Liberté Quotes

“I’ve seen the war criminal reformed because he gave the wife, of the person, who didn’t prosecute him, a mint at a funeral. I think if only Heinrich Himmler had carried Tic Tacs in his pocket all would have been forgiven. Bad paintings help humanize you even when you’re legacy rests on a pyre of bones.”
― Gary J. Floyd, Liberté: The Days of Rage 1990-2020

“I remember. A gunship’s crew laughing before mowing down reporters and civilians - in short bursts.

A truck crossing a shadowy bridge, seconds before it explodes along with those inside the pressroom, as the general declares the driver “the luckiest man in Bagdad.”

Our military - using attack helicopters and night scopes – to spray bullets at fleeing soldiers, like roaches running from a giant can of Raid. The pressroom laughs again. It’s not funny and there lies the rub.”
― Gary J. Floyd, Liberté: The Days of Rage 1990-2020

“Capital sees politicians as a means to their ends, just another employee, or a potential bankable asset. And politicians, whoring themselves to the highest bidder, write their laws for a seat at the table. Some politicians aren’t directly on the take but, it’s hard to imagine, that, while on the public’s dime, they’re at least not on a job interview. Capital rewards their loyal underlings with no-show jobs for their idiot relations.”
― Gary J. Floyd, Liberté: The Days of Rage 1990-2020

“Later, Tara and other leaders, roughly the same age, lead marches through the streets. Like lambs to the slaughter, we follow. We target the banks. They’re put on notice that their day is over. It’s street theater and people who work there watch the show from windows, high above. Next, the girls lead us to the Chamber of Commerce where plainclothes ex-military protect the movers and shakers from a scattering of college girls and a collection of workers who need better jobs. They watch us through mirrored sunglasses and communicate via hidden microphones and listening devices. It’s a routine that everyone, except us, knows.”
― Gary J. Floyd, Liberté: The Days of Rage 1990-2020

“I know Jimmy believes that the company’s evaluations are meaningless. Mildred appears naïve. Employees are always surprised when they’re let go and they have no idea who to turn to. They’ve heard of Jimmy. He exists in some mythical employment realm, like the Yeti; and he’s as popular, with management, as Oscar Schindler once was with ex-Nazis. I tell Mildred that Jimmy will get back to her. For Mildred, it’s a long wait. I hang up, leaving her to the lonely world of the recently fired.”
― Gary J. Floyd, Liberté: The Days of Rage 1990-2020

“We’re again in a free-fall. At this point, Jennie stops, sits on a step just inside the whitewashed walls. Below, two ocean liners, with its fiesta lights strung along the main lines, are anchored in the pitch black bay. Above the white town, Fira, twinkles suspended like a mirage.”
― Gary J. Floyd, Liberté: The Days of Rage 1990-2020

“The front ramp is gradually lowered, in slow electronic increments. A couple of dozen backpackers stand, inside the lower deck’s muted light, like an army of extraterrestrials. Paros is refilling with English, German, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Australian, and South African tourists. The town remains in motion. Some come. Some go. The cycle appears endless. The entire world appears to wash up on Paros.”
― Gary J. Floyd, Liberté: The Days of Rage 1990-2020