A Man Without Breath Quotes

“it is always the women who rebuild the civilizations that the men have done their best to destroy”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“It was an interesting dilemma and pointed up a real point of difference between Nazism and Communism as forms of government: there was no room for the individual in Soviet Russia; conversely not everything was state-managed in Germany. The Nazis never shot anyone for being stupid, inefficient or just plain unlucky. Generally speaking the Nazis looked for a reason to shoot you, the commies were quite happy to shoot you without any reason at all - but when you're going to be shot, what's the difference?”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“the man who succeeds is the man who is able to reduce problems to their simplest terms and who has the courage of his convictions - despite the objections of intellectuals. The courage to speak, perhaps, even when he believes that what he is suggesting sounds like madness.”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“the man who succeeds is the man who is able to reduce problems to their simplest terms and who has the courage of his convictions”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“This is the country for cruel experiments—it’s where idealists are sent to die, my friend. Killing people who believe in things is our national sport.” With”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“lachrymose”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“obdurate.”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“ballyhoo”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“caviling”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“Why did I do that? Was it because I am a decent man? Or is morality just a form of cowardice, as Hamlet says?”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“That’s quite a collection you have there,” I said. Batov shrugged. “They serve a double purpose. As well as keeping me busy—I love to read—they help to insulate the corridor against the cold. It’s doubly fortunate that Russians write such thick books. Perhaps that’s why.”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“Of his pet Russian, Dyakov, there was no sign, although there was a large dog occupying a space next to the heat vents in the brick wall that could easily have been mistaken for him.”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell a German what a “special operation” amounts to. You Germans use this euphemism too, don’t you? When you want to kill thousands of people and pretend that it’s something sanitary.”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“alacrity. When the head was completely severed he lifted”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“Either way God was going to have to choose sides and choose soon: the godless communists or the blaspheming Germans. Who would be God with a choice like that?”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“corridor that smelt strongly of misery, which, as anyone will tell you, is a subtle mixture of hope, despair, rancid cooking fat and men’s piss.”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“Is that what we are? Fools?” “Certainly. But at least we know we’re fools. And in today’s Germany, that counts as a kind of wisdom.” •”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“In my experience, Corporal, the best police work looks like nothing at all and is always soon forgotten.” I”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath

“that smelled strongly of misery, which, as anyone will tell you, is a subtle mixture of hope, despair, rancid cooking fat, and men’s piss.”
― Philip Kerr, A Man Without Breath