162 Quotes by Don Winslow

The past isn’t in the past. It’s always with us. In our history. Our minds, our blood.

Cops fall into two categories – grass eaters and meat eaters. The grass eaters are the small-timers – they take a cut from the car-towing companies, they get a free coffee, a sandwich. They take what comes, they’re not aggressive. The meat eaters are the predators, they go after what they want – the drug rips, the mob payoffs, the cash.

You can either love,” Pablo says, “or you can talk about it. You can’t do both.

They say that love conquers all. They’re wrong, Keller thinks. Hate conquers all. It even conquers hate.

You call the wolf, you get the pack.

Life’s like a fat orange, Frank thinks. When you’re young, you squeeze it hard and fast, trying to get all the juice in a hurry. When you’re older, you squeeze it slowly, savoring every drop. Because, one, you don’t know how many drops you have left, and, two, the last drops are the sweetest.

Betrayals start that way, with lies hidden in the shadows of silence.

Police departments are always a reflection of the society that they serve. Is there such a thing as 'police culture?' Absolutely. Is that culture isolated form the surrounding society? Absolutely not.

Police work in major cities - and New York is no exception - has always been vulnerable to corruption. Teddy Roosevelt built his career on it.