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161 " When terrorists find something that works they keep on doing it. It’s predictable. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Depraved Heart (Scarpetta, #23)
162 " She was grossly overweight, though I could tell from her refined features that she may have been quite pretty in a younger, leaner life. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Cruel & Unusual (Kay Scarpetta, #4)
163 " some sort of psychopath, like a serial killer. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Dust (Kay Scarpetta, #21)
164 " Victims have no rights while they’re being victimized and few rights during the slow, tedious grind of the criminal justice process. The injuries don’t heal but continue to be inflicted, by lawyers, by the media, by jurors, by witnesses who testify that someone like me had it coming or caused it. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Red Mist (Kay Scarpetta, #19)
165 " assumed about the two of them not "
― Patricia Cornwell , Chaos (Kay Scarpetta, #24)
166 " as was true with every powerful person I had known, and there were but a few, his greatness made him humble and kind. "
― Patricia Cornwell , The Body Farm (Kay Scarpetta, #5)
167 " Tell me about data fiction.” “It’s what can happen if we’re so reliant on technology that we become completely dependent on things we can’t see. Therefore we can no longer judge for ourselves what’s true, what’s false, what’s accurate, what isn’t. In other words if reality is defined by software that does all the work for us then what if this software lies? What if everything we believe isn’t true but is a facade, a mirage? What if we go to war, pull the plug, make life-and-death decisions based on data fiction? "
168 " As long as every jot or tittle goes as planned. As "
― Patricia Cornwell , Quantum (Captain Chase #1)
169 " But not the same way I love you,” I said, my heart gripped by the worst pain I ever remember feeling. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Body of Evidence (Kay Scarpetta, #2)
170 " People don’t really know what anything is really like until it really happens to them. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Port Mortuary (Kay Scarpetta, #18)
171 " Instant death is rare. It can be caused by the dislocation of the C2 from the vertebral body. When I see this it’s usually in hangings with long sudden drops such as from a bridge or a tall tree, and in motor vehicle and diving accidents when the victim suffers a hyperflexion injury after striking his head on a dashboard or the bottom of a pool. If the spinal cord is severed, the brain is no longer attached to the body. The heart and lungs instantly quit. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Flesh and Blood (Kay Scarpetta, #22)
172 " I realize it isn’t exactly in England. I know Isle of Man’s a fucking island, but in case you flunked geography, England’s a fucking island. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Scarpetta (Kay Scarpetta, #16)
173 " That’s the funny thing about choices. When you don’t have one, nobody else does, either. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Book of the Dead (Kay Scarpetta, #15)
174 " -it's the d-isomer of a compound, the name of which won't mean anything to you--oh, yeah? how do you know it won't mean nothing to me?-three-methoxy-n-methylmorphinan-you're right. don't mean a dam thing to me "
― Patricia Cornwell
175 " When the Ripper’s murders began in the summer of 1888, there was no such thing as using science in police investigations. Imagine living in a time when a witness claiming to have seen you in the area of a violent crime might be all it takes to bring about your arrest. Maybe you’re sent to prison. Maybe you’re sentenced to death. "
― Patricia Cornwell , Chasing the Ripper
176 " -it's the d-isomer of a compound, the name of which won't mean anything to you--oh, yeah? how do you know it won't mean nothing to me?-three-methoxy-n-methylmorphinan-you're right. don't mean a damn thing to me "
177 " through, I suppose it will dry just fine. And I’m "
178 " in what they’ve done. Feed right into their narcissism. They were doing the world a favor.” “Yes, people who believe that. Hitler, for example.” “Except Tara Grimm wasn’t obvious,” Benton "
179 " egress, "
― Patricia Cornwell , Autopsy (Kay Scarpetta, #25)
180 " It’s fascinating to ponder the name Jack the Ripper. Who thought of it? I’m quite certain he did. The Ripper’s communications indicate he dubbed himself that and many other variations of it. He called himself all sorts of things, whatever pleased and amused him at the moment. Sickert was accustomed to having stage names. As a child he was acting in his homespun Shakespeare plays, and when he reached his teens he chose the theater as a career. "