Playing Nice Quotes

“Like parents who split up in the aftermath of a child’s death, because the grief would only be survivable with someone who didn’t feel the same pain as you, whose agony didn’t reflect yours every time you looked into their eyes.”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“Those like Pete, whose hearts are pure – the fundamentally decent, honest, loyal ones, the ones Miles would dismissively sneer at as the meek – they’re living, somehow, in a bigger, richer way.”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“But there’s mounting evidence that many successful CEOs and politicians are actually psychopaths, too; or at least, fall somewhere on the psychopathic spectrum—that is, they score low on tests for remorse, conscience, and moral judgment, and high for fearlessness, quick thinking, and cold-bloodedness. And there are certain psychopathic traits that we know Miles has. Something called shallow affect, for example—having a very limited range of emotions. Getting bored easily. Impulsiveness. Charm. Not really caring about other people’s feelings, except as a tool to manipulate them by. Having very few long-term friends. Seeing life as a contest where, for you to win, others have to lose. And treating your children as trophies, flattering extensions of yourself.”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“her to break her leg. Initially she was unable to provide the police”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“At the end of the day, I decide, you have to let suspicion go, to trust those you love.”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“With his redundancy payment dwindling fast, I couldn’t afford to take the unpaid part of my maternity leave, so I went back to work after thirty-nine weeks.”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“Love your job, but don't expect it to love you back.”
― JP Delaney, Playing Nice

“score low on tests for remorse, conscience and moral judgement, and high for fearlessness, quick thinking and cold-bloodedness”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“People said it took a village to raise a child, but I didn’t even have a cul-de-sac.”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“the expensive private hospital offloading me on to the NHS as casually as if it were scraping a piece of dog shit off its shoe.”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice

“saturnine, without really knowing why. He was almost six foot, chunky and broad-shouldered.”
― J.P. Delaney, Playing Nice