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There's really no such thing as an 'ex-cop' or a cop who's 'off-duty' or 'retired.' Once trained, once indoctrinated, a cop is always alert, assessing reality in terms of its potential for illegal acts.
Sue Grafton -
There is no sound so terrible as a man's sorrow for his own death.
Sue Grafton
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When all else fails, cleaning house is the perfect antidote to most of life's ills.
Sue Grafton -
Age plays cruel tricks on the human face; all our repressed feelings become visible on the surface, where they harden like a mask.
Sue Grafton -
There are laws for everything except the harm families do.
Sue Grafton -
Grade school was perilous. ... I can see how I must have worried them. I was the kind of kid who, for no apparent reason, wept piteously or threw up on myself. On an especially scary day, I sometimes did both.
Sue Grafton -
Perhaps when we're forced to forfeit what we own, we lose any sentimental associations. Perhaps pawning our valuables frees us in the same way a house fire destroys not only our worldly goods, but our attachment to what's gone.
Sue Grafton -
My father taught me to love detective fiction writers such as Raymond Chandler. When I decided to have a hard-boiled detective series I did a lot of studying before I wrote the first book. I learned police procedure, the California criminal law, and many areas outside my expertise.
Sue Grafton
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You try to keep life simple but it never works, and in the end all you have left is yourself.
Sue Grafton -
Ghosts don't haunt us. That's not how it works. They're present among us because we won't let go of them.
Sue Grafton -
Everything happens for a reason, but that doesn't mean there's a point.
Sue Grafton -
To many women mistake a man's hostility for wit and his silence for depth.
Sue Grafton -
There's a certain class of people who will do you in and then remain completely mystified by the depth of your pain.
Sue Grafton -
Writing isn't about the destination-writing is the journey that transforms the soul and gives meaning to all else.
Sue Grafton
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Sometimes I wonder what the difference is between being cautious and being dead.
Sue Grafton -
I write letters to my right brain all the time. They're just little notes. And right brain, who likes to get little notes from me, will often come through within a day or two.
Sue Grafton -
I've never written about my husband, Steve, or any of my children because I know them all too well. I see them in all their complexities which makes them impossible to render on the printed page.
Sue Grafton -
The critical lessons in life hold sway whether you like it or not.
Sue Grafton -
Sometimes being fooled by love is worth the price. At least you know you're alive and capable of feeling, even if all you end up with is chest pain.
Sue Grafton -
Smile. It gives your face something to do.
Sue Grafton
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Writing is not about making a buck, not about publishers and agents. Writing is not about feeling good. Writing is about pain, suffering, hard work, risk, and fear.
Sue Grafton -
If you're unhappy, change something.
Sue Grafton -
I think you'd best make your peace with the past since you've come this far. I think you know by now that you won't go back again.
Sue Grafton -
If I'd been listening closely, I'd have caught the sound of the gods having a great big old tee-hee at my expense.
Sue Grafton