Pietr the Latvian Quotes

“He was a big, bony man. Iron muscles shaped his jacket sleeves and quickly wore through new trousers. He had a way of imposing himself just by standing there.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“There’s no skill and no grace to it, but you”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“Ma guarda un po' che roba!" aveva detto quella mattina una cliente del Majestic.
Sì, perdio! La "roba" era un poliziotto che tentava di impedire a malviventi di grosso calibro di perseverare nelle loro imprese, e che si ostinava a vendicare un collega assassinato proprio in quell'albergo di lusso!
La "roba" era un uomo che non si vestiva da un sarto inglese, che non aveva tempo di passare ogni mattina dalla manicure e la cui moglie preparava invano da tre giorni pranzi e cene, rassegnata, all'oscuro di tutto.
La "roba" era un commissario di prima classe con uno stipendio di duemiladuecento franchi al mese, il quale ogni volta che chiudeva un caso, dopo aver messo gli assassini sotto chiave, doveva sedersi alla scrivania, prendere un foglio di carta, fare l'elenco delle spese, pinzarvi le ricevute e le pezze giustificative, quindi litigare con il cassiere!”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“In ogni malfattore, in ogni delinquente c'è un uomo. Ma c'è anche e soprattutto un giocatore, un avversario: ed è questo che la polizia tende a vedere in lui, è questo che, in generale, affronta.
È stato commesso un delitto o un comune reato? La lotta viene ingaggiata su dati più o meno oggettivi, come ogni problema a uno o più incognite che la ragione si sforza di risolvere.
Maigret agiva come gli altri. E come gli altri si serviva degli eccezionali strumenti che i Bertillon, i Reiss, i Locard hanno messo nelle mani della polizia e che costituiscono una vera e propria scienza.
Ma lui cercava, aspettava, spiava soprattutto la "crepa". Il momento in cui, in altri termini, dietro il giocatore appare l'uomo.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“But what he sought, what he waited and watched out for, was the crack in the wall. In other words, the instant when the human being comes out from behind the opponent.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“Some crime or offence is committed. The match starts on the basis of more or less objective facts. It’s a problem with one or more unknowns that a rational mind tries to solve.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“Maigret worked like any other policeman. Like everyone else, he used the amazing tools that men like Bertillon, Reiss and Locard have given the police – anthropometry, the principle of the trace, and so forth – and that have turned detection into forensic science. But what he sought, what he waited and watched out for, was the crack in the wall. In other words, the instant when the human being comes out from behind the opponent.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“Inside every wrong-doer and crook there lives a human being. In addition, of course, there is an opponent in a game, and it’s the player that the police are inclined to see. As a rule, that’s what they go after.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“He was still staring at her. Because he was pushing her to the limit, or perhaps because she didn’t know what else to do, Mrs Mortimer-Levingston threw a fit.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“On the second floor he read the numbers on the bronze plaques. The door of no. 17 was open. Valets with striped waistcoats were bringing in the luggage. The traveller had taken off his cloak and looked very slender and elegant in his pinstripe suit. He was smoking a papirosa and giving instructions at the same time.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“He had a way of imposing himself just by standing there. His assertive presence had often irked many of his own colleagues. It was something more than self-confidence but less than pride. He would turn up and stand like a rock with his feet wide apart. On that rock all would shatter, whether Maigret moved forward or stayed exactly where he was. His pipe was nailed to his jawbone. He wasn’t going to remove it just because he was in the lobby of the Majestic. Could it be that Maigret simply preferred to be common and self-assertive?”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel’s atmosphere could not assimilate.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“Detective Chief Inspector Maigret of the Flying Squad raised his eyes. It seemed to him that the cast-iron stove in the middle of his office with its chimney tube rising to the ceiling wasn’t roaring properly. He pushed the telegram away, rose ponderously to his feet, adjusted the flue and thrust three shovels of coal into the firebox.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“Sono cose di cui non ci si vanta, cose che a parlarne farebbero sorridere e che pure richiedono una certa dose di eroismo.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian

“Arrivava solido come il granito, e da quel momento pareva che tutto dovesse spezzarsi contro di lui, sia che avanzasse, sia che restasse piantato sulle gambe leggermente divaricate.”
― Georges Simenon, Pietr the Latvian