World Gone By Quotes

“So, about the only difference I see between a thief and a banker most times is a college degree.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Only a child thinks life is about her wants.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“It’s a lot easier to ask a woman’s forgiveness than her permission.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“In his time on earth, he’d learned one truth above all else when it came to power—those who lost it usually didn’t see it vanishing until it was already gone.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“I don’t have room in my heart for most people. Got nothing against them, but I got nothing for them, either.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“What they didn’t tell you about absolute power was that it was never absolute; the instant you had it, someone had already lined up to try to take it away. Princes could sleep soundly, but never kings. The ear was always tuned for the creak on the”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Weather in Florida was numbingly predictable until it wasn’t. And then it became something vengeful—lightning that cleaved the sky, wind that shrieked like the ghosts of a dead army, a sun so white and cruel it set autumn fields ablaze. The weather here reminded him that he was just a man. For all his delusions of power, he was just that.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Sometimes, when outrage begat outrage with enough frequency, it threatened the fabric of the universe, and the universe pushed back.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“People just want you to see them as they hope to be seen. And everyone wants to be seen as interesting.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Montooth squared himself, his eyes suddenly clear. “You heard the earth’s mostly water, right?” Joe nodded. “And people think God lives up in the sky, but that don’t never make much sense to me because the sky is way, way up there, not part of us, you know?” “But the ocean?” Joe said. “That’s the skin of the world. And I think God lives in the drops. Moves through a wave like the foam itself. I look in the ocean, I see Him looking back.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Montooth squared himself, his eyes suddenly clear. “You heard the earth’s mostly water, right?” Joe nodded. “And people think God lives up in the sky, but that don’t never make much sense to me because the sky is way, way up there, not part of us, you know?” “But the ocean?” Joe said. “That’s the skin of the world. And I think God lives in the drops. Moves through a wave like the foam itself. I look”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Power—most power anyway, certainly Vidalia’s brand of it—was the fly that called itself a hawk. It could only govern those who agreed to call it a hawk instead of a fly, a tiger instead of a cat, a king instead of a man.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“But what if there’s no such thing as time after this life?” “I don’t understand.” “No minutes, no hours, no clocks. No night turning into day. I like to think your mother’s not alone, because she’s not waiting for us. We’re already there.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Montooth said. “What you hearing is just wind.” “Wind of change maybe,” Pearl Eyes said softly. “I’m old enough to know it when I feel it in my hair.” Montooth smiled. “You ain’t got much hair left.” “That’s ’cause the wind took it,”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“It’s the process, how you become a man. Boys cling; men leave.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“ten in”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Time is rented, Joe thought, never owned.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“All his ghosts, though, were gone. Except the boy. The boy cocked his head at Joe, as if surprised he was coming closer. Joe said, “You’re me?” The boy seemed confused by the question. Because he wasn’t the boy anymore. He was Vivian Ignatius Brennan. Saint Viv. The Gatekeeper. The Undertaker. “There were just too many mistakes,” Saint Viv said kindly. “Too late to go back and fix them all. Too late.” Joe didn’t even see the gun in his hand until Vivian fired the bullet into his heart. Didn’t make much noise, just a soft pop. The impact swept Joe’s legs out from under him, and he fell in the street. He put one hand to the cobblestone and tried to stand, but his heels wouldn’t grip the stone. Blood left the hole in the center of his chest and spilled onto his lap. His lungs whistled through the hole. The getaway car pulled up behind Vivian and a woman screamed hopelessly from somewhere close by. Tomas, if you’re seeing this, for Christ’s”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“That when a woman moves on, she doesn’t look back, and I’m that woman.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Being alone, you see, is the worst of hell’s punishments.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Inland Florida was not the Florida of blue ocean, white sand, and crushed-white-shell parking lots. It was a land sun bleached and sickened after too many droughts and wildfires.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“That’s how the Sukulowskis got out?” Captain Byner asked. “Yup.” Joe lit a cigarette. “Where’d they end up?” Joe tossed his match in the ashtray. “You don’t really want to know.” Rico said, “Gentlemen, I agree with you. Freddy was a fucking asshole going after Montooth in the first place.” Freddy, already aggrieved, looked even more dismayed. “You were.” Rico looked Freddy in the eye and formed a circle with the thumb and index of his right hand. “Huge asshole. Size of a fucking paint can.” He turned to the other men in the room. “But, gents, we can’t let a nigger kill a white man. Even if it’s a nigger we like, and I like Montooth Dix. I’ve broken bread with the man. But still. And we can’t let a guy who’s not in our thing kill someone who is. No matter what. Dion? Joe? You two taught”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By

“Nobody learned nothing. Nobody evolved.”
― Dennis Lehane, World Gone By