W is for Wasted Quotes

“Verbal clashes seldom come to a satisfying end. They peter out in weak retorts that leave you wishing you’d been as clever in the moment as you are in reviewing the conversation later.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Being rule governed, I operate in a world filled with imaginary restraints.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“maybe it was time to at least pretend to be a nicer person than i knew i was”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“We are here this afternoon to mourn the passing of two good friends, Terrence Dace and Felix Beider. They were homeless. Their ways were not those we most desire for ourselves, but that didn’t make them wrong. We seem determined to save the homeless, to fix them, to change them into something other than what they are. We want them to be like us, but they are not. The homeless do not want our pity, nor do they deserve our scorn. Our judgments about them, for good or for ill, negate their right to live as they please. Both the urge to rescue and the need to condemn fail to take into account the concept of their personal liberty, which they may exercise as they see fit as long as their actions fall within the law. The homeless are not lesser mortals. For Terrence and Felix, their battles were within and their victories hard-won. I think of these two men as soldiers of the poor, part of an army of the disaffiliated. The homeless have established a nation within a nation, but we are not at war. Why should we not coexist in peace when we may be in greater need of salvation than they? This is what the homeless long for: respect, freedom from hunger, shelter from the elements, safety, the companionship of the like-minded. They want to live without fear. They want to enjoy the probity of the open air without the risk of bodily harm. They want to be warm. They want the comfort of a clean bed when they are ill, relief from pain, a hand offered in friendship. Ordinary conversation. Simple needs. Why are their choices so hard for us to accept? What you see before you is their home. This is their dwelling place. This grass, this sunlight, these palms, this mighty ocean, the moon, the stars, the clouds overhead though they sometimes harbor rain. Under this canopy they have staked out a life for themselves. For Terrence and for Felix, this is also the wide bridge over which they passed from life into death. Their graves will be unmarked but that does not mean they are forgotten. The Earth remembers them, even as it gathers them tenderly into its”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“There's something inherent in human nature that has us constructing narratives to explain a world that is otherwise chaotic and opaque. Life is little more than a series of overlapping stories about who we are, where we came from, and how we struggle to survive. What we call news isn't news at all: wars, murders, famines, plagues—death in all its forms. It's folly to assign meaning to every chance event, yet we do it all the time.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“He blinked at me lazily and I blinked back at half speed, an exchange I later learned was called a cat kiss.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“I wondered if I'd ever be nice enough to volunteer for anything. I was hoping not.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Being rule governed, I operate in a world filled with imaginary restraints. I’m happiest when signs are posted—NO SPITTING, NO PUBLIC URINATION, NO WALKING ON THE GRASS. I might not obey but at least I knew where I stood.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com Copyright © 2013 by Sue Grafton All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. Published simultaneously in Canada Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Grafton, Sue. W is for wasted / Sue Grafton. p. cm. — (Kinsey Millhone mystery) ISBN 978-1-101-63645-9 1. Millhone, Kinsey (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Women private investigators—Fiction. I. Title. PS3557.R13W17 2013 2013019292 813’.54—dc23 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“months,”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“safety”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Sometimes the import of a minor moment makes all the difference.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“He sported a wedding ring and a wristwatch that looked sturdy enough to flush down a toilet without losing time.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“There was a certain, subterranean moral code in play, but surely, I could think of a way around that old thing.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Fifty percent of the local citizens are sympathetic and the other fifty are pissed as hell. Does the problem get solved? No, it does not.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“It wasn’t about finding the right answer; it was about patience and diligence. I surrendered to the process, ascribing the same importance to this work as to anything else I did.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Family’s tough. It’s like walking through a minefield, hoping you won’t get blown to bits,”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Here’s a tip, Self. Do not argue with a lunatic. Arguing with a lunatic simply ensures that you’ll climb into his craziness with him when what you want to do is take a big step back. He”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Essentially we’re talking about the buildup of ketones in the blood. Ketones are a type of acid that form when the body breaks down fat for energy. Patients typically have a recent history of binge drinking, little or no food intake, and persistent vomiting. This results in a delay and decrease in insulin secretion and excess glucagon secretion. A lot of hokum here that I’ll skip . . . “Basically,”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“One of Henry’s many endearing qualities is his interest in matters that are of interest to me.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“nothing wrong with a lie or two when the situation demanded it”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“i'm happiest when signs are posted--no spitting, no public urination, no walking on the grass. i might not obey but at least i know where i stood.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Springsteen and Julianne Phillips were married. The story moved from Patti Scialfa’s early career to her current state of bliss and ended with gushings of the “they were clearly meant for each other” variety. Oh yeah, right. Like that marriage would last. I”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“I’m chronically unemployed. Never had a job my whole life. None of my family did. I take that back. Once my daddy was hired on a construction crew for two weeks and two days. He said it was way more work than it paid. He maintained it was just one more way to take advantage of the poor.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“There’s something inherent in human nature that has us constructing narratives to explain a world that is otherwise chaotic and opaque.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“wrote him off the day he left and so did Ellen and”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Contributing to the difference in my attitude was the fact that my rage had begun to bore me, and my long whiny tale of woe had become tedious even to my own ears. As much fun as I’d had being irate, the drama had become repetitive. I could probably still wring sympathy from a stranger, but the recital had taken on a certain rote quality that lacked energy and conviction.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Being rule-governed, I operate in a world filled with imaginary restraints. I'm happiest when signs are posted. No spitting, no public urination, no walking on the grass. I might not obey, but at least I knew where I stood.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“Why is it that other people’s plans so often seem ill thought out while our own make so much sense? I”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted

“My take on the indigent is that some are there because of temporary setbacks, some by default, and some for lack of an alternative. Some are needy, some are off their meds, some have opted out, some have been ousted from facilities where they might be better served. Many are there for life and not always by personal choice. Alcoholic, addicted, aimless, illiterate, unmotivated, unskilled, or otherwise unable to prosper, they sink to the bottom, and if they’re down for any length of time, they lose the capacity to climb back out of the hole into which they’ve fallen. If there’s a remedy, I don’t know what it is. From what I’ve seen of the problem, most solutions perpetuate the status quo.”
― Sue Grafton, W is for Wasted