Witness 8 Quotes

“It’s the simple things that sometimes hurt people in times of great trouble. Smells, food, souvenirs on the fridge, keepsakes, an old coffee mug, the sound of a key in the front door, even a chair with its cushion worn thin and still bearing the impression of that person—little everyday land mines that the mind latches on to—bringing all the pent-up existential emotion crashing into the real world.”
― Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8

“Sometimes grief can be a machine that grinds your very bones.”
― Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8

“America could be cruel. The Statue of Liberty stood tall, with its back to New York City.”
― Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8

“People think justice is like the buildings that house the system itself: huge, indelible edifices that look as if they’ve stood there for five hundred years. Same as the courtrooms themselves. Apart from microphones and the addition of TV monitors, courtrooms haven’t changed for more than a century. Not really. That gives the notion of justice permanence. Yet it could not be more malleable. What drives the justice system isn’t our constitution or the laws that govern each state; it’s the people in power. Justice is a hammer. You can use it to tap lightly on stone, molding and shaping it over time. Or you can crack the whole damn rock wide-open. It depends on who is wielding the hammer.”
― Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8

“Daddy was being bad again. Josef Johnson had been born with every advantage and privilege it was possible to enjoy: loving parents, wealth, good looks, intelligence, contacts, and power. By the age of twenty-five, he had thrown almost all of it away. He had a fire inside him that consumed his better nature, his habits, his mind, and everyone around him. The only thing that could calm it down was the thrill of winning a poker hand or a horse race. But he was not a good gambler. The losses always outweighed the wins. Soon the only thing that gave him peace was strong liquor—and eventually all that did was add flames.”
― Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8

“The officers who are under investigation, or have a large number of citizen complaints against them, normally get a promotion instead of kicked off the force. The police commission and the union don’t want cops prosecuted or any successful complaints from the public, because they hate cops getting fired. Gives the boys in blue a bad name. Instead, it’s easier to take problematic cops off the street by putting them behind a sergeant’s desk. A rotten NYPD cop is far more likely to get a promotion—and the pay raise and pension benefits that come with it—than get fired.”
― Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8

“The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other. —MARIO PUZO”
― Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8