Cherie Priest Quotes & Sayings

But at some point, a full-grown woman has to be accountable for her own self, and for the choices she's made. — Cherie Priest

Oh, it doesn't work at all. That's the problem! It's an endless, halting parade of inspections, bribes, and nonsense - but if you're aboard a Texas vessel, you'll find less inconvenience along the way."
"It's because of their guns!" declared Mr. Henderson, once more escaping his reverie, bobbing out of it as if to gasp for air.
"Concise, my love." Mrs. Henderson gave him a smile. "And correct. Texans are heavily armed and often impatient. They don't need to be transporting arms and gunpowder to create a great nuisance for anyone who stops them, so they tend to be stopped ... less often. — Cherie Priest

Before I was really ready to settle in, dawn was creeping up outside, flushing the far side of the curtains. I could feel it approaching, like the footsteps of someone unpleasant coming up the stairs. — Cherie Priest

Every affair is a fairy tale or a tragedy. — Cherie Priest

Some place to stand and place a lever, there's nowhere from which to move the world. — Cherie Priest

So here's the rules - keep quiet, keep close, and if we're spotted, climb like a goddamned monkey ... If I get picked off, you don't come back for me. If I see you get picked off, I aint coming back for you. Life's hard. Death's easy — Cherie Priest

I was getting the hang of arson. It really sends a message, you know? Not only will I kill your dudes and steal your shit, but I will burn your place down behind me. — Cherie Priest

I would let the whole town think I'm a madwoman and a murderer, let it scorn and reject me, let its children compose hateful rhymes to be sung whilst jumping rope. — Cherie Priest

Father, forgive me - for I know precisely what I'm doing. — Cherie Priest

The distance between an honest Christian mystic and a fortune-teller is sometimes less than half a whisper. Less than a pot of tea or the space between two book covers. — Cherie Priest

He smiled when he talked, a smile that was not completely cold, but was the professional smile of a man who spends his days answering easy questions for people whom he'd rather usher out of his office via catapult. — Cherie Priest

I'd seen better days, but I wasn't about to instigate widespread panic with my appearance, either. I made a show of washing up and pretending that I was an ordinary, civilized woman who was, perhaps, recovering from a bad date - and who had most certainly not been hiding bodies in anybody's basement. — Cherie Priest

He was carrying bulky loot; I could see it under his zipped-up sweater. And when I unzipped it with a one-handed rip, I saw that he was wearing a bandolier loaded with grenades. I have no doubt that a wide, manic smile spread across my pretty little face. — Cherie Priest

She was thirty-five, and she did not look a minute younger. — Cherie Priest

It was a train full of strangers, and they were all the same. — Cherie Priest

(Is this what we fled, when we left the ocean? Did we grow legs so we could run away?) — Cherie Priest

He stayed close, and he stayed quiet. It was easy to do, almost; the silence above was so alarmingly complete that it was easier to keep it than to break it. — Cherie Priest

Fuck you," he said, resorting to that last argument of vice presidents. — Cherie Priest

It's funny what they say about men in uniform - how people think women just can't resist 'em. Fact is, I think we're just pleased to see a man groomed, bathed, and wearing clothes that fit him. — Cherie Priest

As an old acquaintance of mine used to say, "If you can't duck it, fuck it." I'm pretty sure he knew it was duct and not duck, but I'll forgive him for the sake of the rhyme. — Cherie Priest

My own mental health issues had come and gone the same way, diagnosed nearly a hundred years ago as simple "hysteria," which only meant that I was a woman and really, who gave a shit what was actually wrong with me? Or — Cherie Priest

Few witnesses agree, and fewer still were granted a glimpse of the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine. Its course took it under the earth and down hills, gouging up the land beneath the luxurious homes of wealthy mariners and shipping magnates, under the muddy flats where sat the sprawling sawmill, and down along the corridors, cellars, and storage rooms of general stores, ladies' notions shops, apothecaries, and yes ... the banks. — Cherie Priest

Either birds or bats flapped up and into the night as the gates rolled back into position. My money was on bats. Little blingy ones, carrying tiny Louis Vuitton clutches. — Cherie Priest

Adrian said, "You sure know how to win friends and influence people." "That's why they call me Raylene. It's Greek for 'charming.' " "You're so full of shit," he observed. — Cherie Priest

She'd grown up believing in hell in an abstract nightmare way; but west Texas had given her something more concrete upon which to dread the afterlife. — Cherie Priest

I shrugged. "Sometimes things sound easy because they are easy." "And sometimes things that sound easy only sound that way because you're completely fucking delusional," she — Cherie Priest

In my career I've had my hands upon more revolting bodies than a layman is likely to encounter in a lifetime of trying. I've squeezed boils, soaked my hands in blood and pus, slipped in entrails, swaddled slippery stillborns, and pulled excrement from unwilling bowels by hand. — Cherie Priest

I slipped on through, slicker than whale shit through an ice floe. — Cherie Priest

She wielded it easily, lightly. She carried it swinging like a baseball bat, only with more poetry to it. It was a frightening thing to watch, this small shadow of billowing grey fabric and sprawling, wild hair splaying out behind her, the axe held at the ready with both hands, poised and prepared. — Cherie Priest

I had an irritating flash of nervousness, wondering if he was right outside - or across the street, or downstairs, or hiding in a closet. Because I couldn't stop myself, I rushed to the hall closet and flung it open to make sure. Packed — Cherie Priest

I've got the camera. You got the film?"

Benny shook the baggie until the canisters fell out. "I got the film."

I tossed my head over at Jamie. "What've you got?"

"Passion. Charm. Talent. And an irrepressible desire to charge around a battlefield while I'm being pursued by the dead."

"Okay," I agreed. "If that's all you've got, it'll have to do. — Cherie Priest

You're a smart boy. Or if you're not, you ought to be. — Cherie Priest

I've heard it said that God made all men, but Samuel Colt made all men equal.
We'd see what Mr. Colt could do for a woman. — Cherie Priest

I think I like you just fine, Red. Half the men in this city would be god-awful horrified at the thought of a woman working alongside 'em, much less a woman of my years. But you didn't even think twice about it - just assumed I was along for the working. I like that." Huey sighed. "He's not noble. He's lazy." "Lazy, noble, I don't care. — Cherie Priest

Maybe we could do that whole "my enemy's enemy" thing and skip off into the night, holding hands. — Cherie Priest

You see, sometimes when you work by yourself in a field such as ours, it helps to share knowledge among professionals. I'm not saying that we watch one another's back or anything, because we don't. It's more of a back-scratching than a back-watching affair, as in, "You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours." Officially, none of us has ever heard of any of us. — Cherie Priest

I gave three quiet cheers for Minnesota. In Seattle a dusty inch of anything white and chilly means the city lapses into full-on panic mode, as if each falling flake crashes to earth with its own individual baggie of used hypodermic needles. It's ridiculous. — Cherie Priest

I don't like raccoons. They look ... shifty, with their little burglar masks and everything. Also, they carry rabies. Can I catch rabies? Probably not. All the same, it sounds gruesome - and I think we all know that cute, fuzzy woodland creatures are not to be trusted on general principle. — Cherie Priest

At no point, anywhere in Seattle, is there a clear and obvious route to an interstate. And, if you find yourself magically right beside an interstate on-ramp, you can safely assume that it's leading the wrong direction. You might say to yourself, "Self, if I've found the on-ramp going this direction, surely the on-ramp going the other direction must be right nearby!" But you'd be wrong. This place was designed by crack addicts, I'm convinced of it. — Cherie Priest

I don't think I make a very convincing dude. I think I look more like a lumberjack lesbian with an eating disorder than a kick-ass drag king. — Cherie Priest

Without temptation, there was no virtue in resistance. — Cherie Priest

All this, in the midst of a city already plagued by the Ku Klux Klan - a group more sinister and suspicious than most people have any idea, and their public face is troublesome enough without any secret agenda hiding beneath their ridiculous robes. I tell you, they're stranger than the Freemasons and not half as well thought out, but they're radical, blind believers of awful things. — Cherie Priest

Libby was dead. Princess X disappeared.
May lost her best friend again, and again, and again. — Cherie Priest

The sound came again. There was a whistle to it, and a moan. It was almost a hiss, and it could've been a strangled gasp. Above all, it was quiet, and it seemed to have no source.
It whispered. — Cherie Priest

I guess because, well, just because it was able to evolve. When it couldn't be one thing anymore, it became something else and kept on living that way — Cherie Priest

You can be my avenging knight. Ooh! That's what Princess X needs next: an avenging knight."
"You think?"
"I've already decided. Your armor is gold, and you're carrying a black battle-ax . . . I say we make you a redhead. You've got a little red in your hair, someplace. When the sunlight hits it just right."
"We're in Seattle. How often does the sunlight hit anything?"
"Walgreens is just right down the street. We could get a box of dye. It'd surprise the heck out of your dad."
"You're going to make me do this, aren't you?"
"No, May. I'm not going to make you do anything, except help me finish the story. — Cherie Priest

She collected herself, and rose from the floor. "Until you have a better grasp on what we're dealing with here, I'd appreciate your immediate proximity."
I did as she asked. She was the expert, after all.
But what a terrifying thought, that the world's foremost expert knew only enough to live in horror. — Cherie Priest

Besides, American ought to be a good thing, the kind of thing that brings everybody together instead of deciding who's good enough to be one and who isn't. — Cherie Priest

You can learn a lot about someone by his teeth. Or her teeth. Especially vampires. For some of us, hygiene goes out the window when our body temperature drops. We might not need much in the way of deodorant, but I swear - a little Listerine never hurt anybody. — Cherie Priest

Jackson," he mused. "Not a name either one of you was born to."
Lizzie answered, "No. But beyond a certain point, names become accessories. We swap them out as needed, for the sake of peace. You understand?"
"I understand. Though I disagree. Names aren't hats to change a look, or a suit to be swapped at a whim. Words mean things."
"Then we must agree to disagree. — Cherie Priest

Honey, these aren't ordinary penis bones." "Not the kind you pick up at Walgreens, with a bottle of aspirin and a scented candle? — Cherie Priest

Above me, the moon spun low across the sky and a few watery clouds hung from the stars like cobwebs. In — Cherie Priest

Besides, if comics have taught us anything, it's that death is rarely a permanent condition."
"But we're not superheroes," May argued.
"Speak for yourself," Jackdaw told her. — Cherie Priest

In California there were nuggets the size of walnuts lying on the ground - or so it was said, and truth travels slowly when rumors have wings of gold. — Cherie Priest

Last century's magic is this year's science. — Cherie Priest

I hate meeting new people even new clients who intend to give me money. I try to be pleasant but I'm not very good at it. The best I can usually pull off is 'professional if somewhat chilly.' It's not ideal no. But it beats 'awkward and bitchy. — Cherie Priest

As for the prayers, I suppose they can't hurt. I've never found much good in them, I'll confess that here, though I keep such thoughts private when in public company. Who would confide in a physician who claimed no affiliation with God? I still must feed myself, and keep my house. I still need my patients. But too many people believe with too much conviction in what amounts to, at best, a superstition.
I've seen science change a patient's diagnosis, but I've never heard a prayer that changed God's mind about a damn thing.. — Cherie Priest

I don't see why not," I all but snapped at him. "His body was experimented upon, and there are records of it. What else would you call it?"
"I don't know. Necropsy? — Cherie Priest

Vision is also a fickle creature. You can see an object a hundred times, a thousand times, and it remains unchanged. Then in one swift second you realize it has been changing all along and your eyes hid it from you. — Cherie Priest

Now it was growing late again, and cooler, which the nurse found disorienting. It felt as though her entire life had been lived from dusk to dawn ever since she learned of Phillip, only tiptoeing around the edges of sunset or sunrise, and sleeping or traveling all day. — Cherie Priest

I've got a woman. A crazy woman." "Sounds like the start of a country song to me," I said. — Cherie Priest

It's been said that she was young once, but never beautiful. — Cherie Priest

Did you even use anything at all in that bag of yours?"
"No, but I might use some of it later." And I almost certainly would, once I got rid of this crybaby and picked up my drag queen. — Cherie Priest

I hate to make the comparison here, but think of me as one of those expensive boutiques. If you have to ask about the cost, you probably can't afford me. — Cherie Priest

Modern families are complicated things. Siblings, half siblings, stepparents, stepcousins, what have you. You can't pick who you're born to, that's for sure. — Cherie Priest

For just this moment, we have the closest thing to an advantage we're likely to get. And if we don't use it, we're gonna lose it. Look at me busting out all the tired old metaphors. Like I'd been saving them all winter just waiting for an opportunity to trot them out. — Cherie Priest

I found a narrow slot in which to leave my vehicle. I had to bash the bumper of an SUV to squeeze into the nook, but I didn't exactly shed a tear over the event and no, I didn't leave a note. That's what they get for parking too close to a fire hydrant, with one wheel on the curb. An asshole who leaves his (or her) vehicle in such a fashion deserves whatever automotive detailing inconvenience comes his (or her) way. — Cherie Priest

I immediately felt better about killing him. I've never known a Trevor who wasn't a total douchebag. It's just one of those names that goes so nicely with selfish, arrogant, malicious behavior - and really, what did I know about this guy? Nothing, except that his name was Trevor and he'd been nabbed in the midst of breaking-and-entering. That was plenty. — Cherie Priest

But the other half of my motivation came from farther back in my brain, in the curious part that I inherited. It came from the spot in my skull that feels the burning need to unravel puzzles, finish crosswords, indulge in Internet games, and read all the mystery books I can get my grubby little paws on. Like it or not, need it or not, and want it or not, I can't leave a good mystery alone. — Cherie Priest

Yes it's pink. That's how you know it's for ladies. That might be the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say. — Cherie Priest

I don't think I've ever met any Mexicans before."
"They're tyrants, and imperialists, every last one of them." If he'd been holding any more tobacco in his lip, he no doubt would've used it to chase the sentence out of his mouth."
"And I guess you've talked to every last one of them, to be so sure of that. — Cherie Priest

There are worse things than minotaurs at the centre. — Cherie Priest

Depending on which frothy-mouthed Internet pulpit-beater I chose to believe, Holzter Point might conceal anything from alien artifacts to Bigfoot's sperm samples, plus a few pickled flipper babies from Three Mile Island and Jimmy Hoffa's stomach contents. I'd like to make fun of those guys, but I had information from a blind vampire that the storage facility held details of medical experiments conducted by the military on the unwilling undead. So far be it from me to call anyone nuts. — Cherie Priest

I didn't really think this poor woman was out to destroy the world. You have to be crazier than just schizophrenic to have an interest in that kind of thing. Usually you have to be a religious nut, too. — Cherie Priest

I like to pretend that I'm covering my tracks, bracing for any contingency. Ready for the worst, and all that jazz. I always feel better if there's a plan in place. And in this case, the plan was, Leave the blind guy in charge of the juvenile delinquents and everything will be just fine. Probably. — Cherie Priest

For some reason the mundanity of it all offended Gideon. You'd think people would have the good grace to dress up for an assassination. — Cherie Priest

He hadn't found what he'd meant to find, but his need to swipe and hoard something had been appeased for now. — Cherie Priest

I fully planned to burn the place down behind me on general principle. I was getting the hang of arson. It really sends a message, you know? Not only will I kill your dudes and steal your shit, but I will burn your place down behind me. Yes, I will. — Cherie Priest

She was a decent storyteller, but a crap liar, for all the sense that made. — Cherie Priest

Sometimes the advantage of being young and bright is not knowing what's impossible. — Cherie Priest

Sure he's dead, and it's a good thing for us. It's hard to argue with a dead man. A dead man can't change his mind or make new rules, or behave like a bastard so no one will listen to him anymore. A dead man stays a saint. — Cherie Priest

Boys disobey their parents with such great regularity that it's barely worth a comment; and if yours is talented enough to rebel in such grand fashion, then you ought to consider it a point of pride that he's such a sharp lad. — Cherie Priest

Over and over again, we lift God out of our reach. Over and over, push Him beyond our grasp, yet still we stretch out our fingers and seek to touch Him.
But find nothing. — Cherie Priest

Palatable. Easier to overlook. Forgotten, or at least smoothed into some pearl-like blandness, if not a thing of beauty. — Cherie Priest

Soon the bare but civilized streets of St. Paul gave way to emptier places with shorter buildings and fewer streetlights ... and then no buildings, and no streetlights, and after a few turns I was urging the Nissan along a two-lane road in the middle of what could best be described as the geographic center of Godforsaken, Bumblefuck. The — Cherie Priest

Adrian had a Guinness because I guess he felt like drinking a loaf of bread or something. That's what it smelled like, anyway. — Cherie Priest

Which meant he had about eight weeks to pull something amazing out of his butt.
His butt was not being terribly helpful. — Cherie Priest

So they pretended on paper that you were a chimp and tinkered with your eyes, and the animal rights people got hold of the news, and they were incensed on your behalf. Or they would've been, if you'd been a monkey. Do — Cherie Priest

There was nothing I could do but squirm faster and try to trust Adrian, who was surely one of the most competent mere mortals I'd met in years. He had a (small, girlie) gun, he had his wits, and he had ... I don't know. Maybe a silver bikini under his commando-wear, for all I knew. — Cherie Priest

If you've never been to Atlanta, then let me save you a bit of grief. If someone tells you something's on "Peachtree," you must demand that they get more specific. There are probably a dozen incarnations of Peachtree, going in at least that many directions through every part of town. — Cherie Priest

Even down here, money has plenty to say. — Cherie Priest

If Mattel ever makes a Drag Queen Barbie, they damn well ought to pattern that doll's proportions after Sister Rose. Those were legs that could crack a horse's ribs, and they knew how to move. — Cherie Priest

Sometimes, everyone is right. Not always and not even usually, but once in a while, everyone is right. — Cherie Priest

It sounded like a good idea at the time, which is probably going to be on my tombstone - along with a catty footnote about poor impulse control. But — Cherie Priest

Meanwhile, me and Adrian will head for Atlanta, where everything will go smoothly and no one will get hurt, and everyone will have a productive time learning a great many useful things. — Cherie Priest

Don't let the case from 1995 fool you. Early Bil Gates Beige is just a color. Many wonders lurk therein."

"Many wonders?"

"A fast-as-hell processor. Shit-tons of memory. A hard drive that could crack nuts. And best of all, for our purposes, some very expensive audio editing software that I did not pay for."

"Ah. And the rest of this stuff--over here on the bookcase?"

"External drives. A CD burner. Extra parts. And that thing on the end that looks like a little hot plate is a mug-warmer my grandmother gave me for Christmas. So that's not part of FrankenHal. — Cherie Priest

OMG YOU GUYS it has come to my attention that SOMEONE on the internet is saying that my fictional 19th century zombies are NOT SCIENTIFICALLY SOUND. Naturally, I am crushed. To think, IF ONLY I'd consulted with a zombologist or two before sitting down to write, I could've avoided ALL THIS EMBARRASSMENT. — Cherie Priest

Barringtons aren't local by origin. They're carpetbaggers from Philadelphia - an offshoot of a House that had grown too big to govern. Or more to the point, it'd grown too big for everyone to successfully get along without a whole lot of murdering going on. — Cherie Priest

That ought to make his face, or the sound of his voice, more precious to her mind, but strangely, this wasn't so. What was left in his absence was an empty, sorrowful discomfort. She wondered if it wouldn't eventually grow dull or dim if she worried at it enough, or softened and more — Cherie Priest

They obviously weren't trying to recruit us, which was sort of a shame. I imagined a full unit of vampire soldiers and I got a little giddy, and distracted. Bad idea, maybe. But it'd be epic, wouldn't it? — Cherie Priest