19 Quotes by Olen Steinhauer

Sally is a bully of the worst sort, for she never lays a hand on Bill, never gives her bullying a properly physical manifestation. She beats him with words and body language and selectively brutal silences.

Some were paid solely for their ability to dream up the unthinkable.

When he woke his conviction of failure was somehow less inevitable.

It can be because in each man’s life there are only a few women who can turn him inside out, who can cripple him with a smile. These are weaknesses, but they’re also a sign of humanity. Without these flaws, a man doesn’t really live.

An image of an image, which is a perfect place to live if you want to be something other than what you once were.

While our expectations for the future are all that really keep us going, the failure of those expectations is the source of all our sadness.

Metaphors help you boil down the complications and ambiguities of your too-long life into a picture book. They help you lie to yourself.

Russian?” I asked dumbly. I do that sometimes.

Political motivations, though rare, occasionally did raise their heads, more so since 2016, and it brought out the worst in people. Black was white, and patriotism was treachery. Some had the gift of coloring the truth just enough to make it look like a lie, and to carefully prune a lie until it passed the smell test and became accepted truth, not just to the intended audience, but also eventually to the liar himself.