Small Sacrifices Quotes

“Crazy gets better; consciences don’t grow back, and narcissists and histrionics never learn to give up center stage or their beloved mirrors.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“Recent research into the problem shows that three percent of all American males are considered antisocial, while only one percent of women are. Interestingly, little boys tend to show sociopathic traits early in childhood, while girls with antisocial personality disorders rarely exhibit symptoms before the onset of puberty.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“Why did Fred Hugi, a private man, a loner, choose to be a courtroom lawyer in the first place? He detested publicity. Unlike many prosecuting attorneys who use publicity as a stepping stone to build a private practice, Hugi had come from a successful private practice because he was intrigued with the system and the way it should work. His goal was quite simple. He wanted only to be the kind of prosecutor a victim would choose to handle his case, to be “someone who will make the system work and do whatever it takes to see that it does work.” That he could occasionally be a rescuer or an avenger was the part of his profession that gave him the most satisfaction. Talking with the press gave him the least.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder

“would be terrified that she would be found out. She could be so frightened, perhaps, that she might blurt out a confession. No one was leaning on her. To a burdened conscience, silence and solicitude can be more threatening than interrogation.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder

“Downs did not blunt her pursuit of excellence at Moon Valley High. Her intelligence was part of her armor against the world. Her name on the honor roll bolstered her still fragile ego.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“But Elizabeth Diane was not happy. She still felt invisible. She studied harder, hoping to achieve acceptance with better and better grades. No one seemed to notice her.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“When this you see, remember me, And bear me in your mind. Let all the world say what they may. Speak of me as you find … —Elizabeth Diane Downs, 1983”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder

“The fairest things have fleetest end, Their scent survives their close: But the rose’s scent is bitterness To him that loved the rose. —Francis Thompson”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder

“When you’re dealing with crime, something that’s admitted to one time usually means it happened a lot of times.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“Diane’s diary entry for October 14 is gleeful: “It worked! Remember that guy I dated a couple of times? Well, I called him up and ended up going to see him. I talked him into doing you-know-what, because I knew it was my time of the month to get pregnant. I hope it worked. I just can’t live without my kids.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“If I had shot my own children, I would have done a good job of it. I would have waited ’til they died and then cried crocodile tears …” —Diane Downs, press conference, June 1983”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“Mother acted… like maybe her parakeet died. Joking.” One detective had summed up Diane’s reaction with a crude phrase: “Mother’s attitude totally fucked.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“The “BHS” (bushy-haired stranger) is an integral part of forensic folklore. The BHS is the guy who isn’t there, the man the defendant claims is really responsible. The suspect is merely an innocent person who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, the BHS can never be produced in court.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“The principle put forth by the great French criminalist Edmund Locard—that the criminal always leaves something of himself (no matter how minute) at the scene of his crime, and always carries something of the scene away with him (again, no matter how infinitesimal)—has not changed in seventy-five years. The tools of the criminalist have simply become more sophisticated.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“Hugi will not speak of Vietnam, except to say that he came back wondering why any man could not be happy as long as he had enough to eat, a roof over his head, and no one shooting at him.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“They walked past Diane’s red Nissan, guarded by Rich Charboneau. She looked it over. “I hope my car’s okay. Does it have any bullet holes in it?”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“Who in the name of God could have aimed a pistol at three small children and pulled the trigger five times?”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“shot the kids, and I watched—Yeah, I watched. That’s right, I watched, ’cause that son”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices

“them.”
― Ann Rule, Small Sacrifices