The Lady from Zagreb Quotes

“On the whole it’s not wise to remind the devil that he’s the devil, especially when we were getting on so well.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Sometimes a stupid man is only a couple of good guesses away from looking clever.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Looking at him I felt as if I had just met a powerful gorilla while at the same time being in possession of the world's last banana.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“One day I hoped some thoughtful historian would point out the close connection between the Mercedes-Benz motor car and Germany’s favorite dictator and that the Lord would find a way to pay these bastards back for their help in bringing the Nazis to power and keeping them there.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“A man might think he can stare into the abyss without falling in but sometimes the abyss stares back. Sometimes the abyss exerts a strange effect on your sense of balance.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Dalia picked up her negligee. She didn't need my help, it wasn't very heavy.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Then again, I guess that’s why women are shaped that way. If they were shaped any differently, I guess the human race would be much less successful.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“He doesn’t tell me why he’s hungry, just to bring him breakfast.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Bolle Lied”—a traditional Berlin song about a fellow called Bolle from Pankow who goes to the fair, loses his child, gets drunk, kills five people with a knife, comes home with a broken nose, torn clothes, and a missing eye and, after his wife has polished his skull with a rolling pin, chokes to death on his own vomit.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Having a car makes it so easy to get around. You just turn the engine over and then aim the sights at the end of the bonnet where you want to go.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“This time, it was not to see State Secretary Leo Gutterer but to meet with the minister himself. The Mahatma Propagandhi”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“The Nazis were like syphilis; ignoring them and hoping everything would get better by itself had never been a realistic option.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“I tugged some more on his nail; that’s the great thing about a cigarette—it lets you off the hook sometimes; the only thing that need come out of your mouth is smoke, and they can’t arrest you for that; at least not yet. These are the freedoms that are important.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“The Weimar Republic had been the most democratic of democracies and yet, like all great democracies, it had been a little out of control. Prior to 1933, anything was permitted, since, as Socrates learned to his cost, the true nature of democracy is to encourage corruption and excess in all its forms.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“It’s a hell of a thing killing a man,’ I said. ‘It always seems like the bullets go through two people: the person who gets shot and the person who does the shooting.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Good people are never as good as you probably think they are”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“experience I was keen to repeat. Meanwhile, Kaltenbrunner”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Ali sada brzam. Priče imaju početak, trebale bi čak imati i sredinu, ali nikad nisam siguran imaju li priče kao što je ova doista i kraj; barem ga neće biti dok se god osjećam ovako zbog žene koju nisam Vidio, niti dodirnuo, niti govorio s njom već tisuću godina.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Ali meni je to izgledalo i zvučalo kao crna misa. Malo kasnije približila mi se skupina glasnih mladića. Malo sam se zamislio kad sam shvatio da su svi odjeveni u crno. Mislio sam da su to neki ustaški batinaši, sve dok im nisam uočio ovratnike i shvatio da su svi svećenici; no onda Sam se zapitao, »U čemu je razlika?.« Nakon svega što sam vidio u Jasenovcu, katoličanstvo mi se nije činilo vjerom koliko prokletstvom. Fašizam i nacizam bili su sami po sebi gadni, ali ovaj mi se drevniji kult učinio gotovo jednako izopačenim.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“He was dead, buried the month before with full military honors with a clove of garlic in his mouth and a stake through his heart. He was well out of it, his last thoughts of revenge upon his Czech assassins still suspended inside his elongated El Greco head like so much frozen gray mud, and there was no more harm he could do anyone.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Plato talks about something called anamnesis, which is when something long forgotten comes to the surface of a man’s consciousness. Now, I’ll admit that just sounds like a fancy word for remembering something, but actually it’s more than that because with remembering, it’s not necessary to have forgotten anything, which makes for a subtle distinction. That’s what cinema does.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“Socrates learned to his cost, the true nature of democracy is to encourage corruption and excess in all its forms. But the”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“His name was Kurt Waldheim.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“abyss stares”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“that’s the thing about urgent paperwork: the longer you leave it the less urgent it becomes.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb

“But in my wretched efforts to stay alive at almost any cost I could still hurt and be hurt in my turn, and as long as death’s black barrel organ was playing it seemed I would have to dance to the cheerless, doom-filled tune that was turning inexorably on the drum, like some liveried monkey with a terrified rictus on its face and a tin cup in its hand. That didn’t make me unusual; just German.”
― Philip Kerr, The Lady from Zagreb