c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
The wiry man scratched his head, looked the two inquisitors up and down and cleared his throat softly. “We must be quick.” He turned to go, pulling his cloak over his head and shuffling through the door into the moonlight. The two inquisitors moved with impossible silence behind, floating across the straw-covered floor like the cats on the walls outside the hut. The cats froze at the disturbance before scurrying noiselessly into the shadows as the three silhouettes crossed the ten yards of grass before the blackness of the forest swallowed them. No fires flickered at this time, when the full moon was highest in the cloudless summer sky, and the three were the only waking souls in the hamlet.
— Gregory Figg, Threshold
Sunday lay so heavily in the air as to become almost nauseating. Maigret used to claim openly, half seriously, half in fun, that he had always had the knack of sensing a Sunday from his bed, without even having to open his eyes.
— Georges Simenon
The motive of man is a mystery.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
....Oh, what???.... Can you repeat... okay... I will say I'm against every your though (What can yo do about that?) (Oh, oh you poor little kid, oh, oh you poor little man you can't do anything here is the story)...Once upon a time there was two women and one man,... they weren't let to go outside... they both were married to the same man... it was said to them "If They go outside they won't come back", but the truth was who goes outside he will be slaughtered, every finger one by one will be cutted, then little pushing inside a knife in the body, a lot of blood goes outside in the same time the other woman also get punished if the one get's. She is punished to drink the other woman blood, when this process is going again and again the man removes the clothes and he start jerk off on their faces..., (Yeah I know you will try to kill him, but you can't), you are bound with metal and rope handcuffs your legs and your arms. On your head you have a mask, if you move it detectes and it explodes when it explodes your face goes ugly from ugly you goes disable you are dead because this mask kills the brain... The other woman is next to a trap which detectes if she goes out of one zone, it goes like this if there is so much pressure it won't happen this, but if there isn't it goes very bad... The man is above few meters and he jerkoff on their faces and he does what he wants... and so on and so on... YOu can't change it, once you are the killer (Very bad for you, ...man), once you are the victim wow that's very bad I few awful if I was a victim somebody will jerk off on my face and I'm not a gay....! If this happen remind me to kill my self, I can't live with the thought that I'm a gay...
— Deyth Banger
Love. The simplest and most complicated concept in life. You crave it, you fear it, you fight for it, you live for it, you might even be willing to die for it. It’s a mystery, a gift and an honor. To give and to receive. To give is to receive.
— Brownell Landrum, A Chorus of Voices: DUET stories Volume III - Adult Version
What’s the mission at hand? To save the Church? To save the pope? Uncover a menacing secret society within the Church? Eliminate the would-be assassins? Or could it be something else, something even more portentous and earth-shattering?
— Peter J Tanous
When I couldn't speak I was not drawn into silence, silence captured me.
— Thomas Harris
The luminescent flow of a sunbathed garden— illuminating the shifting colors of its inhabitants— echoed in my memory as I opened the antique bookstore door in the shaft of window light. The books, like the flowers of the garden, awaited me with the thrill of a new mystery.
— Gina Marinello-Sweeney, The Rose and the Sword
That,” Adriana said, “is a puzzling mystery that must be solved.
— Gina Marinello-Sweeney, The Rose and the Sword
People want one book to read about the topic and to learn everything, unfortunately I was the same guy, the same person. Who wanted the same, but most stuff and for the most clever and intelligent people is mystery.
— Deyth Banger
Lord, I'll embrace whatever it is you want me to do, but please, please let me know what it is." - Father Kevin Thrall.
— Peter J. Tanous, The Secret of Fatima
I want to introduce my readers to people they may never have met, take them places they may never have visited, and present them with situations they may never have encountered.
— J. Everett Prewitt, A Long Way Back
...a redoubtable alchemy was at work behind impenetrable veils as the forest prepared its nocturnal mysteries.
— Julien Gracq
Believe me, I know a lot about harm's way. It turns sharp left off the road to Shitsville when you're least expecting it.
— Philip Kerr
You can run from the past, but it always catches up with you.
— Debbi Mack, Identity Crisis
It's not that he hated the wooden cube. It's what was inside it that he didn't like.
— Caroline Cairn, Forever Hers
Everything in life is a mystery if...
— Prakash Hegade
Once I went professionally to an archaeological expedition- and I learnt something there. In the course of an excavation, when something comes up out of the ground, evEryThing is cleared away very carefully all around it. You take away the loose earth, and you scare here and there with a knife until finally your object is there, all alone, ready to be drawn and photographed with no extraneous matter confusing it. That is what I have been seeking TO do- clear away the extraneous matter so that we can see the truth-the naked shining truth.
— Agatha Christie
For what I am suggesting is that concern for the mysterious is at the heart of the humanities, whereas at the heart of the sciences there is a concern with the problematic. That this is a contrast, and not a dichotomy, is seen in the way in which problem-solving has a place in the humanities—though the most significant kind of problem is one that, in Marcel’s language, ‘conceals a mystery’—and in the complementary way in which some scientists, such as Einstein, have spoken of a deepening sense of awe and wonder awakened in them, an awe and wonder in the presence of the universe, that grows through the advance of the sciences, through the growing success in solving problems. But the contrast remains, and since problem-solving can be successful, whereas contemplation of mystery cannot, there cannot be in the humanities any hope for the sort of success the sciences have known. Nor in theology: and especially not in Christian theology whose central mystery is focused in the birth of a child in a stable, and the death of a man on a cross.
— Andrew Louth, Discerning the Mystery: An Essay on the Nature of Theology
The tide, you see, is a fickle thing: stealing in, sliding away, always, always turning. She comes when you're not looking, a silent, liquid thief, only to rush away again, retreating from the shore like a coward. She gives sometimes too, though in fleeting, unexpected moments, yielding up her treasures and her dead--but never, ever her secrets.
— Barbara Davis
It was in a large window--a sort of hybrid between a shop and a private house--and consisted of a hand-written placard executed in bold Roman capitals announcing that these premises were occupied by no less a person than Professor Booley, late of Boston, U.S.A. (popularly believed to be the hub of the universe).
— R. Austin Freeman, For The Defence: Dr. Thorndyke
It's a strange feeling, owning a secret. It's like a stone in my stomach, crushing my insides and making me feel sick every time I think of it.
— Fiona Barton, The Widow
Tobacco kills a lot of people, but cigarette vending machines are killing that woman by stealing her job.
— Otsuichi, Goth
A wedge of sunlight slipped over the edge of the desk and fell noiselessly to the carpet.
— Raymond Chandler
Hunter let go of JJ who started dusting his jacket with both hands. ‘Look at what you’ve done to my suit man, these things don’t come cheap you know.’ Garcia checked his pocket change. ‘Here.’ He extended his hand towards JJ. ‘A dollar ninety-five. Go buy another one.
— Chris Carter, The Crucifix Killer
She was a cute as a washtub.
— Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely
What was that feeling in my chest? Regret? Regret that I'd left last night after our kiss--that I'd pulled away before he could know how much I truly wanted him.
— Krystine Kelly, Tired of Me
Of course I believe in hell. I have three brothers.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
If Miss Elton spoke water instead of words, then there would have been a repetition of Noah’s flood.
— Kellyn Roth, The Dressmaker's Secret
Take it all, all of it!" Greg cried out. "These things here...I've been making them better, fixing them. It doesn't matter...they don't matter. I've been here before." He paused to try to collect himself. "It's my past, my present...these things--" He lifted a hand out to the objects around him. "These things are me." Now whispering, "Can't you see me?
— Dayna S. Rubin, Running Parallel
Fuck you! Someone has tortured and killed one of your girls and you couldn’t give a damn? I thought you were supposed to protect them, to be their guardian. Isn’t that what pimps do?’ Garcia’s face flared red.
— Chris Carter, The Crucifix Killer
Ever since we’d found Wilson, his cousin’s calmness bothered me. I realized now I felt less unease with angry outbursts from grieving relatives, than I had with the slow, ticking time bomb of the quiet and collected.--Prepped for Kill, Marjorie Gardens Mystery Book 2
— A.E.H. Veenman
I didn't like the calm tone reminiscent of his composure at the library, nor was I comfortable with his blank expression. We had a crime scene without forensics, and a body without a medical examiner. If I didn't counter whatever fresh hell Edward was about to unleash, we’d also lose concrete evidence we had yet to procure.--Prepped for the Kill, Marjorie Gardens Mystery Book 2
— A.E.H. Veenman
This was the second murder with which I’d found myself associated. Unlike the death of my client in April, my estranged uncle and his gang had nothing to do with this. And as far as I was aware, Arthur Teague was not a thug with the Fernoza Family mafia.--Prepped for the Kill, Marjorie Gardens Mystery Book 2
— A.E.H. Veenman
The scraps of information she’d gathered knocked against each other, like balls in a pinball machine in one of the arcades on the front. Secrets drew her in every time – the unsaid.
— Sara Sheridan, Operation Goodwood
Sir, no amount of money, no matter how vast, could induce me to stroll, perambulate, promenade, or engage in any form of locomotion with you whatsoever. Good evening.
— Jennifer Donnelly, These Shallow Graves
If you don't like your teeth
—  keep your mouth shut.
Maybe knowledge is power, but it ain't nearly as as satisfying as punching some smart ass in the chops.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
Excuses are like butt holes everyone has 'em and they all stink.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
If money don't buy happiness, what the hell does?
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
Matrimony and firefighting. They ain't for cowards.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
What if there's no such thing as PMS, and this is just my personality?
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
You don't know many friends you have till you buy a big-ass house on the beach.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
You guys gotta get a license to drive a Geo, but any doofus with a few good swimmers can be a father.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
A friend is someone who will bike to the ice cream shop with you, even when you don't look so good.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
Taxes for people with too much damned time on their hands.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
Expect stupid. It's everywhere.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
The trouble with insanity is it can flare up at the most inconvenient moments.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
If men were necessary in the procreation process, they'd have gone the way of the dodo bird long ago.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
I'd love to go out with you, but I'd hate to deprive some village of its idiot.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
If at 1st you don't succeed, stretch out on your La-Z-Boy with a six-pack and a porn flick. Y' still won't succeed, but you sure as hell won't give a shift.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
A person without regrets is called a corpse.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
Sometimes it's nice to have a man around the house. But a dog will clean the dishes.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
False hope is better than no hope at all.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
All's well so long-as you don't get shot in the hind end with a twenty gauge.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
I'm just an everyday kind of hero. If the everyday kind saves babies from burning buildings and looks hotter than hell in bunker gear.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
A woman needs a man like a tuba needs a cucumber.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
There are 2 kinds of people in the world. Those who enjoy a nice salami and those who have no souls.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
A wedding is no way to begin a marriage.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
When men age they're called sophisticated. When women age they ain't called at all.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
If you don't scare the neighbors while copulating, I'm afraid you're doing something terribly wrong.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
Apparently it takes, like, forty-seven muscles to frown. Flippin' the bird' s a hell of a lot easier.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
Women have to be in the mood for sex. Men have to be breathing.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
Love is like skydiving without a parachute.
— Lois Greiman, Unmanned
Let us talk about oxymoron, common sense, for instance.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
I’m an idiot for trying to avoid these feelings because they have caused me pain in the past.
— Kellyn Roth, The Dressmaker's Secret
The onslaught of scruples is a problem well attested in the spiritual life, especially among the young, where religious observances must be done perfectly to achieve a certain result.
— Philip Zaleski, The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams
Then, if you want, we can bring her back to New York and keep her safe. If she means that much to you, she means that much to me.” My head continued to move from side to side. “Who the fuck are you?” Nox leaned close, his cologne clouding my thoughts. “I’m Batman, princess. Next time you want to fly across the country, tell me. I won’t delay two hundred people’s plans, and we can just fly in the bat plane.
— Aleatha Romig, Cunning
I have abstained from expressing any opinion, so far," says Mr. Superintendent, with his military voice still in good working order. "I have now only one remark to offer, on leaving this case in your hands. There IS such a thing, Sergeant, as making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Good-morning.""There is also such a thing as making nothing out of a mole-hill, in consequence of your head being too high to see it." Having returned his brother-officer's compliment in those terms, Sergeant Cuff wheeled about, and walked away to the window by himself.
— Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone
I've been a little cranky since that house fell on my sister.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
A balanced diet and a brisk daily walk will help keep you healthy, but there's nothing like a good-looking young man with a nice butt to help up your cardiovascular system.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
You are a perfect woman, a magical blend of beauty, intelligence, and spirit. Without you, my life is nothing.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Digital Age Cozy: Cozy mystery can be more than knitting grannies, cats, and cookbooks!
— A.E.H. Veenman, Dial QR for Murder
Yeah, world peace would be all right, but what about a day off in a slab of ham the size of my head.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Life's funny. Sometimes it's your oyster, and sometimes you're it's bitch-slapped man-whore.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Within the mystery of death, love stands guard and waits, filling the moments that "are" with itself, so that the moments to come will never be empty, never devoid of someone so loved.
— Mary Morrell, Things My Father Taught Me About Love
Trust is important to any relationship… and easier to come by if you get a picture of a guy's wife buck naked.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
There aren't many things a man finds more appealing than loyalty. Unless it's a woman with really big knockers.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
It ate a party till someone ends up naked.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
An air of mystery closed around the details of his early life. I didn't pry. He had been through hell and had a right to his secrets.
— Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
You don't need to be smarter
—  you just need dumber friends.
Lust and love. They both put a fire in your damn shorts.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
Celibacy sucks, no pun intended.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
I'd rather be pissed off then pissed on.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
It is far better to know the painful truth than to live with a kindly falsehood.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
Sometimes stupid is crime enough.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
Men have two outstanding features--their brains and their genitalia. Unfortunately, both rarely function simultaneously.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
There are lots of fish in the sea. Some are sharks, some are angels, and some are bottom feeders.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
Love makes the world go around, but so does a gallon of vodka and a box of Cuban cigars.
— Lois Greiman, Unplugged
A pigs and pain, until you really get to know 'em. Then he's a paid with the soul.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Analyzing dreams is much like walking on water. There are a limited number of people who do it well.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Booze and boys, ain't nothing in the universe that'll make a girl stupid faster.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Maybe knowledge is power, but it's damned hard to think a burglar to death.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Men are like beer. Some are bold and some are smooth. But every damn one of 'em has a big-ass head full of air.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Writers are like onions, layers upon layers upon layers.
— Luke  Taylor, The Quiet Kill
My name is Jane Delaney and I do things my paying customers can’t do, don’t want to do, don’t want to be seen doing, can’t bring themselves to do, and/or don’t want it to be known they’d paid someone to do. To dead people.
— Pamela Burford, Undertaking Irene
Dean was about to dismiss me with a quick nod, but my name caught his attention. “Hey, you’re that Death Diva girl, right?”“’Fraid so.”“Huh.” He studied me a moment as he extracted a lighter and pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket. I studied him back. Dean’s head bore the aftermath of what had to be the world’s worst hair transplant. Reddish brown crop rows marched back from a severe, slightly lopsided hairline. The whole mess had been meticulously blow-dried and sprayed in a swept-back style more appropriate to the 1980s.He tapped out a cigarette. “You make money doing that?”“Why, yes I do,” I said. “That’s kind of the point of it.” That’s the number-one question I get asked.“What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done, eh?” The number-two question, right on schedule.
— Pamela Burford, Uprooting Ernie
He really just wanted to blurt out, ‘My Grandma’s dead’, but he knew that when it came to it, the words would stick like pebbles in his throat.
— Helen Laycock, Glass Dreams
I'd trade every last one of you for a moment's peace and a dog that didn't P on the carpet
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
If they really wanted us to resist temptation, they shouldn't a made it so damn tempting.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
It's not as if I don't like men, I just have more respect for my washing machine.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
In my experience, "what the hell" is generally the most interesting decision.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
There is not a simple gene pool entirely free of toxic waste.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Marriage is like a toothbrush. It starts out smooth and gets kind of prickly towards the end.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Friends are nice. You can tell' 'em stuff, but you can swear like a gangster at an enemy. And that's all right, too.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Opportunity may only knock once, but temptation'll knock down the damn door and drag you out by the hair.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Maybe in fairytales you're only as old as you feel, but here in L. A. you're every second as old as your pores.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Love may be blind, but lust is just damn stupid.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
And thanks to Christina McMullen, who has taught me that common sense and intelligence need not have any correlation whatsoever.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
There is no feature as attractive as a well exercised intellect.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
You really don't know a person until you spend some time in their panties.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Old-age sucks, but the alternative doesn't look that great, either.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
He who laughs loudest has a high probability of being extremely inebriated.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
She may be an old flame, but she still smokin'.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but tequila makes it so she doesn't give a shit if she's fond of you are not
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
In 50 years it won't matter if he's handsome, ugly, or dumb as a post, just try to find someone who don't make you want to shove a pitchfork up his nose.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
In this town, a successful marriage is one that lasts longer than ice.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
In the movie business, the ones we call Lucky are usually those idiots who are just too damn stubborn to take no for an answer. Come to think of it, the movie business is kind of like life.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
There isn't much a pan of warm Brownies and a glass of milk will fix. In less it's low grain prices. Or poverty. Or the national debt. I guess there are a few things, but nothing you have to worry about right this minute.
— Lois Greiman, Unscrewed
Gregory of Nyssa points out that Moses's vision of God began with the light, with the visible burning bush, the bush which was bright with fire and was not consumed; but afterwards, God spoke to him in a cloud. After the glory which could be seen with human eyes, he began to see the glory which is beyond and after light. The shadows are deepening all around us.
— Madeleine L'Engle, A Circle of Quiet
I ain't taking no more rides on the stupid train.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Dating is like nightfall--there's got to be a mourning after.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Don't worry. It's scientifically unlikely that the universe will explode into a million particles at any given moment.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Dating--the socially accepted alternative to the rack.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
In my opinion, kissing a lady's hand is a fine tradition. After all, a man must start somewhere.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Some people say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. In actuality, you have to make an incision through his skin, both dermis and epidermis, then carefully sever and separate the sternum. Only upon viewing the exposed thoracic cavity can you reach the heart--if indeed the male of the species actually possesses such an organ.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
I don't need no PMS. I can bitch under my own steam.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Maybe money can't buy happiness, but it can get you a nice little villa in Tuscany, and that's close enough for me.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Solberg
—  nature's greatest argument against cloning.
He's an undersized pissant with delusions of adequacy.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Jealousy. It's a terrible thing. Unless it's someone else's.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
It'd hardly be worth having a brother at all, if you couldn't smack him in the head every once in a while.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
It's not who you know, it's who you sleep with.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Some men are warriors and some men are weenies. The trick is figuring out which is which.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Today's problems are yesterday's mistakes coming back to bite you in the ass.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Maybe life does suck, Pork Chop, but it beats the hell out of the alternative.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Just when you think you have life by the tail, it's likely to whip around and take a hunk outta your balls.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
There is no greater hell than realizing you're in love with the guy you hate.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
You lose a couple of pounds and get a guy good and drunk, you could have a hell of a good time even if you are not smart.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Generally, men are superior in the areas of heavy lifting, where there's a past only by pachyderms and building cranes. Beyond that, I believe any right-thinking thinking will see that women have the indisputable advantage.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
The theory of relativity doesn't amount to a hill of beans when there's a bonfire in your shorts.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Fair play is all well and good. But knowing how to kick 'em in the balls can get you out of a jam 9 times out of 10.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Just remember this, Missy, escargot ain't nothin' but snails with their noses stuck in the air.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Beauty is only skin deep, but who gives a shit what's under their skin anyway?
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Chocolate may be cheaper than a psychiatrist, but the latter doesn't generally adhere to your ass for the rest of your natural life.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
If I want to catch the damn worm I get outta bed.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
Always listen to your dog.
— Margaret Mizushima
Some people are street-smart, some people are book-smart, but most people are just dumber than dirt.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
I am a very good cook.” When she did cook.“Good. I like to eat.” He lightly bit her palm.The too-much-air feeling in Lucy’s stomach pressed upward into her heart. “What?” she asked past the constriction in her chest.“What do I like to eat?”“Yeah.”“Blondes with blue eyes.”Oh God. She pulled her hand from his. “Are you hungry?”His gaze lowered to her mouth. “I could eat.
— Rachel Gibson, Sex, Lies, and Online Dating
He held up his hand, and in it was...	Oh, God.	The neon-pink vibrator, glowing in the dark now. It was following her, stalking her, all the way down the yellow brick road to hell.
— Jill Shalvis, Get A Clue
He's just a flash in the pants.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Luck is merely a product of the happily delusional mind.
— Lois Greiman
There are no coincidences", Silette wrote. "Only mysteries that haven't been solved, clues that haven't been placed. Most are blind to the language of the bird overheard, the leaf in our path, the phonographic record stuck in a groove, the unknown caller on the phone. They don't see the omens. They don't know how to read the signs. To them life is like a book with blank pages. But to the detective, it is an illuminated manuscript of mysteries.
— Sara Gran, Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead
If I go to prison, will you arrange conjugal visits?
— Jenna Harte, Deadly Valentine
Life is what you make it. Unless some guy finds you with his girl. Then the ball's pretty much in his court.
— Lois Greiman, Unzipped
You're just so lucky blood's so hard to get out of the carpet.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
You're gonna sit down. You're gonna shut up. And by the grace of God Almighty, I ain't gonna kill you.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
If it looks like a cat, walks like a cat, and has whiskers like a cat, it's probably a damn cat. But if it eats your groceries, messes up your kitchen, and makes you want to rip out your hair by the roots, you either married it or gave birth to it
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Every morning I read the obituaries. If it ain't there I make myself a cup of tea and carry on like I have the past century or so.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
I had escaped the snare of certitude that I welcomed so avidly at first and entered, via the name of Jesus, the wide and comprehensive company of Jesus.
— Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers
When in doubt, shoot 1st and ask questions later, but avoid the head, "because they'rea lot more likely to answer if they're not dead.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Honesty is the best policy. But insanity is a hell of a lot more effective in court. So your set, McMullen
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Breaking up is hard to do. But, bustin him in the head ain't that easy, either.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
They say love makes the world go around… I been dizzy for a long time.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
Sex is all right, but a hot fudge sundae don't never ask if the baby's really his.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
I fear that someday you will abandon the joys we share and find another not worthy of your charms.
— Lois Greiman, One Hot Mess
There’s an undeniable thrill about meeting a stranger and spending a few hours together, indulging in each other’s lives. It’s that spurt of saying whatever you want and leaving it behind with someone who’ll never look at you and think of it again.
— Danielle Esplin, Give It Back
Death is the midwife of very great things.... It brings about the birth and rebirth of forms a thousand times improved. This is the highest mystery of God.
— Paracelsus, The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science
Don’t waste a minute fretting over the infinite destructive possibilities of The Singularity. Think of all the fun we’re going to have along the way! It will all be one glorious adventure, start to finish!
— Richard Long
The Holy Spirit's instruments have no consciousness of His purpose; if they imagine they have, it is a pretty sure token that they are NOT His instruments. Nathaniel Hawthorne
— Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers
In the end, it all comes down to the Blood...
— Nathan Walsh
Nothing woke up a man as quickly in the morning as a scorpion in his pants.
— Dana Marton, Flash Fire
Girls. The oldest mystery in the universe.
— Linda Sue Park, Trust No One
The birds sang in the dustin an elaborate weave, ambiguous,deafening, prey to existencepoor passions lost between the modestsummits of groves of mulberry and elder;and I, like them, in secluded placesreserved for the lost and pure,would wait for evening to fall,for the silent smells of fireand joyous misery to fill the air,for the Angelus bell to toll, veiledin the new peasant mysteryfulfilled in the ancient mystery.
— Pier Paolo Pasolini, Selected Poetry of Pier Paolo Pasolini, The: A Bilingual Edition
I try to read and write something interesting every day.
— Dave  Vizard, A Grand Murder
If there's no sea-gull there's no meeting, Wicklow had said. No sea-gull means abort. That's my epitaph, thought Barley. 'There was no sea-gull, so he aborted.
— John le Carré
In near panic, I craned my neck to gaze over the cabin’s roofline a bursting fireball.
— Ed Lynskey, The Blue Cheer
Just the night before, a puma’s howl had set a chill at my spine and, man, life didn’t get any richer than that.
— Ed Lynskey, The Blue Cheer
If God wanted us in the ocean, he wouldn’t have made the land.
— Lauren Child
I should have looked into my own heart, and found this new growth springing up there, and plucked it out while it was young.
— Wilkie Collins
The damage and destruction from the soft brush of pen on paper, a minuscule twitch of muscles at the end of manicured fingers, and people's lives forever altered.
— Jason Greensides, The Distant Sound of Violence
You should not have to burn your hand every day to feel the mystery of fire.
— Steve Abbott
A mystery is so much more exciting than a wrapped up answer...A mystery carries on but an answer just ends.
— Jonathan Renshaw, Dawn of Wonder
There is a place where the mountains tumble one upon the other off into the far distance, peak after treeless peak. Steep ridges connect them and deep canyons slash them apart. The grassy summits are wreathed with black sage. No roads intrude upon this jumble of oak-filled canyons and steep-sided hills, only the ambling trails made by deer, coyotes, and bears. The local Indians believe the spirits of the ancients still travel these roads.
— R. Lawson Gamble
We're three women from two different centuries, trying to save the world from oblivion. I don't know about you, but that's way above my pay grade.
— G.G. Collins, Atomic Medium
I’m a reporter,” Rachel said. “I write about the arts, festivals, new projects in the city. What I’m not is some kind of psychic astral traveler! How did I get here? Planning a trip to another dimension?
— G.G. Collins, Lemurian Medium
The water. The lake. It flows through our veins, and there's nothing we can do about it… It's like venom.
— Karen Katchur, The Secrets of Lake Road
She felt a strong pull toward the water and it was more than curiosity…
— Karen Katchur, The Secrets of Lake Road
When the unknown becomes known, we lose something very big: The beauty of mystery!
— Mehmet Murat ildan
What we essentially want is to draw something unknown to us in all its shadowiness, not something we know in all its illumination.
— Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red
Life is choice. All day, every day. Who we talk to, where we sit, what we say, how we say it. And our lives become defined by our choices. It's as simple and as complex as that. And as powerful. So when I'm observing, that's what I'm watching for. The choices people make.
— Louise Penny, Still Life
Paper Towns for a Paper Girl, who wants to think and read clearly
— John Green, Paper Towns
You can't come in."Luna Morgan met her daughter's plaintive gaze with a blank one of her own. "What do you mean we can't come in?""I have a guest," Ivy said."Is he naked?" Max asked, wrinkling his nose."Who?""Your guest," Max said."It's not a man," Ivy said, rolling her eyes. "Get your mind out of the gutter.
— Lily Harper Hart
I swallowed hard and said as calmly as possible, “There’s been a murder. I don’t know what happened. The address is two-two-zero three Devonshire Court.
— Andrea Heltsley, Dissolve
I’m suddenly not hungry,” Shane, said, his face ashen. “Noah, you go get the note. Be careful not to touch anything else. Don’t step in the blood.
— Andrea Heltsley, Dissolve
But now we live in a time and in a culture when mystery tends to mean something more answerable, it means a crime novel, a thriller, a drama on TV, usually one where we'll probably find out – and where the whole point of reading it or watching it will be that we will find out – what happened. And if we don't, we feel cheated.
— Ali Smith
She could have just told him about the magic phone. Full disclosure. Then they could have solved it together. They could have Sherlocked and Watsoned from both endsof the timeline.
— Rainbow Rowell, Landline
The bell seemed to have set off analarm in my brain, and I glimpsed at the mysterious envelope on my desk.There was another item I should’ve gotten from my single-shoe salesman.
— A.E.H. Veenman, Dial QR for Murder
I considered my home sanctuary from the judicial arena, far from the Fernoza Family legacy, and I had no intention of sharing it with anyone.
— A.E.H. Veenman, Dial QR for Murder
Things are not as they appear.
— Lawrence Earle Johnson, Death Sine
Awareness, like wine, is always better for the vintage.--Hugo Anstead
— Jennifer A. Girardin, The Uncertainty Principle
She shot him a look she thought he might still remember, the same one a rattler gives right before it strikes.
— B.J. Daniels, Crime Scene At Cardwell Ranch
Hud? Back here? Oh, man, what a birthday present," Hilde said, giving her another hug. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I can imagine what seeing him again did to you."	"I still want to kill him," Dana whispered.	"Not on your birthday." Hilde frowned.
— B.J. Daniels, Crime Scene At Cardwell Ranch
The only way he could truly stick out in New Orleans was if he were walking down the street on fire.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
The morning sun in New Orleans felt like it was trying to make a point, convincing the old world to believe something new.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
Just as the Mediterranean separated France from the country Algiers, so did the Mississippi separate New Orleans proper from Algiers Point. The neighborhood had a strange mix. It looked seedier and more laid-back all at the same time. Many artists lived on the peninsula, with greenery everywhere and the most beautiful and exotic plants. The French influence was heavy in Algiers, as if the air above the water had carried as much ambience as it could across to the little neighborhood. There were more dilapidated buildings in the community, but Jackson and Buddy passed homes with completely manicured properties, too, and wild ferns growing out of baskets on the porches, as if they were a part of the architecture. Many of the buildings had rich, ornamental detail, wood trim hand-carved by craftsmen and artisans years ago. The community almost had the look of an ailing beach town on some forgotten coast.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
There was something about this place that brought out the best and worst in you, pushing you to extremes.
— Karen Katchur, The Secrets of Lake Road
He sunk his head down, looking like a defeated giant out of some fairy tale.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
She had a way about her that spoke of homemade bread, and caring for people, and the kind of patience that women have when they help a ewe birth a lamb, or stay up in the night with a baby calf bawling for its momma.
— James Aura, When Saigon Surrendered: A Kentucky Mystery
Enormous oak trees towered over the boulevard, which boasted homes with fine woodwork, wraparound porches, and moss on the sidewalks. 'There’s nothing like a house in New Orleans. Would you look at those balconies and columns?' He rolled his window down to take in the sounds of life in New Orleans.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
Love is a complete mystery in the lives of many because they keep expecting it to come from others to them.
No one touched the bottom of the lake and lived. If you were lucky, you'd surface wide-eyed and frantic, babbling at the darkness, the thickness of what lay below. If you were unlucky, underwater recovery dragged the lake for your body.
— Karen Katchur, The Secrets of Lake Road
You felt she'd done a thousand secret things to her eyes. They needed no haze of cigarette smoke to look at you out of sexy and fathomless, but carried their own along with them. New York must have been for her a city of smoke, its streets the courtyards of limbo, its bodies like wraiths. Smoke seemed to be in her voice, in her movements; making her all the more substantial, more there, as if words, glances, small lewdnesses could only become baffled and brought to rest like smoke in her long hair; remain there useless till she released them, accidentally and unknowingly, with a toss of her head.
— Thomas Pynchon, V.
Dreema and you disagree. She cottons to Richmond, but you can't be weaned off Pelham. So I offer you a fair middle ground: relocate to northern Virginia. She transfers to the state morgue on Braddock Road, and you get to stay near your old beat.
— Ed Lynskey, The Zinc Zoo
The river breeze washed over him. He saw the magnificent views of the city and the bridge connecting Algiers Point to New Orleans. He marveled at the crescent shape of New Orleans as the ferry traveled nearly parallel to the curve in the Mississippi River.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
A high-pitched sound, like steam escaping from a kettle whistles through the dark room. But nobody’s making tea. We both turn toward the source of the eerie noise.A weak stream of unearthly light seeps through the window near the corner of the room and pours onto the floor. Its consistency seems to lie somewhere between a liquid and a solid, like mercury, only blue. Out of the gleaming, wobbly puddle, a phosphorescent vapor rises up. The ghost we thought was Daniel materializes and looms over us for two seconds before he lunges and wraps his hands around Wyatt’s neck.
— Alyson Larrabee, Enter If You Dare
When you don’t crave increase, you become a mystery
— Sunday Adelaja
When I look up from my book, the wind has gained its full voice. This storm is the mad child of Father Time and Mother Nature. Wailing away in no predictable rhythm, their monstrous offspring’s throwing a hackle-raising temper tantrum. Underscoring the hideous howl, I detect another, quieter sound, a pitiable, weak whimper which has been all but completely drowned out by the epic volume of the screaming wind. With slowly dawning terror, I realize this cowardly voice is my own; escaping through the narrow opening of my barely parted lips. Where’s my dad? Why is he taking so long?The weather ignores my whining questions and continues to whip itself into a raging convulsion. The windows rattle and the wind screams. But the sounds are no longer random.In the midst of the chaos, the howling begins to form an elongated word. Horrified, I recognize the stretched out syllables of my own name.“Aaaaannaaaaabelle.
— Alyson Larrabee, Her Evil Ways
A tontine is a kind of primitive insurance fund, combined with a sort of lottery. And while it has many flaws as a financial scheme, as a literary device…
— Robert Bruce Stewart, Humbug on the Hudson
No culture is without access to divine mysteries.
— Andrea Cremer, The Inventor's Secret
It would do her good to have some demons to fight, to be swung out in space and held over some bottomless pit now and then.
— Josephine Tey, The Singing Sands
When you live by the demands and supply of life, Life stops being a mystery to you
— Sunday Adelaja
This is what Kirkus Reviews has to say about CW McCoy and PEAK SEASON: “CW is a great character. Widmer has a great sense of place
—  he easily brings the town of Spanish Point and its colorful cast of characters to life. An entertaining mystery romp.
People take power trips at the most inopportune times.
— Lida Sideris, Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters
The only way he could truly stick out in New Orleans was if he were walking down the street on fire. A businessman in suit and tie would stick out more than the characters Jackson passed on those old streets.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
There was a warm breeze blowing in the car as they passed the mansions in the Garden District and they could smell the sweet aroma of the night-blooming jasmine. Soft light fell on the neutral ground along the streetcar tracks.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
My idea of a great night is just stayin’ home, reading or playing video games. I’m about as boring as they come, Sorena. I ain’t ever been into stress or drama or excitement. Shit, I’d kill for a nap most days.
— Alisha Ashton
When they have contemplated the world, human beings have always experienced a transcendence and mystery at the heart of existence. They have felt that it is deeply connected with themselves and with the natural world, but that it also goes beyond. However we choose to define it - it has been called God, Brahman, or Nirvana - this transcendence has been a fact of human life. We have all experienced something similar, whatever our theological opinions, when we listen to a great piece of music or hear a beautiful poem and feel touched within and lifted, momentarily, beyond ourselves. We tend to seek out this experience, and if we do not find it in one setting - in a church or synagogue, for example - we would look elsewhere.
— Karen Armstrong
Only the ocean kept the same rhythm. Crashing in and slowly pulling back out, it never lied, never changed. It tried to teach them a life of romantic consistency.
— Lawren Leo, Love's Shadow: Nine Crooked Paths
Toulouse Street ran one way toward the Mississippi River. Jackson looked over [Imogene's] head into one of those famous New Orleans courtyards, full of lush foliage, mossy brick, secrets, and wonder.
— Hunter Murphy, Imogene in New Orleans
I've deprived my family in order to buy books. No doubt there is a special punishment in hell for such self-indulgence. Perhaps I shall be struck with blindness among the rarest known to men.
— I.J. Parker
Outside the store, beauty and mystery struggled to come together. Inside, they held hands, giggled to one another, and whispered secret messages.
— Lawren Leo, Love's Shadow: Nine Crooked Paths
She may never be someone ANYONE can understand. But she will always be worth the wait.
— John A. Heldt, The Mine
In the end, one detail is unarguable: There will always be those searching for treasure. Never forget: We are a country founded on legends and myths. We love them, especially legends of treasure. Looking for treasure isn't just part of being an American, it is America.
— Brad Meltzer, History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time
You see?" Thane waved at the photo. "Everything about her is nonsensical. A dragon who lies with a wolf? I suppose pigs fly and the moon is blue, too.
— Erin Kellison, Tempted by Fire
Send the mediator to me when he comes."	"What are you going to do?"	Matthew knew him so well. Thane would handle this the old way. "I'm going to eat him.
— Erin Kellison, Tempted by Fire
Thane Ealdian prowls the earth once more. Shutter your houses. Bar your doors. Offer him gold and women to satisfy his cravings. A black dragon is like the very devil himself.
— Erin Kellison, Tempted by Fire
He was just Thane. Timeless. Ageless. Magic. The world turned around him.
— Erin Kellison, Tempted by Fire
Fire is fire," Matthew said. "It burns.
— Erin Kellison, Tempted by Fire
...this cryptic game of hide-and-seek is what makes it one of the greatest historical mysteries. So many of the symbols can be interpreted in so many different ways, there's always the possibility that all we're really looking at is a blank slate onto which anything can be read.
— Brad Meltzer, History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time
He was a match
—  she was flint. And between them both...fire.
God,is there no faith left?He has not told. I would not know Him if I saw Him.
— Beth Morey, Night Cycles: Poetry for a Dark Night of the Soul
The work of fate is a mystery
— Soroosh Shahrivar, The Rise of Shams
There was something about the story she told us...that didn't seem right to him. He didn't buy the idea they'd been lovers. He reckoned it was something else. It's the sort of thing he used to pick up on, when I worked with him. You know as well as I do, sir, in a case like this you collect all sorts of facts, but only a few really matter, and Mr Madden had a gift for spotting them. Not that he always knew why: often it was just something he felt - a sort of instinct, I suppose - though he would have said it was simply a matter of paying attention. That's what he used to tell me.
— Rennie Airth
Mystery always there in my words, now these are knives and will shine like Swords" -Samar Sudha
— Samar Sudha
When they have contemplated the world, human beings have always experienced a transcendence and mystery at the heart of existence.
— Karen Armstrong, Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths
Someone was going to die
—  of that he was perfectly sure.The only question was who.
I’m beginning to wish I’d had you deported after the first murder! Death seems to follow you around like the plague.
— Steve Robinson
What's this one, Mum? There's no return address, and there's like, five stamps on it. Who's it from?"Leaning forward to get a closer look at the stamps, I didn't notice the fleeting look of immense sadness pass over her face."Oh it's nothing, darling."I raised my eyebrow at her. She sighed."An overseas friend. You wouldn't know her."And before I could ask what 'her' name was, Mum had left the room.
— Kelly Batten, One Day You'll Find Me
The rig began shaking like caffeine withdrawal." --Opening sentence of THE FURY. "The duct-taped Buick swam north on Rush Street, hunting whores like a lesser white shark." --First sentence of Chapter One, THE FURY
— Shane Gericke
A black telephonereceiver was stuffed in the small space between his ear and hisshoulder; he motioned for them to sit in the stiff wooden armchairs infront of his desk. Moments later he hung up the phone, the baseringing lightly from the impact.“So you’re still in a mess, aren’t you?” he said.
— M.L. Terese, Fear Not the Starry Sky: A Kathleen Lang Novel
Writing a mystery is like drawing a picture and then cutting it into little pieces that you offer to your readers one piece at a time, thus allowing them the chance to put the jigsaw puzzle together by the end of the book.
— Ashwin Sanghi
Water creates so much beauty, life and mystery.
— Fennel Hudson, A Meaningful Life - Fennel's Journal - No. 1