood of Pirates? - Tough to say.
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
People who tell you exactly what they think of you aren't necessarily enemies.
— Mac Fletcher Gates of Dawn - in progress
There is a Pirate in each of us"!
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
Piracy begins where creativity ends".
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
I am a Pirate, A Pirate of Bollywood
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
I came, I saw, I copied, and I left
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
Why Are Terrorists into Piracy? Well, they are movie buffs too!
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
I am Not a Pirate, I merely watch movies and delete them. Never store them on my computer.
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
Copyright Promotes Creativity by Proscribing the Right to Copy
— Kalyan C. Kankanala, Pirates of Bollywood
Sometimes death is even better than to confess a secret.
— Alper Kaya, 08.00
For two years, she and Cassie had been inseparable. And then one night, Cassie had disappeared from her bed. In her place, her abductor had left his calling card, a macabre nursery rhyme. Cassie had never come home.
— Elizabeth Heiter, Vanished
I reach forward for him, expecting to feel the hardness of his chest or at the very least one of his arms coming to halt my progress, but there is nothing. I expand my reach a little and then, feeling slightly spooked, I listen… Nothing. No breathing, no footsteps; nothing.
— Felicity Brandon, Corrupted Desires: A Dark Erotic Anthology
When you get the coffee from the store, does it come in a great big metal can?'He beamed. 'Absolutely.'That was all I needed to hear. "Tea. A cup of tea.
— Steven James, The Rook
Better an honest devil than a lying angel...
— Larry Bonner
Getting out of tight jams was his specialty.
— Hunter Shea, Swamp Monster Massacre
When people did stupid things around him, that was usually the last thing they did.
— Hunter Shea, Swamp Monster Massacre
You really need to trade in that End Days psychology, Stephanie, for some silver-lining thinking,” Jim said airily. “Not every second of every day is a friggin’ crisis. Besides, be careful what you wish for.” He paused to hand her a book, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers. “Says here, the more psychic energy you invest in gloom and doom, the more likely you are to make it happen. The universe is very sensitive to these things, picks up on all those thought impressions, and the next thing you know, whack!” He smacked the back of his right hand against his left palm for emphasis.They rounded the hall, and the next thing Stephanie knew her head was being stuffed in a microwave. Microwave Man, one of the robots, provided the service. “Five seconds to a side, makes for an evenly cooked meal,” Microwave Man said. He waited five seconds, then turned Stephanie’s head. “Get me out of here! I feel my brains boiling!” Stephanie screamed frantically. But Jim, as strong as he was, was no match for Microwave Man. “He’s got ahold of your hair. I’ll run and get some scissors.”“I’ll be dead by then, you fool!”“What did I say about looking on the bright side, Stephanie?
— Dean C. Moore, Karma Chameleon
You want to lay yourself out like an appetizer, go ahead.
— Hunter Shea, Swamp Monster Massacre
I despise common sense. I’ve seen the world from every possible angle. This cruel, ridiculous, beautiful world.
— Lacie Baskerville Pandora Hearts
The calm serenity of the breeze as it blows across the ocean releases the tangled web within my mind.
— J. Kahele, Blink: The Series - Breaking Branches
I had seen that once before, bleeding water. A little baby I worked on as a resident in training. That poor kid had been shot as well—his father had blasted away the top of his head with a shotgun—and we couldn't begin to stop the bloodletting in that case. "Looking pretty thin down here," I hollered when the stuff coming out his wounds was no more than pink salt water. That baby's heart stopped, started, stopped and started a dozen times before it finally gave up the ghost and we pronounced him. I could have read a newspaper through the watery stuff coming out his veins by then.
— Edison McDaniels, Juicing Out
As much as I'm turned on by your buff, sexy body pressing against mine, if you could please roll off of me, I'll get my guns.
— Alexa Grace, Profile of Terror
Sir, you do understand that - officially - I'm not actually a centurion. I haven't even been assigned to a legion yet.'	The general continued writing as he spoke. 'What was the name?'	'Corbulo, sir.'	'Corbulo, you have an officer's tunic and an officer's helmet; and you completed full officer training did you not?'	Cassius nodded. He could easily recall every accursed test and drill. Though he'd excelled in the cerebral disciplines and somehow survived the endless marches and swims, he had rated poorly with sword in hand and had been repeatedly described as "lacking natural leadership ability." The academy's senior centurion had seemed quite relieved when the letter from the Service arrived. 	 'I did, sir, but it was felt I would be more suited to intelligence work than the legions, I really would prefer -' 	'And you did take an oath? To Rome, the Army and the Emperor?'	'I did, sir, and of course I am happy to serve but -'	The General finished the orders. He rolled the sheet up roughly and handed it to Cassius. 	'Dismissed.'	'Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. I just have one final question.'	The General was on his way back to his chair. He turned around and fixed Cassius with an impatient stare. 	'Sir - how should I present myself to the troops? In terms of rank I mean.' 	'They will assume you are a centurion, and I can see no practical reason whatsoever to disabuse them of that view.
— Nick  Brown, The Siege
I keep people alive every day, and right now, the person I’m trying to keep alive is you. Will you let me?
— Chrys Fey, 30 Seconds
We’re trying to rebuild society, not plunge it back into chaos.” – character quote
— Andrew Cormier, Shamblers: the zombie apocalypse
These mega-churches are springing up all over the country—especially in the suburbs of large cities. And they all follow the same formula: A charismatic, self-anointed pastor starts a church by holding services in a home, then in a school. He targets the young professionals, who make good salaries—although the poorer folks are welcome too, as long as they’re willing to pay their fair share. When there are enough members, the pastor proposes buying land, then buildings, then more buildings, asking the people to give sacrificially to do God’s work.The pastor uses outrageous gimmicks in the worship services to create a massive word-of-mouth campaign for the church. Everybody’s excited about going to the big show on Sundays. For the children and youth, church is like going to a theme park. And what kid wouldn’t want to do that?A local TV ministry is added. Then it goes national. Then global. Services are streamed live to the internet. A satellite campus is opened, then another, and so on. Ministries are established in foreign countries.But whose church is it? The pastor’s. Whose ministry is it? The pastor’s. What is everything built on? The pastor. It is his church. His ministry. His empire.-- Hal, the mega-church blogger
— Robert Burton Robinson, Deadly Commitment
Reaching for the basket of sex accoutrements, she took a thin, red tube, squeezed some clear gel onto her fingertips and returned to fondle his balls. “What’s that?” he asked, feeling a warm, tingling sensation around his genitals.“You not try before?” She smiled saucily.He shook his head.“…Special for you.
— Simon Palmer, Lost Innocence
THE PLAQUE read HARVEY GOULD, P I. It was the middle of the day, but the blinds were closed. Inside a desktop sat flanked by three non-matching chairs, a creased, leather sofa and a bookcase full of fiction.A middle-aged man lay back with a pair of briefs hanging around his ankles. A gorgeous, young lady was bent over him in a pair of pink panties that stretched over her pert buttocks. Her head was bobbing up and down and her long, thick black hair swished around her neck with each bob. Harvey lay motionless, moaning.
— Simon Palmer, Lost Innocence
I had watched him single handedly rip the head off a zombie as he had simultaneously prayed for its soul. When you witness a man do something like that, it changes your perception of them.
— Andrew Cormier, Shamblers: the zombie apocalypse
You gotta fish or cut bait,man.This has gone on long enough. You're playing with fire, every damn time you walk in this bar.
— Karen      Rose, I Can See You
At a hundred and twenty five miles per hour, with the wind rushing in his face, darkness around him, he is alone in the universe, but then, Zeb has been alone all his life.
— Ty Patterson, The Warrior
I still wanted to go home, but had to enter the tunnel and pray for the best. Every day, I discovered more disadvantages to being a strong woman, although the past week made me feel like Hercules in a burkha.-Grace Madison, PhD
— N.L.B. Horton, When Camels Fly
Ah ha!' the Doc screeched suddenly, wheeling around. ''The salicylic acid! Maybe it SHOULD have been heated first!
— Clare Havens, The Secret Formula
But he couldn’t risk taking the helmet off. It was the only thing saving him from the firing squad. He was no longer able to keep his thoughts silent. No longer able to squash his misgivings about what he had done.
— T.C. Avey
Revenge hardly mends anything. The son of a bitch you want to crush does not exist. The son of a bitch is your own self.
— E.E. Giorgi, CHIMERAS
I read somewhere that when you're a kid it's people's cruelty that makes you cry, then when you're an adult it's their kindness.
— Glen Duncan, The Last Werewolf
Vera had also hated lipstick, Marzipan and Lutherans - excluding her husband, but not her late mother-in-law. Most of all she hated being governed by anyone or anything.
— Victoria Dougherty, The Bone Church
On the black cotton was printed a white skull and crossbones - the skull head grinning as if he were mocking her. The nun struggled for her breath and wanted to drop the evil little banner, but her fingers wouldn't let go of it - making her stare into its horrid death face as if she were looking at her own end.
— Victoria Dougherty, The Bone Church
A brief whiff of her mother had come through a cracked window that opened to a weed-infested courtyard. It was a fragrance that almost spoke to her, saying, 'Yes, it was an unjust end to the life of a good man.' A man who had accepted gratitude in the place of love, and who knew Magdalena's heart would always remain with Ales's father.
— Victoria Dougherty, The Bone Church
But they promised us everyone would return someday…when it was safe.” Her voice cracked at the end.“You’re being stupid again. Trusting in what they say.” Disdain dripped from his words like pus from an infected wound.
— T.C. Avey
He continued along the route that he had reconnoitered the morning before. And the morning before that. He needed to change his route some to see if he was actually being followed. His instincts said he was clear, but his training ordered him to make sure.
— J.T. Patten
Sometimes it takes losing everything to see the truth in nothing, except love, honor, and death.
— N.J. Paige, Code Human
Life is for running at full on, not running away from with a whimper...
— John J. Ainsworth
Havens reached into his ear and pinched enough of the latex with his fingernails to withdraw the device. He dropped it on the ground and crushed it under his foot. He didn’t care if it was found. It was French-made. Procured for that very purpose. F*** overwatch. Screw the French.
— J.T. Patten, Safe Havens: Shadow Masters
Havens turned again.Someone else passed between the trucks. That someone walked with less purpose than the other workers near the stalls. To Havens this meant a surveillance asset was on him and it probably was not an assassination attempt. It eased him back into relative comfort for just a moment or two more.
— J.T. Patten, Safe Havens: Shadow Masters
Alana Marks had always known she was different. From her gypsy childhood, to the way she now made her living in the movies, she'd always lived on the edge. She'd been paid to leap from a sixteenth story window, roll a car to a cliff edge, get thrown off a speeding train and dragged into a river by a runaway horse. At the moment, she was about to set herself on fire and jump out of a burning barn.
— Barbara Kyle, The Experiment
There are days I long to disappear in the wild, go back to the predator life I was meant to have. Kill the prey or be killed: it’s in my genes.A chimera, that's what I am. And this is my story.
— E.E. Giorgi, CHIMERAS
The last vestiges of consciousness tell her she has just witnessed her own murder, all she ever was and hoped to be is gone.
— Terry Hayes, I Am Pilgrim
Werewolves are not a subject for academe,” she said, “but you know what the professors would be saying if they were. ‘Monsters die out when the collective imagination no longer needs them. Species death like this is nothing more than a shift in the aggregate psychic agenda. In ages past the beast in man was hidden in the dark, disavowed. The transparency of modern history makes that impossible: We’ve seen ourselves in the concentration camps, the gulags, the jungles, the killing fields, we’ve read ourselves in the annals of True Crime. Technology turned up the lights and now there’s no getting away from the fact: The beast is redundant. It’s been us all along.
— Glen Duncan, The Last Werewolf
There is good weird and good strange and bad weird and bad strange. Your Daddy is good weird and good strange.
— Roger Hamlet, XXX
Eric waited all his life for love and, in meeting, Tina thought he had it. What he got wasn't quite what he'd dreamed about.
— E.J. Caulder, Sunshine: Diary of An Affair
What is my favorite part of book one? It would have to be the last chapter because that’s when the consequences catch up to Eric and it became clear that what he considered fun and games for nearly a year almost got Tina killed.
— E.J. Caulder, Sunshine: Diary of An Affair
What are we, Charlie's Angels?
— Terri Blackstock, Truth Stained Lies
When she was living one of her fantasies she felt like a bird, the freedom of its wings letting her soar without earthly boundaries, enabling her to look on to her vividly imagined scenes from a great height.
— Wendy Anne Gibbins-Lekkou, Kiss on Her Wings
A man who lives a part, not to others but alone, is exposed to obvious psychological dangers. In itself the practice of deception is not particularly exacting. It is a matter of experience, a professional expertise. It is a facility most of us can acquire. But while a confidence trickster, a play actor or a gambler can return from his performance to the ranks of his admirers, the secret agent enjoys no such relief. For him, deception is first a matter of self defense. He must protect himself not only from without, but from within, and against the most natural of impulses. Though he earn a fortune, his role may forbid him the purchase of a razor. Though he be erudite, it can befall him to mumble nothing but banalities. Though he be an affectionate husband and father, he must within all circumstances without himself from those with whom he should naturally confide. Aware of the overwhelming temptations which assail a man permanently isolated in his deceit, Limas resorted to the course which armed him best. Even when he was alone, he compelled himself to live with the personality he had assumed. It is said that Balzac on his deathbed inquired anxiously after the health and prosperity of characters he had created. Similarly, Limas, without relinquishing the power of invention, identified himself with what he had invented. The qualities he had exhibited to Fiedler: the restless uncertainty, the protective arrogance concealing shame were not approximations, but extensions of qualities he actually possessed. Hence, also, the slight dragging of the feet, the aspect of personal neglect, the indifference to food, and an increasing reliance on alcohol and tobacco. When alone, he remained faithful to these habits. He would even exaggerate them a little, mumbling to himself about the iniquities of his service. Only very rarely, as now, going to bed that evening, did he allow himself the dangerous luxury of admitting the great lie that he lived.
— John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
If you behave as if you are all right, then one day you will be. You have to go through the motions of surviving in order to survive.
— Nicci French, Killing Me Softly
People say that your life flashes before your eyes before you die, but they’re wrong. It’s not your life that passes before you, it’s the regrets that do.
— Elise Valenti, We the People
Society tends to stick labels on everything and everyone. The label that is given to you will stick with you for a lifetime.
— Kenneth Eade, An Involuntary Spy
Genetic engineering was messy. To force a sequence of foreign DNA into a plant, you couldn’t just snip the desired gene from the bacteria and sew it on to the plant’s DNA sequence like an old woman working on a quilt.
— Kenneth Eade
Sometimes one man must fight for what he feels is right, even against the majority. Something that is wrong does not change to right just because the majority approves it, ignores it, or the government says it is right. It is still wrong.
— Kenneth Eade, An Involuntary Spy
It is extremely Sad to think that while nature is talking,humankind is not listening.
— J.D. Masterson
Mama says love is a sickness of the heart. Only the weak fall under its spell.
— Katlyn Charlesworth, The Sun & Stars
How can one fight for a love that acts as the enemy?
— Katlyn Charlesworth, The Sun & Stars
Jews don't camp...The last time the Jews went camping, they spent forty years wandering in the desert.
— Daniel Silva, The English Girl
There is cruelty in the world Eliza, you can see that, can't you?It surrounds us. It breathes on us. We spend our life trying to escape it.
— John Boyne, This House is Haunted
But show business has always been like that - any kind of show business. If these people didn't live intense and rather disordered lives, if their emotions didn't ride them too hard—well, they wouldn't be able to catch those emotions in flight and imprint them on a few feet of celluloid or project them across the footlights.
— Raymond Chandler, The Little Sister
You are so beautiful, I could eat you,” he said.And it was true. Her smile was as intoxicating as the wine.And he could eat her.
— Jonas Eriksson, Everyday Psychopaths
Our lover is the sun, and we the stars forever floating in their glow. We push and push, yearning for our sun's rays to reach out and touch us for just a moment in time… one second-glance to warm our spirits and soothe our aching hearts.
— Katlyn Charlesworth, The Sun & Stars
You are not there, Father,” I cried. “I wake up at Gaudlin Hall, I spend most of my day there, I sleep there at night. And throughout it all there is but one thought running through my mind.”“And that is?”“This house is haunted.
— John Boyne, This House is Haunted
It's never too late.
— John D. Garrison, Dagger of Heaven
No woman will ever take care of my children but me, she said. I will not allow it, do you understand?And after I am gone Madge Toxley, if you try to make them yours, then you will live to regret it.
— John Boyne, This House is Haunted
His body jerks twice as the bullets hit him. I scream, but no sound leaves my mouth. I'm frozen in pure terror.
— Sarah Hunter Hyatt, A Dash of Madness: A Thriller Anthology
Jordan loomed over her and a flash of light blinded her momentarily. The knife. Shane felt her newfound courage faltering, felt herself falling back through the years, into the body of that little girl. No. She closed her eyes, pictured Matt’s face, Gram’s face, and felt her strength returning. She would not let Jordan terrify her again. She might fail tonight, she might die, but she would not be his whimpering victim. Opening her eyes, she braved the flashing glare of the hunting knife he held above her face. She willed her body to lie still as she stared straight into his eyes. With a thrill of triumph, she saw the surprise in the gray eyes that stared back at her. Neither of them spoke a word, but they both knew the final moves in the game were at hand, and that Shane had just altered the rules. She could see the dawn of awareness in his eyes: She was no longer a mere pawn to toy with as he pleased.On the other hand, he still had the knife.
— Jane Taylor Starwood, Shattered Blue
Bold courage is paralyzing fear after humble prayer.
— Kenneth E. Nowell, The Return
Nine had heard whisperings that the secretive Bilderberg Group was effectively the World Government, undermining democracy by influencing everything from nations' political leaders to the venue for the next war. He recalled persistent rumors and confirmed media reports that the Bilderberg Group had such luminaries as Barack Obama, Prince Charles, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Tony Blair, Bill and Hillary Clinton, George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush. Other Bilderberg members sprung forth from Nine’s memory bank. They included the founders and CEOs of various multinational corporations like Facebook, BP, Google, Shell and Amazon, as well as almost every major financial institution on the planet.
— James Morcan, The Ninth Orphan
Many hands make light work.
— Dan Brown, Digital Fortress
... cynicism is the only tool that can scrape away the tint off rose-coloured glasses.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
It is. And yet so few really are free. Nearly all people live in prisons of their own making, regardless of their faith, creed, sex or race.
— Ted Dekker, The Sanctuary
Pape called Basil his sanctuary. In truth we all exist in our own sanctuaries-but I don't mean cathedrals or prisons. I'm talking about our hearts and minds, which imprison us in anxiety, dear, insecurity, anger and other forms of misery. The walls & bars that keep most in a constant state of suffering are thoughts and emotions, not concrete & steel. It's a disease. Insanity. Most are afflicted by it, regardless of which side of the law they find themselves on or where they lay their heads at night. To be free of this, Renee, is to be free indeed.
— Ted Dekker, The Sanctuary
I tell you, Professor, growing up is a full contact sport. Somewhere in our brains, foolishness and naïveté join forces with a false sense of invincibility. Together, they score own-goals against their host’s interests. All this happens while that referee known as ‘reason’ is collapsed in a drunken stupor, unable to stop the madness. When he finally wakes up, all he can do is grant the useless penalty known as ‘hindsight’. But the outcome remains unchanged. The game is lost …
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
It was in Cleveland that Magic Slim became the most successful pornographic film producer in America. His training center was a key link in a human trafficking supply chain stretching from the former Soviet Republics in Eastern Europe to the United States. Trafficking accounts for an estimated $32 billion in annual trade with sex slavery and pornographic film production accounting for the greatest percentage.The girls arrived at Slim’s building young and naive, they left older and wiser. This was a classic value chain with each link making a contribution.  Slim’s trainers were the best, and it showed in the final product. Each class of girls was judged on the merits. The fast learners went on to advanced training. They learned proper etiquette, social skills and party games. They learned how to dress, apply makeup and discuss world events. Best in-class were advertised in international style magazines with code words. These codes were known only to select clients and certain intermediaries approved by Slim. This elaborate distribution system was part of Slim’s business model, his clients paid an annual subscription fee for the on-line dictionary. The code words and descriptions were revised monthly. An interested client would pay an access fee for further information that included a set of professional  photographs, a video and voice recordings of the model addressing the client by name.  Should the client accept, a detailed travel itinerary was submitted calling for first class travel and accommodation.  Slim required a letter of understanding spelling out terms and conditions and a 50% deposit. He didn’t like contracts, his word was his bond, everyone along the chain knew that.Slim's business was booming.
— Nick Hahn
Mr. Gweta looked ten years younger than Professor Khupe had expected. His jet-black hair was trimmed so neatly that it would make a manicured golf course look scruffy. His face was exceptionally smooth, giving the impression that he had been born without skin pores and transitioned through puberty devoid of any facial hair to pockmark his countenance. Mr. Gweta’s face was perfectly symmetrical. An ant walking from one side to the other would experience a serious case of déjà vu.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
Despite his elegant appearance, Mr. Gweta’s most striking asset was his alluring personality. Professor Khupe had met few such men in his life. Their warmth made everyone feel like they were their best friend. They were good men. However, they tended to be morally ambidextrous. If a stranger confessed to having been involved in a horrible crime, they would reserve judgment until they found out whether the confessor was the victim or victimizer. Once they knew, they would immediately lend their sympathies to the confessor’s position. Their worldview was simple. They supported the first person to confide in them. Such men made good lawyers.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
The key trait of a Sperm Pirate is that she is not driven by desperation. Escaping poverty or hardship is not her motive. She usually has a good education and access to the same opportunities as the man she tries to trap. However, she understands that it is more efficient to enjoy a lavish lifestyle through the sweat of another’s labour. But the Sperm Pirate is acutely aware that the infatuation of a hormonal man has a brief shelf life. This poor collateral must be cashed in before it expires. A pregnancy is the best way to convert this volatile resource into a stable asset. Babies are reliable insurance policies. They create legal obligations for financial support, even when the sweet milk of passion turns sour.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
Professor Khupe felt his chest swell with pride. It was doing so without his encouragement. If an electrical fault had stopped the elevator from rising, his inflating ego would have powered the remainder of their journey to the twenty-second floor.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
As he was about to press the button to shut the doors, a young woman stepped in. She had that sort of beauty that deserved to be prosecuted for appearing without notice. Professor Khupe was confident that an appropriate law existed for such a purpose. However, no prosecutor could remain undistracted for long enough to find the said law in the criminal code. The young lady would enjoy a life of impunity.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
Not all diseases come from bacteria and viruses, Professor. The worst often come from things you cannot see under a microscope. This plant is infested with an aggressive strain of such invisible germs.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
Professor Khupe rubbed his hand along the sand dunes of her windswept form. The static charge made her skin feel like the surface of a cactus. He recoiled. How he wished he had gone into the priesthood when he had had the chance. Embracing celibacy was far easier than battling the consequences of shunning it.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
... eloquence is merely the product of intelligence. History is not shaped by men of genius. It is shaped by men of unwavering will. Men who focus whatever brains they have on the savvy application of power. In the end, brawn will always do the heavy lifting. Brawn will always win the war.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
He looked up to the gods but never accepted their eternal superiority. For better or worse, plotting their overthrow was the only aspiration that stoked the fires of destiny. Such an exalted ambition was worthy of a man who had long accomplished the chore of dominating human minds. A man so terrified of finding himself alone in a stratosphere where no one could understand just how exceptional he was. In that place, the presumed existence of gods was a great comfort, especially in a profession in which his rivals were mere mortals.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
To write well is to have felt a tingle of joy in your being; to have left a little of your blood on the page' B.J.Kibble, author of DRY RAIN, LEGION, CHASING THE WIND,and CRIES FROM THE GRAVE.
— B.J. Kibble, Dry Rain
Another misconception is that desires are insatiable. Admittedly, for the small segment of society that is clinically deranged, this statement may not hold true. But for those seeking riches, pleasure, or power, too much of a good thing dulls the appetite.” – Jeremy Lyons [Survival of the Fittest]
— Marvin H. McIntyre, Inside Out
So? I know damn well that I didn’t poison her.”Veronica Lane, M.D., Treating Murder
— Gabrielle Black, Treating Murder
I let one of the men rename me. A man gave me the name Rose – you didn’t know that, did you, Poke?…He said, this man, he said that Kwan was too hard to remember, even though it’s a good name and it means ‘spirit,’ and that the rose was the queen of flowers and I was the queen of Patpong.” She laughs, rough as a cough. “The queen of Patpong. A kingdom of whores and viruses. Death with a smile.
— Timothy Hallinan, The Queen of Patpong
You think I started out like this?Well, I didn't.I started out like anyone else - young and hopeful. I started out arrogant and in love, assuming the whole dizzy world was where it should be: at my feet. I started out - well, I started out a little like you.
— Gail Levy, Strange Embrace
Mr. Gweta and his daughter were the cosmetics camouflaging an infected blackhead. The rest of the ugliness ran deep into a world where plants ate people and botanists lay at the bottom of the food chain.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
The girl had a special way of saying “anything”. The gods had blessed her voice with a special monopoly. It delivered an acoustic chocolate that was laced with all flavours of euphoria. The substance led to surges in testosterone in all types of men, including the average botanist. “Anything.” The way she handled the word endowed it with so many possibilities. Professor Khupe decided to investigate how many of these Ketiwe would let him explore. To his delight the parameters of the word had proven to be quite elastic.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
... the only difference between carnivores and plants is that the latter eat meat through ‘translator’ organisms. Maggots and bacteria ‘pre-chew’ dead animal matter, which plants then absorb as nutrients. So if eating pre-chewed food does not change the fact that a baby is human, why should a plant be any less of a carnivore because it out-sources the digestion of animal protein to organisms of decay?
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
He had the muscular definition of a man who had spent his life restraining elephants in heat.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
I appreciate the gesture, but you don't have to undress in order to apologize
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
When a group of people are forced to navigate a minefield together, everyone feels a grudging sense of comfort when someone else gets blown up. Though there may be other unseen landmines left in the ground, each death creates a safe spot. A landmine cannot explode twice in the same place. Sure, the explosion robs the survivors of a comrade. Still, each death makes everyone’s next step marginally safer. So everyone keeps walking with grief on their faces, and relief in their hearts. Their own deaths are further postponed by the end of another life.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
Being a hangman requires you to take someone else’s life based on someone else’s judgment, and carry it out on someone else’s schedule. The job does not provide the same satisfaction that an ordinary murderer gets from smashing a skull. It robs them of the fulfillment of plunging a knife into someone’s throat. In the world of capital punishment, the prisoner’s crimes have been sanitized by years of sitting on death row. By then, the execution is a cold and impersonal affair. There is prayer, a noose, and a few last words. The prisoner then experiences a sudden rush of blood to the head. At the end of it all, you have a broken neck and a dead body swinging from the end of a rope. That is it. You don’t get to manhandle them with your own hands. That’s why the brutes you mention will never be hired. So you see, Vaida, this is not a job for a murderer. It is a job for a humanitarian.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
Never is a man more proud than when he shuffles paper in front of an illiterate person.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
Blood is a reservoir of delights. It is a treasure trove for those who know what to look for, and how to isolate it from the rest of the junk. I know how to do both.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
The plant and animal kingdoms (excluding humans) offered some pleasant surprises. Organisms from these realms are much simpler to figure out. Their behaviours are not muddied by personality factors or flawed belief systems. If an insect smells like a fart, you can be sure that the stench has a genetic basis. It is neither trying to make a lofty point, nor is it suffering from an inferiority complex.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
In Panama, I found a spider that eats its own limbs during lean times. I am told they grow back. But though the distinction is razor-thin, desperation is not the same thing as determination. Nevertheless, auto-cannibalism is one the most intriguing phenomenon I have ever heard of.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
Further north, I met a Siberian hermit who lived in the foothills of the Ural Mountains. His life’s passion was wrestling black bears ... in the nude (him not the bears). He did not know why he did it. All the hermit knew was that if he stopped wrestling bears, he would die.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
The primitive craving for survival is universal in all things capable of dying. Now imagine if you could isolate the basic element that drives all animals to fight for survival? What would you do with it? I already had my own ideas when I started my search for an entity I eventually dubbed “The Determination Gene”.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
The funnel of my family’s salvation must continue narrowing towards the gallows. That journey cannot begin at the parted tips of another woman’s toes
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
An Abel Muranda without his wife and children would be a wandering bachelor without any dignity. He would sleep in caves and feed on wild berries. But no matter how lonely life became, he would never come to a place like this
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
You keep distracting from the main point, Vaida. I did not come to Harare to study other people’s scars. I have my own to worry about. They make me sick. I will never recover from the events that carved them into my body. You should focus on healing yours instead of creating new ones.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
Vaida planted her shoulders into the back of her chair and slid her lower body towards the edge of the seat. The fabric of her retracting skirt increased the protrusion of her legs. When she was in position, Vaida made a fine adjustment to achieve the desired view.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
Abel Muranda fought off furious red ants with mandibles that could cut through a miser's padlock.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, Sprout of Disruption
Poetic words are usually more stimulating than accurate. Taking them too seriously is a mistake.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
Every successful mission requires a clear plan. Tonight, Mrs. Sibanda’s mission was to enjoy some gratification. She would not be denied. Her plan was as clear as oxygen. It involved an expensive perfume, a bottle of wine, and audacious underwear. Yes, for such battles, lingerie was always a critical component of the offensive strategy.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
I will not mince words. There’s been enough mincing for one day. Therefore, I shall ask my question bluntly: How does a man know that his body has been turned inside out? … His eyes can see the back of his skull with an alarming clarity. I am told it hurts like hell. Especially when he refuses to explain why he has been investigating the hangman’s replacement
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
MUSHAKABVU, I may be in a tough spot, but I am more worried about you. I have never experienced anything close to a sense of kinship with any of my clients, let alone those I have never met. However, the world you sent me to investigate has inspired a selfless concern that is uncommon between strangers. I hope you are just a curious, distant observer in the affairs I have been probing ... But something tells me this hope was frustrated long before our acquaintance.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
One candidate who considered applying for the position explained his change of heart: “That job is like unprotected sex. It feels amazing at the time, but there is a good chance you will pay for it later. None of the benefits are worth the pleasure.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
... the successful recruit must be empathetic. This condition rules out the sadistic, the vengeful, and the enthusiastic. Therefore, many of the garden-variety killers who applied so far have had no chance of success, especially those who are already behind bars.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
As they say: A baking man will grasp at a hangman. Whoever gets the job will be dragged into the heat, forced to wear a massive pair of iron shoes, and frogmarched across the minefield at gunpoint.
— Taona Dumisani Chiveneko, The Hangman's Replacement: Sprout of Disruption
I understand, gentlemen,” John Kennedy said. “If you find that life it’s not easy, let me tell you, death is worse.
— Pierre Marshesso, Double Life: The JFK Assassinations
A voice flat enough to fit under a door crack.
— Harlan Coben, Stay Close
Snowmageddon.Dirty glacial clouds hammered the city's anvil. On the District of Columbia’s northwestern edge, gusts of snow rolled across the Park Road Bridge like volcanic ash.
— Simon Conway, Rock Creek Park
Jill, a comprehensive school teacher in her early thirties, has put her dark past behind her to become a lady in control of her own life. Successful in her career, soon to be divorced and with no emotional ties, she is content. Except that one morning, while trying to find work for a recalcitrant Year 9 class, she finds herself in a dark and murky street in Victorian England. The image soon disappears and she is back in the classroom, but the children she was teaching have gone and so has an hour of her life. Soon Jill finds herself living two parallel lives, one as a teacher and the other as a Victorian governess. And this is just the beginning
— Jan Hunter
Readers often tell me after they've read the books, they find it difficult to sum up the plot in a simple way. My response is, "It's a story about the love a father shares for his daughter. All the rest is just filler."- MJ Mancini, on his best-selling trilogy, "Revelation".
— M.J. Mancini
The lights flickered, the pain went away, and her mother was holding her, singing ‘Sleep sweet sleep’. (The Children of Ankh series) Kim Cormack
— Kim Cormack
My only allegiance is to my country.  The success of our country is built on hard work, sacrifice, innovation, integrity, and confidence.  How can you be confident if you can’t get a job?  How can you be confident if the mortgage on your home is higher than your home’s value?  How can you be confident when our elected officials haven’t given us one single idea how to fix this situation? – Jeremy Lyons
— Marvin H. McIntyre
No matter how you twist and turn, your ass is always in the back.
— Andrew Sturm, The Kirkwood Project
I had a quack in the floor. So, I had to use ductile.
— Andrew Sturm, The Kirkwood Project
I guess you could say I'm allergic to sunlight. If I'm exposed to it, it could kill me.
— Lee    Thompson, Jeremy's Kiss
A little politeness might smooth the way ahead. Knowing it was his turn to be dispatched, the best he could hope for was as swift a death as the one Massetti had so thanklessly received.
— Victoria Lamb
Have a smile on your face for everyone you meet, and a plan to kill them.
— Brad Thor
There is a moment of sheer panic when I realize that Paul's apartment overlooks the park... and is obviously more expensive than mine.
— Patrick Bateman
…the gavel became an extension of his arm and he used it to bludgeon the court into submission.
— William Deihl
The only person truly capable of keeping me from fulfilling my dream is me.
— Doeray Louise
Marisa starts to snoop. I might as well too. It's not often that I get to visit a water pellet company in a freaky refugee nation.
— Catherine Stine
Puerto Rico was the Republic of Texas on jet-fuel testosterone and psychedelic estrogen.
— David R. Martin, Puerto Rico City
You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s really an easy way: Stop participating in it.
— Noam Chomsky
You’ve got a lot of responsibility now,” Jace said to Julian. “You’ll have to make sure Emma winds up with a guy who deserves her.” Julian was strangely white-faced. Maybe he was feeling the effects of the ceremony, Emma thought. It had been strong magic; she still felt it sizzling through her blood like champagne bubbles. But Jules looked as if he’d been slapped.“What about me?” Emma said, quickly. “Don’t I have to make sure Jules winds up with someone who deserves him?”“Absolutely. I did it for Alec, Alec did it for me — well, actually, he hated Clary at first, but he came around.” “I BET you didn’t like Magnus much, either,” said Julian, still with the same odd, stiff look on his face.“Maybe not,” said Jace, “but I never would have said so.”“Because it would have hurt Alec’s feelings?” Emma asked.“No,” said Jace, “because Magnus would have turned me into a hat rack.
— Cassandra Clare, Lady Midnight
There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.
— Elizabeth Warren
Eventually we all have to accept full and total responsibility for our actions, everything we have done, and have not done. 
— Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream
And a step backward, after making a wrong turn, is a step in the right direction.
— Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Player Piano
I feel I owe you another explanation Harry," said Dumbledore hesitantly. "You may, perhaps, wondered why I never chose you as a prefect? I must confess...that I rather thought...you had enough responsibility to be going on with."Harry looked up at him and saw a tear trickling down Dumbledore's face into his long silver beard.
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one's acts.
— Mahatma Gandhi
There are no innocent bystanders ... what are they doing there in the first place?
— William S. Burroughs, Exterminator!
Them as can do has to do for them as can't. And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.
— Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men
Not responding is a response--we are equally responsible for what we don't do. In the case of animal slaughter, to throw your hands in the air is to wrap your fingers around a knife handle.
— Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals
I don't have a 'side'—I'm responsible for what I say and nothing else.
— Glenn Greenwald
There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.
— P.J. O'Rourke
I don’t think Will Herondale and a sense of responsibility are even on speaking terms
— Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince
The very good people did not convince me
—  I felt they'd never been tempted. But you knew
Once she was certain, she didn't waiver. I had to make her stop for water or a bite to eat. She obeyed, but she was restless. As clear as if she spoke to me, she was saying, "Very well, I know you want to keep my strength up, but scent fades, you know!"And I'd say, "I know, girl, but you're what I have and I'm going to take care of you.
— Tamora Pierce, Bloodhound
No one is innocent in the tide of history. Everyone has kings and slaves in his past. Everyone has saints and sinners. We are not to blame for the actions of our ancestors. We can only try to be the best we can, no matter what our heritage, to strive for a better future for all.
— Diana Peterfreund, Across a Star-Swept Sea