Michael Connelly Quotes & Sayings

balding man with a drooping — Michael Connelly

more creepy charm than an evangelist. — Michael Connelly

The world was full of people who could not get over things. There was no closure and there was no peace. The truth did not set you free. But you could get through things. That's what Bosch would tell him. You could head toward the light and climb and dig and fight your way out of the hole. — Michael Connelly

So, what it's like, Terry? Being a father."
...
"It's like having a gun to your head all the time. Because I know if anything happens to her, anything, then my life is over. — Michael Connelly

about seven months ago. Now we have these guys. — Michael Connelly

The black heart does not beat alone. — Michael Connelly

He knew evil could never be vanquished. It just moved from one place to another and waited. — Michael Connelly

Looks like it,' Winston said. — Michael Connelly

In the long run, all wrongs are righted, every minus is equalized with a plus, the columns are totaled and the totals are found correct. But that's in the long run. We must live in the short run and matters are often unjust there. The compensating for us of the universe makes all the accounts come out even, but they grind down the good as well as the wicked in the process. — Michael Connelly

You build a city in the desert, water it with false hopes and false idols, and eventually this is what happens. The desert reclaims it, turns it arid, leaves it barren. Human tumbleweeds drift across its streets, predators hide in the rocks. — Michael Connelly

Getting a not-guilty verdict was a long shot. Even when you knew in your gut that you were sitting next to an innocent man at the defense table, you also knew that the NGs came grudgingly from a system designed only to deal with the guilty. — Michael Connelly

Some people cashed in their dreams a dime on the dollar and some kept them close and as sacred as the night. I wasn't sure if I even had a dream left. I felt like I only had sins to confess. — Michael Connelly

Well, did he do it?"
She always asked the irrelevant question. It didn't matter in terms of the strategy of the case whether the defendant "did it" or not. What mattered was the evidence against him
the proof
and if and how it could be neutralized. My job was to bury the proof, to color the proof a shade of gray. Gray was the color of reasonable doubt. — Michael Connelly

You know what I did after I wrote my first novel? I shut up and wrote twenty-three more."
("The Castle") — Michael Connelly

The alley was like most any other alley in a city where the infrastructure was crumbling, in a state where the infrastructure was crumbling. It was a patchwork of asphalt spot repairs and loose gravel over a crumbling base of decades-old concrete. — Michael Connelly

Lean in, invade that foot and a half that is all theirs, their own space. Lean back when you get what you want. It's subliminal. Most of what goes on in a police interrogation has nothing to do with what is said. — Michael Connelly

Edgar was silent as it registered. The background sound of television went quiet and he then spoke in the weak voice of a child asking — Michael Connelly

Knowing that the instrument could produce a sound that echoed all the sadness and hope of humanity gave him pause. — Michael Connelly

With the money from the legal settlement, he hires a beautiful young woman from the local university to type for him as he orally composes the sentences. But soon he realizes she is editing and rewriting what he tells her before she even types it in. And what dawns on him is that she is the better writer. Soon he sits mute in the room while she writes. He only watches. He wants to kill her, strangle her with his hands. But he can't move his hands to do it. He is in hell. — Michael Connelly

All his life Harry Bosch believed he had a mission. And to carry out that mission he needed to be bulletproof. He needed to build himself and his life so that he was invulnerable, so that nothing and no one could ever get to him.

All of that changed on the day he was introduced to the daughter he didn't know he had. In that moment he knew he was both saved and lost. He would be forever connected to the world in the way only a father knew.

- "Nine Dragons" by Michael Connelly — Michael Connelly

People are the worst animals," Rider said. "They will do anything to each other. Just to indulge their fantasies. — Michael Connelly

It's lucky no one else knows what our most secret thoughts are. We'd all be seen for the cunning, self-aggrandizing fools we are. — Michael Connelly

Are you like him?" she asked. "Who?" "Timido. Alone out there in the dark world." "Sometimes. Everybody is sometimes. — Michael Connelly

You can fall in love and make love many times but there is only one bullet with your name etched on the side. And if you are lucky enough to be shot with that bullet then the wound never heals. — Michael Connelly

Aronson was getting at the fine line between seeking the truth and seeking a verdict in your client's favor. They weren't always the same thing. — Michael Connelly

You're a sleazy defense lawyer with two ex-wifes and an eight-year-old daughter and we all love you. — Michael Connelly

To write more from memory and to be more creative - I think - because I am still writing about Los Angeles but I can't walk out my door and immediately drive to places I am writing about. So I think it has been a very good change for me after 11 books to start writing this way. — Michael Connelly

He had lived alone most of his life. He was used to places that were empty. He knew the real shelter of a home was inside yourself. — Michael Connelly

I'm going to have to be impressed and feel confident in the people I'm handing a book to - or I'm not going to do it. Once you hand it to them, you're out. You have no control over it. — Michael Connelly

The setting sun burned the sky pink and orange in the same bright hues as surfers' bathing suits. It was beautiful deception, Bosch thought, as he drove north on the Hollywood Freeway to home. Sunsets did that here. Made you forget it was the smog that made their colors so brilliant, that behind every pretty picture there could be an ugly story. — Michael Connelly

McReynolds emphatically shook his head. "No way. Legal's all over that deal. It's squeaky clean. Even the woman signed off. Trammel. I could make her a three-hundred-pound whore who likes black dick in the movie and she couldn't do a thing about it. That deal is perfect." "Yeah, well, what Legal's missed is the part about neither one of them having the rights to the story to sell you in the first place. Those rights happen to reside here with me. Trammel signed them over to me before Dahl came along and took second position. He thought he could move up one by stealing the original contracts out of my files. Only that's not going to work. I've got a witness to the theft and Dahl's fingerprints. He's going to go down on fraud and theft charges and your choice here is to decide whether you want to go down — Michael Connelly

Play fair, Haller." "It's not a fair game. Did she tell you — Michael Connelly

The good ones all had that hollow space inside. The empty place where the fire always burns. For something. Call it justice. Call it the need to know. Call it the need to believe that those who are evil will not remain hidden in darkness forever. — Michael Connelly

And when they were finally naked they moved — Michael Connelly

There was still chicken on the bone but sometimes you just have to push the plate away. — Michael Connelly

Loneliness had been the trash can fire he huddled around for most of his life. — Michael Connelly

One of the crazies moved into the cone of light beneath a streetlight. It was a black man, high-stepping and making jerking movements with his arms. He made a crisp turn and began moving back into the darkness. He was a trombone player in a matching band in a world somewhere else. — Michael Connelly

You can't patch a wounded soul with a Band-Aid. — Michael Connelly

Everybody has a jury, the voices they carry inside. Earl Briggs sits on my jury, Gloria Dayton, too. They are there with Katie and Sandy, my mother, my father, and soon Legal Siegel as well. Those I have loved and those I have hurt. Those who bless me and those who haunt me. My gods of guilt. Every day I carry on and I carry them close. Every day I step into the well before them and I argue my case. — Michael Connelly

But too much going with the flow is heading us into the sewer ... — Michael Connelly

I quickly crossed the room — Michael Connelly

I think books with weak or translucent plots can survive if the character being drawn along the path is rich, interesting and multi-faceted. The opposite is not true. — Michael Connelly

Believe me or care, then I don't have a chance. — Michael Connelly

Bosch had never liked Las Vegas, though he came often on cases. It shared a kinship with Los Angeles; both were places desperate people ran to. Often, when they ran from Los Angeles, they came here. It was the only place left. — Michael Connelly

need a driver for the next few days, maybe more. You want to do it, the job's yours. I'm paying ten bucks an hour plus any meals. You'd have to bring a book or something because there will be a lot of sitting around waiting for me. — Michael Connelly

It's my policy." -Harry Bosch — Michael Connelly

I'm not 'Mr. No-By-The-Book.' I just want to make sure the character is by the book. — Michael Connelly

The law was not about truth. It was about negotiation, amelioration, manipulation. — Michael Connelly

To think about failure was to invite failure. — Michael Connelly

time. He also discovered that the burglar was still inside. It was this discovery that ultimately brought Detective Harry Bosch and his partner, Jerry Edgar, to the Three Kings Pawnshop. — Michael Connelly

The character can never be static from book to book. People might think you just come up with a new plot and stick this guy in. Well, he has to be as new as the plot every time. — Michael Connelly

I don't think anyone will believe me, but I've never been pressured by a publisher to churn out a book. — Michael Connelly

I've learned over the years that sometimes if you ask the same question more than once you get different responses. — Michael Connelly

Twelve-hundred-dollar chairs and wore sleek designer shoes with tassels. Gone were the days of thick rubber soles and function over form, — Michael Connelly

that. You see, not all of the casinos have — Michael Connelly

How I work is that I write a story I'd like to read. Then you fly to Paris or Sydney and the interviewers talk about the greater significance of your work. — Michael Connelly

Getting the quote right isn't what matters. It's remembering what it means. — Michael Connelly

The bag was a hybrid I had picked up at a store called Suitcase City while I was plotting my comeback. [ ... ] It had a logo on it
a mountain ridgeline with the words "Suitcase City" printed across it like the Hollywood sign. Above it, skylights swept the horizon, completing the dream image of desire and hope. I think that logo was the real reason I liked the bag. Because I knew Suitcase City wasn't a store. It was a place. It was Los Angeles. — Michael Connelly

In the morning, Bosch sat on the rear deck of his house and watched the sun come up over the Cahuenga Pass. It burned away the morning fog and bathed the wildflowers on the hillside that had burned the winter before. He watched and smoked and drank coffee until the sound of traffic on the Hollywood Freeway became one uninterrupted hiss from the pass below. — Michael Connelly

I nodded and made a notation on my legal pad. It read Got you, motherfucker. — Michael Connelly

The rich kept you waiting so you could feel free to admire all that they had. — Michael Connelly

Had going on it.' Lindell laughed as though I had suggested something absurd. — Michael Connelly

It's Officer, actually. Where are you — Michael Connelly

talking about. I am trying to prepare a defense strategy here — Michael Connelly

When I am so intensely involved with writing my books I don't like to reread them. — Michael Connelly

thanks to the many police officers who over the years have given me an insight into their jobs and lives. I also want to ackowledge Tom Mangold — Michael Connelly

I feel I'm functioning at some level as a journalist because even though I write fiction, I'm trying to get the world accurate. — Michael Connelly

This kid his asshole, then that's the cost. But — Michael Connelly

It was every detective's nightmare. The worst-case scenario. A lead ignored or bungled, allowing something awful to be loose in the world. Something dark and evil, destroying life after life as it moved through the shadows. It was true that all detectives made mistakes and had to live with the regrets. But Bosch instinctively knew that this one was malignant. It would grow and grow inside until it darkened everything and he became the last victim, the last life destroyed. — Michael Connelly

He always carried the feeling that he was struggling toward some kind of resolution and knowledge of purpose. That there was something good in him or about him. It was the waiting that was so hard. The waiting often left a hollow feeling in his soul. And he believed people could see this, that they knew when they looked at him that he was empty. — Michael Connelly

so, he wondered, — Michael Connelly

The Chicago Way is a wonderful first novel. Michael Harvey has studied the masters and put his own unique touch on the crime novel. This book harkens the arrival of a major new voice. — Michael Connelly

When you take hope away it leaves a void. Some people fill that up with anger and with violence. To simply blame it on the media is wrong. It's much deeper than that. — Michael Connelly

You can become unhinged and cut loose from the world. You can believe you are a permanent outsider. But the innocence of a child will bring you back and give you the shield of joy with which to protect yourself. I have learned this late in life but not too late. It's never too late. — Michael Connelly

like a small room. Like a — Michael Connelly

I've been able to write at least one book a year for 20 years, and I don't think I would've had that kind of drive if I hadn't come out of the journalism business. — Michael Connelly

Artists are supposed to stay hungry." "That's bullshit. That's a myth invented to keep the artist down because art is powerful. You give an artist both money and power and they're dangerous. — Michael Connelly

And what's with all the names on the new list? I've got kids I'd like to spend time with tonight."
"Give it to Lankford. He has the time. I think he ate his kids. — Michael Connelly

It is an amazing thing to be able to hold everything that is important to you in one arm. — Michael Connelly

All his life he believed he was slumming toward something good. — Michael Connelly

I went into journalism to learn the craft of writing and to get close to the world I wanted to write about - police and criminals, the criminal justice system. — Michael Connelly

Momentum was momentum, whether you found it in music or on the street or in the beat of your own heart. — Michael Connelly

The pages were yellowed and had gone to brown at the edges. They were brittle, much like the memories the photos evoked. — Michael Connelly

You see, the past is what you make of it. You can use it to hurt yourself or others or you can use it to make yourself strong. — Michael Connelly

The rain continued through Monday morning and slowed Bosch's drive into Brentwood to a frustrating crawl. It wasn't heavy rain, but in Los Angeles any rain at all can paralyze the city. It was one of the mysteries Bosch could never fathom. A city largely defined by the automobile yet full of drivers unable to cope with even a mild inclemency. — Michael Connelly

There were a billion lights out there on the horizon and I knew that all of them put together weren't enough to light the darkness in the hearts of some men. — Michael Connelly

Time had eroded the bond between them. They were strangers who shared the same story. — Michael Connelly

As a bassist he could never really be a sideman. He was always the anchor. He drove the beat. even if it was behind Miles Davis'a horn. — Michael Connelly

Form on the floor. All — Michael Connelly

She came to the Cleopatra and her attention was immediately drawn to the side-by-side Tigris and Euphrates Towers. Her — Michael Connelly

the cop-friendly Sherma Barthlett as the on-call — Michael Connelly

corruption will be the new growth industry without the papers watching. — Michael Connelly

He took the 101 out to the Valley and then the 405 north to the 118 and west. He got off in Chatsworth and drove into the rocky bluffs at the top corner of the Valley. — Michael Connelly

No matter what happens in the world, there will always be the need for heroes. — Michael Connelly

Little Peter's," Soto said. — Michael Connelly

I spread my arms wide like a minister in front of his flock.
"My pulpit is the well of the courtroom. I preach to the twelve apostles, the gods of guilt."
Valenzula casually looked at me.
"Yeah, well, whatever. It's still pretty low and you should be ashamed of your ass. Almost as low as you racing out here ahead of me and hiding in there, telling her not to answer the door."
I nodded. He had it all figured out. I signaled him off the hood of the car.
"Well, Val, Ms. Roberts is now my client and I am authorized to accept the subpoena from Fulgoni on her behalf."
He slid off the car, dragging the wallet chain looped from his belt to his back pocket along the paint.
"Oh, geez, my fucking bad. I hope I didn't scratch it, Reverend. — Michael Connelly

It ain't cheap anywhere," Bosch said. — Michael Connelly

No matter how much they tried to dress her up with neon and family entertainment she [Las Vegas] was still a whore. — Michael Connelly

Smith & Wesson 9mm - satin finished, stainless steel and loaded with eight rounds of XTPs. — Michael Connelly

Shouldn't death be the relief from the tortures of life? — Michael Connelly