Robicheaux (Dave Robicheaux #21)

by James Lee Burke

Mortality is not kind, and do not let anyone tell you it is. If there is such a thing as wisdom, and I have serious doubts about its presence in my own life, it lies in the acceptance of the human condition and perhaps the knowledge that those who have passed on are still with us, out there in the mist, showing us the way, sometimes uttering a word of caution from the shadows, sometimes

visiting us in our sleep, as bright as a candle burning inside a basement that has no windows.

I believe people in groups are to be feared and that arguing with others is folly and the knowledge of one generation cannot be passed down to the

next. Those may seem cynical sentiments, but there are certain truths you keep inside you and do not defend lest you cheapen and then lose them altogether.

Most investigative cops, often without knowing who Niccolò Machiavelli was, adhere to his admonition to keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said no one could understand America without understanding the graves of Shiloh.

What do they say at meetings? You get drunk at somebody?”

CNN he said Hollywood

is a potential gold mine for anthropologists because it’s the only culture in the world where educated and rich and powerful people have the mind-set and manners of Southern white trash.”

“The human spirit is frail. People believe whatever they need to believe. I feel sorry for all

the kind of idealist who sets sail on the Pequod and declares war against the universe.

IN MY OPINION, one of the great follies in the world is to put yourself inside the head of dysfunctional people. The mistake we usually make is to assume

there is a rationale for their behavior. In most cases, there is none.

“Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in America.”

A master of illusion or a guy with a genius IQ who was brain-dead when it came to morality?