Gerritsen Tess Quotes & Sayings

Based on the timing, the circumstances. In July 1970, William Maitland vanished from the face of the earth. In August of the same year, we heard the first reports of a foreign pilot flying for the enemy. Running weapons and gold. — Tess Gerritsen

Had she always been so insulated from human contact, like a bloom encased in frost? — Tess Gerritsen

When everything goes wrong in our lives, it's natural to look around for someone -or something- to blame. — Tess Gerritsen

My brother and I spent our childhood in movie theaters screaming. I decided early on that that was the epitome of entertainment. I'm always trying for that same level of adrenaline in my books. — Tess Gerritsen

Aside from the Rizzoli & Isles books, there are many other stories I want to write. The question is whether I'll live long enough to write them all! — Tess Gerritsen

While the TV show 'Rizzoli & Isles' may have been inspired by my books, show runner Janet Tamaro has total control over where the TV characters go from there. As Janet once put it, I'm the birth mother, but she's the mother who adopted them, and now that Jane and Maura are living in her house, they have to do what she tells them to do. — Tess Gerritsen

Alzheimer's is literally killing us, and the only way to fight this 'crime' is through a groundswell of people who continue to raise their voices and funds to ensure it gets the attention it deserves. — Tess Gerritsen

That's what makes life an adventure. Sometimes you just have to jump in and trust in the universe. — Tess Gerritsen

What Rizzoli thought, staring at her own image, was that she hated Elizabeth Hurley for giving women false hope. The brutal truth was, there are some women who will never be beautiful, and Rizzoli was one of them. — Tess Gerritsen

Charles threw down the knife. Its thud was lost in the high-spirited bedlam of young men let loose upon a task so gruesome, the only sane response was perverse frivolity. — Tess Gerritsen

We dream our dreams, and sometimes they take us to places we never anticipate. But they are our dreams, and we go where they lead. — Tess Gerritsen

Maybe it's because I can't have him that I feel safe wanting him. He's beyond my reach, so he won't hurt me. — Tess Gerritsen

Robbie Brace, a practical man, had chosen a practical field. Oh, but how it depressed him. — Tess Gerritsen

I met my husband, Jacob, in medical school. We married and went to live in Hawaii where his family lived. It was very beautiful, but I wasn't used to being on an island and needed wide open spaces. Eventually we moved to Maine, New England. — Tess Gerritsen

We never know until the beast of opportunity is staring us in the face. — Tess Gerritsen

Think of what it means to manually strangle someone. How personal it is. The close contact. Skin to skin. Your hands against her flesh. Pressing her throat as you feel her life drain away.' Rizzoli — Tess Gerritsen

She now knew her death was inevitable, and with that acceptance came liberation. The courage of the condemned. — Tess Gerritsen

He knew that the cruelest of blows too often came with a smile. — Tess Gerritsen

For years I've wanted to write a book about mummies, and had been following the science of mummy CT scans when the premise for 'The Keepsake' occurred to me: what if an 'ancient' mummy turns out to have a bullet in its leg? How does a modern murder victim get turned into a mummy? — Tess Gerritsen

Sometimes, the stars line up, the gods smile, and love gets a fighting chance. Just a chance. That's all it can really hope for. No guarantees, no certainties — Tess Gerritsen

Now they were probably telling one another: Yeah, I knew something wasn't right. Everyone's brilliant in retrospect. — Tess Gerritsen

It's just something I'll have to live with... The possibility of getting sick. Not knowing if I'll live another two years or forty years. I keep telling myself, I could walk outside and get hit by a bus. That's the way life is. Just surviving another day comes with its own risk. — Tess Gerritsen

Including four mice posed with tiny china cups, seated around a miniature table. A Mad Hatter's grotesque tea party. — Tess Gerritsen

The Christmas tree, twinkling with lights, had a mountain of gifts piled up beneath it, like offerings to the great god of excess. — Tess Gerritsen

When you're a fifty-year-old woman, no one really bothers to look at you anymore, much less value your opinion. It's hard on the old ego. But damn, it does make it easy to get away with a lot. — Tess Gerritsen

I've just confirmed every bad joke ever told about second violin players. Question: How many second violinists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Answer: They can't go that high. Gerda — Tess Gerritsen

Even if I never sold another book, I'd keep writing, because the stories are here, in my head. Stories that just need to be told. I love watching a plot unfold, and feeling the surprise when the unexpected happens. — Tess Gerritsen

I believe that every experience, every wrong decision, teaches us something. That's why we shouldn't be afraid to make mistakes. — Tess Gerritsen

I look at the others seated around the campfire. Mr. and Mrs. Matsunaga are diligently reviewing the day's photos on his camera. Vivian and Sylvia lounge in their low-cut tank tops, oozing pheromones that make poor, awkward Elliot grovel for attention as usual. Are you gals chilly? Can I get your sweaters? — Tess Gerritsen

It's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog. — Tess Gerritsen

So little time. We have so little time on this earth with the people we love. — Tess Gerritsen

That's what I imagined, a giant game park with comfortable lodges and roads. At a minimum, roads. According to the website, there'd be "bush camping" involved, but I pictured lovely big tents with showers and flush toilets. I didn't think I'd be paying for the privilege of squatting in the bushes. — Tess Gerritsen

Because my dad's Chinese-American, and they're very concrete, he said, 'There's no money to be made in literature.' So he told me to go into the sciences. And I was a good girl. And I did what Daddy said. And that's how I ended up being a doctor. But you know, you just can't stamp out that desire to tell stories. — Tess Gerritsen

Now we sit and wait," the woman said, and she settled into a chair, the gun on her lap.
"What are we waiting for?" Jane asked.
The woman stared at her. Said, calmly: "The end. — Tess Gerritsen

My brother often complains to me about the 'angry Asian male' in the United States. As a female, I haven't encountered this, but Asian-American men are angry. They're angry because, for so many years, they've been neglected as sex symbols. Asian women have it much easier, I think; we're accepted into various circles. — Tess Gerritsen

The heart makes its choices without weighing the consequences. It doesn't look ahead to the lonely nights that follow. — Tess Gerritsen

The hardest part of writing is the first draft, and the closer you get to your deadline, the messier your workspace becomes - but that's the same with any creative outlet. — Tess Gerritsen

The dead do not hurt you; only the living do. — Tess Gerritsen

This is the way modern men do battle, not with spear and sword, but with credit cards. My platinum beats your gold. Poor Elliot with his unisex Minolta is left in the dust, — Tess Gerritsen

Some people make choices hoping for the best; Korsak had made a choice simply to avoid the worst. — Tess Gerritsen

But death wouldn't deter her killer. It would whet his appetite. He'd look at her corpse and see only an object of desire. Someone he can control. She doesn't resist him. She is cool, passive flesh, yielding to any and all indignities. She is the perfect lover. The — Tess Gerritsen

There is no better test of character than when you're tossed into crisis. That's when we see one's true colors shine through. So I try my best to make my characters personally involved in the plot, in a way that stresses them and tests them. — Tess Gerritsen

'I am a bad mother.' Every Christmas, this is what I think because the holiday season fills me with such anxiety. I'm sure that other mothers are happily baking cookies, decorating trees, and finding perfect gifts for everyone. — Tess Gerritsen

I'm trained in science, believe in logic, and like to think there's an explanation for everything. And I'm truly not really at ease with other people. — Tess Gerritsen

Because we bear responsibility for our own actions alone. Not for anyone else's. — Tess Gerritsen

In 'Last to Die,' three children living in different cities are the only survivors when their families are slaughtered. Two years later, their foster families are murdered, and these three orphans are once again the only survivors. — Tess Gerritsen

Some people just couldn't commit to their own health. Instead they wasted their energy worrying about things they could do nothing about. — Tess Gerritsen

No man easily admits that he is afraid. — Tess Gerritsen

I sold my first short story while I was home on maternity leave, then began working on novels. Since I was reading and enjoying romance novels at the time, the first two unpublished manuscripts I wrote were both romances. I sold my third novel, 'Call After Midnight,' to Harlequin Intrigue after submitting it unagented. — Tess Gerritsen

When you cannot see where you are going, when you do not know your final destination, every hour is its own eternity. — Tess Gerritsen

You can study a face all you want, but you never really know what lies beneath the mask. — Tess Gerritsen

I shy away from showing cruelty on the page. A lot of the violence in my books actually happens off stage. The police come on to the scene after the event has occurred. — Tess Gerritsen

Richard subtly slipped in the fact that he is thriller writer Richard Renwick, creator of MI5 hero Jackman Tripp. Unfortunately none of them had ever heard of Richard or his hero, which led to a prickly first day on safari. But now he's back in form, doing what he does best: charming his audience. Laying it on too thick, I think. Far too thick. But if I complain about it later, I know exactly what he'll say. It's what writers have to do, Millie. We have to be sociable and bring in new readers. Funny how Richard never wastes his time being sociable with — Tess Gerritsen

I'm a dinosaur, he thought, lumbering through a world where truthtellers
are despised. — Tess Gerritsen

Your blood reveal your most intimate secrets. Are you dying of leukimia or AIDS? Did you smoke cigarette or drink a glass of wine in the last few hours? Are you prozac because you're depressed, or Viagra because you can't get it up? — Tess Gerritsen

One of the best Christmas presents I ever got was the globe that I now keep right beside my desk. — Tess Gerritsen

'Ice Cold' is the eighth in my 'Rizzoli and Isles' thriller series. It was inspired by a true occurrence in the 1960s, now known as the 'Dugway Incident,' in which 6,000 sheep mysteriously died overnight in a remote area of Utah. I thought, 'What if it happened instead to people? What if the inhabitants of an entire village vanished overnight?' — Tess Gerritsen

The most dangerous enemy in the world is the one you do not recognize. — Tess Gerritsen

When you shine a bright light, a secret loses all its power. — Tess Gerritsen

Motherhood didn't make you stronger; it made you vulnerable and afraid of what death could steal from you. — Tess Gerritsen

I have hidden my race for 22 books. I have hidden behind my married name, which is very Caucasian, because I didn't feel safe coming out with it. I didn't feel that the market would really accept me. I think I felt it's time to start bringing in an Asian-American point of view. — Tess Gerritsen

I was always meant to be a writer. I've felt that way since I was a child. — Tess Gerritsen

Prey animals such as zebras and antelope have eyes at the sides of their heads, but a predator's eyes face forward. Always show the cat your face. Let her see where your eyes are, and she'll know you're a predator, too. She'll think twice before attacking. — Tess Gerritsen

Throughout most of my life, I've tried to downplay my Chinese heritage because I wanted so much to be an American. I was the only Asian kid in my elementary school, and I longed to be like everyone else. I insisted on American food; I was embarrassed by my mother's poor English. — Tess Gerritsen

The hunting of monsters is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for those who feel bound by such trivial doctrines as law or national borders. — Tess Gerritsen

No kiss, no embrace, could bring two people any closer than we are right now. The most intimate emotion two people can share is neither love nor desire but pain. — Tess Gerritsen

What happens when we get old? he wondered. Where does the kid part of us go? — Tess Gerritsen

I devote most of my day to writing, and try to turn out at least four pages a day. As for what triggers the creative process, it's a mystery to me! Characters often just walk on the page, and I wait to see what they do and say while I'm writing them. — Tess Gerritsen

A project like 'Rizzoli & Isles' is something you can't pursue. It's something that comes to you ... I like to call it 'fairy dust.' And it happened without my having to do anything. — Tess Gerritsen

She siged, a sound of regret for childhood transgressions, for all the lessons learned too late. — Tess Gerritsen

ADD has turned into a catchall for all childhood misbehavior. When a student's failing in class, or he gets into mischief, — Tess Gerritsen

The best ideas are those that really affect me emotionally - those are the ones you never forget. You think to yourself, 'I want to write that book', for years; those are the ideas that I love to work with, and 'The Bone Garden' was one of them. — Tess Gerritsen

My childhood was spent in my local library in a San Diego suburb. It's where I became a writer - by 1st becoming a reader! — Tess Gerritsen

Jane remained in her chair thinking about justice, about how the dead never benefited from it. For them it always comes too late. — Tess Gerritsen

She pressed her fingers to the woman's neck and felt icy skin.
Bending close to the lips, she waited for the whisper of a breath, the faintest puff of air against her cheek.
The corpse opened its eyes. — Tess Gerritsen

Without ties to our ancestors, we are lonely specks of dust, adrift and floating, attached to nothing and no one. — Tess Gerritsen

My most successful books, the ones that I feel the strongest about, are the ones that started with a premise that for me was deeply emotional. — Tess Gerritsen

Laura would never be so easily intimidated. She was braver than he could ever be, brave enough to wave her ugly scars like scarlet flags. — Tess Gerritsen

We are so good at killing each other, she thought. Yet we fail so miserably at love. — Tess Gerritsen

With every year that I grow older, I also draw closer to (my loved ones) to the day when we will once again be together. So I march through the deepening shadows, serene and unafraid, because I know that at the end of my journey they will be waiting for me. — Tess Gerritsen

My mother is an immigrant from China, and she filled my head with stories about ghosts and fighting monks in China, so the world of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' was a very familiar one. — Tess Gerritsen

Fierce-looking, a coal-eyed brunette with a gaze direct as lasers. She — Tess Gerritsen

There is honor between bitches — Tess Gerritsen

Why do we always treat kids like the enemy?" "Because they so often behave like an alien species? — Tess Gerritsen

Mom and I often talked about the trip we'd someday take together to the 'city of eternal spring' where she was born. In Kunming, she said, the fruits are sweeter, the mountains look like Chinese paintings, and the weather is always perfect. — Tess Gerritsen

We dream our dreams, she thought, and sometimes they take us places we never anticipate. — Tess Gerritsen

I always write on unlined typing paper and write the first draft in longhand, using cheap Bic pens. I try to write about four pages a day, which usually yields a first draft in six months. I don't plot ahead of time, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants for the first draft. — Tess Gerritsen

And like a drowning woman who chooses the black sea instead of rescue, she did not take it. — Tess Gerritsen

I raised two sons, and I know that even though they're bigger and stronger than I am, they're still little boys inside. They still cry, they still hurt. So whenever I write a male character, no matter how 'heroic' he may be, I think of my sons. And I remember that every man was once a little boy. — Tess Gerritsen

Some part of you, some ancient memory deep in your brain, recognizes this continent as home. — Tess Gerritsen

All those mounted heads in the living room," said Jane. "And he ends up hanging, like some dead animal. I'd say we've got a theme going here. — Tess Gerritsen

Dixie Flynn may be the most kick-ass heroine ever created. Kudos to M.C. Grant for giving us the ultimate 'girl power' thriller."
- TESS GERRITSEN, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SILENT GIRL — M.C. Grant

After years of feeling like a misfit, I've realized that the world is full of other misfits, all of us identifying with Hobbits - - the little guys whom no one else respects. And who quietly end up changing the course of history. — Tess Gerritsen

Is this all we are? A necklace of chemicals? Where, in the double helix, does the soul lie? — Tess Gerritsen

My name is Mila, and this is my journey.
There are so many places where I could begin the story. I could start in the town where I grew up, in Kryvicy, on the banks of the Servac River, in the district of Miadziel. I could begin when I was eight years old, on the day my mother died, or when I was twelve, and my father fell beneath the wheels of the neighbour's truck. But I think I should begin my story here, in the Mexican desert, so far from my home in Belarus. This is where I lost my innocence. This is where my dreams died. — Tess Gerritsen

You know that movie, where the little boy says 'I see dead people'?
The Sixth Sense.
Well, I see them all the time, and I'm getting tired of it. That's what's ruined my mood. Here it is, almost Christmas, and I didn't even think about putting up a tree, because I'm still seeing the autopsy lab in my head. I'm still smelling it on my hands. I come home on a day like this, after two postmortems, and I can't think about cooking dinner. I can't even look at a piece of meat without thinking of muscle fibers. All I can deal with is a cocktail. And then I pour the drink and smell the alcohol, and suddenly there I am, back in the lab. Alcohol, formalin, they both have that same sharp smell. — Tess Gerritsen

She met his gaze, and what she saw in his eyes scared her, because at that instant she saw both possibility and heartbreak. She was ready for neither. — Tess Gerritsen

Fans are always asking me where I get my ideas from. The answer is that I'm very curious, and I get inspiration from everywhere. I read the newspapers voraciously, so I know what's going on in real crime. I pay attention to the strange stories people tell me, and I also read a lot of scientific and forensic journals. — Tess Gerritsen

Only by the shuddering of the bed did Toby realize the girl was sobbing. Molly herself made no sound; it was as though her grief was trapped in a jar, her cries inaudible to anyone but her. — Tess Gerritsen

I believe one has to get one's hand dirty or you're nothing but a hobbyist. — Tess Gerritsen