Dennis Lehane Quotes

“Twelve dead?” I said. “Jesus.”

.. he'd never believed that power, in any shape or form, was anything more than the intemperate protrusion on the egomaniacal heart. Since all egomaniacs were insecure to their frightened cores, they this weilded "power" barbarically so the world would not find them out

As they've always been. And they don't change just because you want them to.

Joe closed his hand over the watch and it was still warm from his father's pocket, ticking against his palm like a heart.

Growing up, Joe had adored his brother, Then he'd come to hate him. Now, he mostly didn't think about him. When he did, he had to admit, he missed his laugh.

Vanity is a weakness. I know this. It’s a shallow dependence on the exterior self, on how one looks instead of what one is.

People surprise you sometimes.

Sympathy’s easy. You have sympathy for starving children swatting at flies on the late-night commercials. Sympathy is easy because it comes from a position of power. Empathy is getting down on your knees and looking someone else in the eye and realizing you could be them, and that all that separates you is luck.

It occurred to him that thinking like this could explain why, even after all the jobs he'd pulled, he rarely had much money in his pockets. Sometimes it seemed like he stole money from one place just to give it away somewhere else.

Do you know the primary difference between men and gods? ... Gods don’t think they can become men

Men. If you give them half a chance, they'll fuck you over just to prove they can.