Dispatches from the Edge Quotes

“The farther you go...the harder it is to return. The world has many edges and it's easy to fall off.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“Each child’s story is worthy of telling. There shouldn’t be a sliding scale of death. The weight of it is crushing.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“But in truth, the world is constantly shifting: shape and size, location in space. It's got edges and chasms, too many to count. They open up, close, reappear somewhere else. Geologists nay have mapped out the planet's tectonic plates -hidden shelves of rock that grind, one against the other, forming mountains, creating continents - but thy can't plot the fault lines that run through our heads, divide out hearts.
The map of the world is always changing; sometimes it happens overnight. All it takes is the blink of an eye, the squeeze of a trigger, a sudden gust of wind. Wake up and your life is perched on a precipice; fall asleep, it swallows you whole”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“The map of the world is always changing; sometimes it happens overnight. All it takes is the blink of an eye, the squeeze of a trigger, a sudden gust of wind. Wake up and your life is perched on a precipice; fall asleep, it swallows you whole.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“No one seemed to understand. I’d go to movies, see friends, but after a couple days I’d catch myself reading plane schedules, looking for something, someplace to go: a bomb in Afghanistan, a flood in Haiti. I’d become a predator, endlessly gliding in saltwater seas, searching for the scent of blood.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“The more I saw, however, the more I needed to see. I tried to settle down back home in Los Angeles, but I missed that feeling, that rush. I went to see a doctor about it. He told me I should slow down for a while, take a break. I just nodded and left, booked a flight out that day. It didn’t seem possible to stop.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“The world has many edges, and all of us dangle from them by a very delicate thread. The key is not to let go.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“Every politician I talk to seems to say the same thing: "Now is not the time to point fingers." Spin doctors even come up with the term blame game. "I'm not going to play the blame game," they say, dismissing you when you ask for answers, for the names of officials who made key decisions. I notice that some reporters start using the term too. I can't understand why. Demanding accountability is no game, and there's nothing wrong with trying to understand who made mistakes, who failed. If no one is held accountable for their decisions, for their actions, all of this will happen again. Not one person has yet to stand up and admit wrongdoing. No politician, no bureaucrat, has admitted a specific mistake. Some have made blanket statements, saying they accept responsibility for whatever went wrong. But that's not good enough. We need to know specifics. What was done wrong? What were the mistakes? I ask any official I can. No one will answer. The only "mistakes" they admit to are actually veiled criticisms of others. The mayor should have declared a mandatory evacuation on Saturday, instead of waiting until Sunday. Precious hours were lost. The governor could have done that as well, but didn't. They could have moved hundreds of city buses and local school buses to higher ground and used them to evacuate the nearly one hundred thousand residents who had no access to private transportation. They didn't. There were plenty of mistakes to go around. I just want someone to admit to them.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“I'd keep it [Kevlar vest] with me in my vehicle, but I wouldn't bring it into people's homes. Surrounded by Bosnians who didn't have protection, I felt that it was inappropriate for me to stay sealed off. I wanted them to tell me their stories, risk exposing themselves to me. I couldn't ask that of someone if I wasn't willing to expose myself as well.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“Here, you grow up believing there's a safety net, that things can never completely fall apart. Katrina showed us all that's not true.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge

“There were plenty of mistakes to go around. I just want someone to admit to them.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge

“Demanding accountability is no game, and there's nothing wrong with trying to understand who made mistakes, who failed.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge

“There is no good that comes from the storm, no silver lining, no Hollywood ending. Death descends. Lives are lost.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge

“It's the way it should be- no distance between the living and the dead. Their stories are remembered, their spirits embraced.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge

“If you needed anything, all you had to do was say, ‘Mom, I need this,’ and my mom would be at my house with it,” she says, crying. “And now it’s like, if I need something, who do I call?”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“No one beats Steven Seagal, though. He’s not here with any group. I saw him late one night dressed in a cop uniform, out on patrol with some deputies from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department. He’s been going out with their SWAT team. We talk a bit, and when he leaves he puts his palms together in front of his face and bows briefly. Then he hops in a cop car and speeds off.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“The producer approached and asked if I wanted to speak with Dr. Phil. “You mean as a therapist or as an interview subject for my show?” I asked.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival

“The world has many edges, and all of us dangle from them by a very delicate thread. The key is not to let go.”
― Anderson Cooper, Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival