The Codex Quotes

“The third board popped off. The opening was now big enough to squeeze through. The dogs in town were barking hysterically.”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“Church? Wife? Girlfriend?” Philip removed the pipe between his teeth and, in a perfect imitation of Fenton’s clipped style, answered him: “Atheist. Divorced. Misogynist.”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“cupidity.”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“toothpick fish”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“Chagas disease?”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“I had a botfly bite once, on my forehead. Felt like a mosquito at first. It began to swell and turn red. Hurt like the devil. A month later it erupted, and inch-long botfly maggots started squirming out and dropping to the ground.”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“The phrase, not dissimilar in sound from the mantra, got tangled up with his meditating, preventing him from achieving either peace”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“It’s not like Father to be late,” said Philip. He slipped the pipe between his white teeth and closed down on the stem with a little click. He gave the buzzer a stab of his own, checked his watch, shot his cuff. Philip looked pretty much the same, Tom thought: briar pipe, sardonic eye, cheeks well shaved and after-shaved, hair brushed straight back from a tall brow, gold watch winking at the wrist, dressed in gray worsted slacks and navy jacket. His English accent seemed to have gotten a shade plummier. Vernon, on the other hand, in his gaucho pants, sandals, long hair, and beard, looked uncannily like Jesus Christ.”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“smash the window?”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“There was a silence”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“over a wall”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“Finally she spoke.“We don’t have much time.” She paused, looking at him steadily. “I need to tell you something, Tom.” “What?” “It seems I’ve fallen in love with you.” Reality returned with sudden clarity. Tom couldn’t quite speak. She went on briskly. “Anyway, there—now it’s said.” “But what about—?” “Julian?”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“the partition was rolled up for ventilation, and she was lying in her hammock reading one of the books Vernon had brought, a thriller called utopia.”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“in our culture, women can do anything a man can. and vice versa."
don alfonso's eyebrows shot up. "i do not believe it."
"it's true," sally said defiantly.
"in America, the women hunt while the men have babies?”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“It’s not like Father to be late,”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“couple”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“Vernon”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“afternoon”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“chest. Everything looked strange and slow. Vernon bent over him. He felt him give his chest a big shove, and he felt his arms being raised. All at once the pressure seemed to break, and he coughed violently. Vernon rolled him to his side. He coughed, coughed again, felt a blinding icy headache take hold. Reality returned with a vengeance. Tom struggled to sit up. Vernon put his arms under his shoulders and supported him. “What happened?” “This foolish brother of yours, this Vernito, jumped into that river and pulled you out from under those logs. I have never seen such craziness in my life.” “He did?” Tom turned and looked at Vernon. He was soaked, and his forehead was cut. Blood and water ran together into his beard. Vernon grasped him, and he stood up. His head cleared a little more, and the pounding headache began to subside. He look down into the roaring chute of water ripping into the frenzied pool jammed full of broken tree trunks and branches. He looked at Vernon again. It finally sank in. “You,” he said incredulously. Vernon shrugged. “You saved my life.” “Well, you saved mine,” he said, almost defensively. “You decapitated a snake for me. All I did was jump.” Don Alfonso said, “By the Virgin Mary, I still cannot”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“like having death poke his stinking mug into your face to make you think about things.”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“the value of work? Have I taught them self-reliance? Have I taught them to take care of each”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“his face. Fenton was never one to like a slow day. The look was enough to tell Barnaby that something big had just come down. “Hutch?” “Hmmm?” Fenton went on, breathlessly. “The Broadbent place was robbed. I got one of the sons on the phone now.” Hutch Barnaby didn’t move a muscle. “Robbed of what?” “Everything.” Fenton’s black eyes glittered with relish. Barnaby sipped his coffee, sipped again, and then lowered his chair to the floor with a small clunk. Damn. As Barnaby and Fenton drove out the Old Santa Fe Trail, Fenton talked about the robbery. The collection, he’d heard, was worth half a billion. If the truth were anything close to that, Fenton said, it would be front-page-New-York-Times. He, Fenton, on the front page of the Times. Can you imagine”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex

“your personal”
― Douglas Preston, The Codex