City on Fire Quotes

“Lesson: Don’t hold on to something’s going to pull you into a trap. If you’re going to let go, let go early. Better yet, don’t take the bait at all.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Better to get away light than get caught heavy.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Rhode Island likes things difficult, hard to find. The other unofficial state motto—“If you were supposed to know, you’d know.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Everyone says what they’re supposed to, the usual clichés like “She’s a fighter.” Yeah, Danny thinks. There are two fighters in any fight, and one of them loses.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Do you know what history is?” Peter asks. “History?” “Yeah.” “I dunno,” Frankie says, “it’s things that happened.” “No,” Peter says, “it’s what people say happened.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Fish that don’t open their mouths don’t get caught.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“You go in there to be Irish, Danny thinks, as if you’re not already, as if you can get away from it anywhere anyway.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Danny’s like his old man,” Pasco says. “Stubborn. You heard about Irish Alzheimer’s? They forget everything but the grudges.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“The nuns used to say that the devil comes disguised as an angel. That the worst things you’ll do, you’ll do for the best reasons. The most hateful things you’ll do, you’ll do for the ones you love most.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“know,” Danny says, but he also knows that at the end of the day you don’t make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Your soul is never a rental,” Bernie says. “It’s always a sale.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Jardine," John says. "Is that French? Are you sure you don't want to surrender to ME?”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“the”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“You’re a hypocrite, he tells himself, using dirty dope money to get yourself clean, using other people’s suffering to relieve your own, committing a mortal sin to save your soul.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Even then Jacky had a chance to save himself. The feds offered him the complete package—immunity, the program, the whole nine yards—to go rat on Pasco Ferri, but Jacky told them they could line up and suck his dick. So now a series of punks perform that service for him as he resides in the North Wing of the old stone house, plays cards, and cooks pasta for the guys on Sundays.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“He embarrassed the family,” Jacky said at his sentencing hearing. “So you killed your own brother,” the judge said. “Half brother,” Jacky said. “What, maybe I should have only half killed him?” The judge maxed him out.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“This is a one-time thing,” Danny says. “Your soul is never a rental,” Bernie says. “It’s always a sale.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“It gets in your blood, like you got salt water running through you. The fishermen Danny knows love the sea and hate it, say it’s like a cruel woman who hurts you over and over again but you keep going back to her anyway.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“There’s so many little peninsulas and tidal marshes along the shore, Danny thinks, you got to drive inland, then along the coast, then back toward the sea to get to any particular place. Quicker if they drained the marshes and built some roads, but that’s Connecticut, not Rhode Island. Rhode Island likes things difficult, hard to find. The other unofficial state motto—“If you were supposed to know, you’d know.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Nights, they barbecue on the strips of lawn between the cottages, usually pooling their resources, grill hamburgs and hot dogs. Or maybe during the day one of the guys walks over to the docks to see what’s fresh and that night they grill tuna or bluefish or boil some lobsters. Other nights they walk down to Dave’s Dock, sit at a table out on the big deck that overlooks Gilead, across the narrow bay. Dave’s doesn’t have a liquor license, so they bring their own bottles of wine and beer, and Danny loves sitting out there watching the fishing boats, the lobstermen, or the Block Island Ferry come in as he eats chowder and fish-and-chips and greasy clam cakes. It’s pretty and peaceful out there as the sun softens and the water glows in the dusk. Some nights they just walk home after dinner, gather in each other’s cottages for more cards and conversations; other times maybe they drive over to Mashanuck Point, where there’s a bar, the Spindrift. Sit and have a few drinks and listen to some local bar band, maybe dance a little, maybe not. But usually the whole gang ends up there and it’s always a lot of laughs until closing time.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“Mornings they get up late, eat breakfast in their cottages, then cross the road and spend the day gathered on the beach in front of Pasco’s place, one of about a dozen clapboard houses set on concrete pylons near the breakwater on the east end of Goshen Beach. They set up beach chairs, or just lie on towels, and the women sip wine coolers and read magazines and chat while the men drink beer or throw in a fishing line. There’s always a nice little crowd there, Pasco and his wife and kids and grandkids, and the whole Moretti crew—Peter and Paul Moretti, Sal Antonucci, Tony Romano, Chris Palumbo and wives and kids. Always a lot of people dropping by, coming in and out, having a good time. Rainy days they sit in the cottages and do jigsaw puzzles, play cards, take naps, shoot the shit, listen to the Sox broadcasters jaw their way through the rain delay. Or maybe drive into the main town two miles inland and see a movie or get an ice cream or pick up some groceries.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“If it was raining soup, the Irish would run outside with forks.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“—Por esas razones —dice Bernie—, me opongo al pacto que has hecho con Vecchio y te insto encarecidamente a que reflexiones. Danny Ryan, tú eres un hombre sensato. —Solo será esta vez —dice Danny. —El alma no se alquila. Solo se vende.”
― Don Winslow, Ciudad en llamas

“mirrors reveal so little”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“ten keys. The shipment we jacked was forty kilos. There are ten still out there. I can give them to you.”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire

“soppressata,”
― Don Winslow, City on Fire