The Empty Quarter Quotes

“Every man has a cemetery inside him. You don’t know how big yours is until you dig in it.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“It’s how we train.” “To drown?” “To never quit. Ever.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“as the taint of getting involved with anything CIA. You never got more than half the story from them, and half of that was a lie.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“If a man sees an evil, let him change it with his hand. If he cannot, then with his tongue. If he cannot, then with his heart, but this is the weakest faith.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“I don’t need to know. So neither do you.” LB snorted. “Funny how the people who say that are never the ones with parachutes on.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“Then Arif was allowed to enter Care Rehabilitation, the Kingdom’s response to 9/11, after fifteen of the nineteen hijackers turned out to be Saudis.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“Then, as they will, the riches overtook knowledge, and the people lost the ways to keep their wealth flowing.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“They were reminded over and over that the Qur’an held 124 verses about dealing kindly with non-Muslims, while only one advocated waging war against them.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“You have no fear?” “I don’t let it make my decisions for me.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“This isn’t combat. It’s diplomacy.” “Diplomacy with guns is combat.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“This was Khalil’s doing, and Josh’s, and the three nations that could find no better way than stealing her.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“LB didn’t have to inquire where Josh was. Among the curtains, white linens, IV lines, monitors, gray faces, and baby blue scrubs, Josh’s private room would be the one between two Saudi army guards wearing berets and automatic weapons.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“Why do you go like this? Are you a thief?” “I’m going to kill him.” Shadows from the lamplight shifted on the old man’s features as he tilted his head. “What did he do?” “He kidnapped my wife.” “How do you know this?” “He threatened it. And it has been done.” The man stepped nearer the pickup, raising the lantern to see Arif better. “Truly?” “Truly.” “Is it tha’r?” A revenge killing. “Yes.” The old one kept the lantern high while he studied Arif from below. His tongue worked inside his cheeks, behind his gray beard. In the light, the man was not so old and blue-eyed. He pointed to the big house behind the wall. “You know who he is? This family, the Bayt Ba-Jalal?” “I know very well.” The old man squinted. “You have killed before?” “A long time ago.” “So you understand?” “Yes.” Slowly, the man inclined his head to Arif as if in the presence of someone exalted. “Insha’Allah.” If God wills. He turned to gesture the younger one forward. This man came leading the mule. The elder took the animal by the bridle while the younger man stepped onto the pickup truck bed. He was burly and the truck’s springs sagged under him. He bent, clasping his hands to make a step. The old man shook the lantern at Arif. “Up you go, then.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“Muhammad tells us the services due from one Muslim to another are six. If you meet him, greet him. If he invites you, accept. If he asks your advice, give it. If he sneezes, tell him God bless you. If he falls sick, visit him. And if he dies, walk in his funeral.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“Panning his sunglasses across Quincy, Jamie, and LB, he spun his finger in small circles. He spoke into the mike curled at his lips. “Spinning up now.” Quincy climbed to his feet. He offered a mitt down to Jamie to lift him, then to LB. Across the pad, through waves of heat off the concrete, the rotors of Pedro 1 accelerated also. Quincy and Jamie hurried away with their packs and carbines. Jamie’s gait showed the strain; Quincy dug a big paw under the boy’s pack to help him along. LB donned his helmet and shouldered his rifle. Wally stayed seated, on the radio recalling Doc from the hospital.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“Long experience had taught him that fear lay in the next moment, not in this one.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“GAARV”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“desert kept a still tongue, and when”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“Of course.”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter

“and live images were of a short, hawk-faced, and slender man, beardless, with a beak nose and distrustful eyes. This”
― David L. Robbins, The Empty Quarter