“
There's a name for people with an interest in the moon," Alex said. "They're called lunatics.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?...
'Swounds, show me what thou'lt do:
Woo't weep? woo't fight? woo't fast? woo't tear thyself?
Woo't drink up eisel? eat a crocodile?
I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine?
To outface me with leaping in her grave?
Be buried quick with her, and so will I:
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us, till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone,
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
I'll rant as well as thou.
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
People appear like angels until you hear them speak. You must not rush to judge people by the colour of their cloaks, but by the content of their words!
”
”
Israelmore Ayivor
“
And I'm falling in love with you," he whispers. "But I would throw you in the water and watch crocodiles tear you to bits, if I thought that doing so would accomplish my goals. Do. Not. Trust. Anyone. Especially me.
”
”
Bethany Griffin (Masque of the Red Death (Masque of the Red Death, #1))
“
What were you going to do with it?” McCain asked.
"I just thought it might come in useful.”
"Were you planning to attack me?”
"No. But that’s a good idea.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
The school even had a Latin motto: Pergo et Perago, which sounded like the story of two Italian cannibals but which actually meant “I try and I achieve.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
He died fighting for what he believed in.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
Look at self-satisfied pop singers or greasy, semi-literate athletes. People worship them. Why?”
"Because they’re talented.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
thoes prepared to shed copious floods of crocodile tears . . .
”
”
Stephen King (The Tommyknockers)
“
Yeah,” Chaz says. “You know, when you packed up all your stuff and left his ass high and dry, I thought finally. A woman with some moral fiber. Little did I know that all he’d need to win you back was a big diamond ring and few crocodile tears. I really expected bigger things from you, Lizzie. Tell me something. Are you going to wait until the invitations have actually gone out before you admit to yourself that Luke is that last guy you ought to be spending the rest of your life with? Or are you going to do the right thing and call if off now?
”
”
Meg Cabot (Queen of Babble Gets Hitched (Queen of Babble, #3))
“
When you are rich, people treat you with respect.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
Crocodile Lies
I confess, yes, our Fall was all my fault
If you kissed my eyes, your lips would taste salt
But you think my regret is a lie, and the tears I cry
Are the crocodile kind.
The sweat on your upper lip starts to boil
White hot with anger, still convinced I'm your foil
You keep fighting me, though my eyes are free
From crocodile lies.
You, yes, you, linger inside my heart
The same you who stopped us before we could start
I didn't want to leave, but you began to believe
Your own crocodile lies.
The only person stopping you is yourself,
You won't accept that I want no one else,
So until you do, I'll let someone else have you
Every day I live the lie,
But not the crocodile kind
--Marcus Flutie
”
”
Megan McCafferty (Second Helpings (Jessica Darling, #2))
“
Sophy looked at him. Under his amazed and horrified gaze, large tears slowly welled over her eyelids, and rolled down her cheeks. She did not sniff, or gulp, or even sob: merely allowed her tears to gather and fall.
'Sophy, for God's sake do not cry!'
'Oh, do not stop me!' begged Sophy. 'Sir Horace says it is my only accomplishment.'
Mr. Rivenhall glared at her. 'What!'
'Very few persons are able to do it!' Sophy assured him. 'I discovered it by the veriest accident when I was seven years old. Sir Horace said I should cultivate it, for I would find it most useful.'
'You - you - ' Words failed Mr. Rivenhall. 'Stop at once!
”
”
Georgette Heyer (The Grand Sophy)
“
Maybe you cannot be the CEO of a multinational corporation, but you can frighten a few people, or cause them to scurry around like chickens, or steal from them, or—maybe best of all—create situations that cause them to feel bad about themselves. And this is power, especially when the people you manipulate are superior to you in some way. Most invigorating of all is to bring down people who are smarter or more accomplished than you, or perhaps classier, more attractive or popular or morally admirable. This is not only good fun; it is existential vengeance. And without a conscience, it is amazingly easy to do. You quietly lie to the boss or to the boss's boss, cry some crocodile tears, or sabotage a coworker's project, or gaslight a patient (or a child), bait people with promises, or provide a little misinformation that will never be traced back to you.
”
”
Martha Stout (The Sociopath Next Door)
“
It Is The Wisdom Of Crocodiles, That Shed Tears When They Would Devour
”
”
Francis Bacon
“
You can sing all you want about how you love Jesus, you can have crocodile tears in your eyes, but the consecration that doesn't reach your purse has not reached your heart.
”
”
Adrian Rogers
“
There are only three kinds of ink that rulers use to write their stories. Sweat, blood, or tears. So choose your ink carefully, because one day Anubis will weigh your heart upon on a scale. If your heart is black and heavy with sin, it will go to the crocodiles in the hour of judgment. But if you’re faithful, Isis offers immortality.
”
”
Stephanie Dray (Lily of the Nile (Cleopatra's Daughter, #1))
“
The food at the Mandarin Club was not good, but the members liked it that way. It reminded them of school.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
Most human beings would have never been pained by the death of a human being if they had never seen a human being or pretending to be pained by that.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
My time was gradually consumed by tears. The whole world loves me, but what does it matter since I hate myself?
”
”
Qiu Miaojin (Notes of a Crocodile)
“
Some people become proficient at acting and often show emotion they don’t feel— appearing intensely interested in your problems or causes, thumping their chests and saluting your flag and weeping crocodile tears over your losses, even while working behind the scenes to cause them.
”
”
H.G. Beverly (The Other Side of Charm: Your Memoir)
“
There’s a name for people with an interest in the moon,” Alex said. “They’re called lunatics.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
very wise man once defined charity in the following way. He said it was poor people in rich countries giving money to rich people in poor countries
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
As Carthage went up in flames in 146 BCE, one eyewitness spotted him shedding a tear and heard him quoting from memory an apposite line on the fall of Troy from Homer’s Iliad. He was reflecting that one day the same fate might afflict Rome. Crocodile tears or not, they made their point.
”
”
Mary Beard (SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome)
“
Human beings crave for novelty and welcome even wars. Who opens the morning papers without the wild hope of huge headlines announcing another great disaster? Provided of course that it affects other people and not oneself. Rupert liked order. But there is no man who likes order who does not give houseroom to a man who dreams of disorder. The sudden wrecking of the accustomed scenery, so long as one can be fairly sure of a ringside seat, stimulates the bloodstream. And the instinctive need to feel protected and superior ensures, for most of the catastrophes of mankind, the shedding by those not immediately involved of but the most crocodile of tears.
”
”
Iris Murdoch (A Fairly Honourable Defeat)
“
I’ve often been quite tempted to write a book.” “You could have the launch party back in jail.
”
”
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
I held truth against your crocodile tears.
”
”
Laura Gentile (Daughterbody II: a self-reclamation through poetry)
“
I knew that she was a psychopath, just like Gary. No conscience. I believed that business, the government, Wall Street were filled with people like that. No regret for their actions. Not unless they got caught. Then the crocodile tears started. “What
”
”
James Patterson (Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross, #1))
“
She'd bet in his childhood he was one of those boys who pestered his brothers to the precise point where they would retaliate so that he could escape punishment while they received a scolding for beating on him. He probably had a full arsenal of crocodile tears to go along with those devastating dimples.
”
”
Karen Witemeyer (Head in the Clouds)
“
Actors, who relate their woes in many clever sentences and with much waving of hands and rolling of eyes—they should be made to ride in the cars for passengers with heavy loads, to learn that a slightly bent hand can hold in it the misery of all time, and that the quiver of an eyelid can be more moving than a whole evening full of crocodile tears.
”
”
Joseph Roth (What I Saw: Reports from Berlin 1920-1933)
“
The horse was panting, hanging its head. I hugged its head to my breast and saw that there were tears in its large eyes. I noticed a round black wound on its belly. "Why did not you tell me?" I whispered, crying. "My dearest, I did it for you," the horse said and became very small, like a wooden toy. I left him and felt wonderfully light and happy.
”
”
Bruno Schulz (The Street of Crocodiles)
“
Mrs. Neverbody’s Recipe for Making Crocodile Tears To a slice of hanky-panky Add some artificial cranky. Moisten well with canned boo-hoo. Flavor with a spoof or two. Drip this slowly—as it falls Roll it into little bawls. If you’re careful, while they’re cooling You can spread on only-fooling. (This recipe is not worthwhile Unless you are a crocodile.)
”
”
Jonathan Lethem (The Disappointment Artist)
“
Although a handful of years seems like a brief time, they’re blissful and long when spent cherishing those who are worth every moment.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
So, within man’s great ignorance, change is but a dream borne only by the brave.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
Building a better world would mean including everyone.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
It turns out it’s not only time that heals all wounds,” said Blu.
“And what else does?”
“Comfort.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
When you’ve been in chains all your life, freedom seems scary and confusing.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
Anthony Horowitz (Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8))
“
Private enterprise, pursuing as ever quick profits from the vapid tastes of the market-place, eschews judgement, and rather than put its hand in the fire for excellence, puts its head in the rubbish for money. Many and many a fine work has been thus abandoned. 'Alas!' cry the mansion-dwelling entrepreneurs, weeping crocodile tears, 'The money ran out!' But it was not the money; it was the rats.
”
”
Leon Garfield (Sketches from Bleak House)
“
He knew that look and that feeling—like heartbreak, everyone knows it. It only takes the briefest of moments to recognize. After all, the unbridled sense of attraction is nothing less than extraordinary.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
She waited for more, but he just sat there with a smug look on his face. The rascal. He was going to make her ask, wasn’t he? She’d bet in his childhood he was one of those boys who pestered his brothers to the precise point where they would retaliate so that he could escape punishment while they received a scolding for beating on him. He probably had a full arsenal of crocodile tears to go along with those devastating dimples.
”
”
Karen Witemeyer (Head in the Clouds)
“
In this very moment together, to them, words weren’t needed. To them, the experience in connection with each other was nothing less than indescribable. And to them, the
derealization of the world separated that which was good and that which was grim—and, given the harsh reality of their current society, outside their intertwined, imagined worlds together would always offer a joyless void that welcomed those who couldn’t escape from it.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
The lion is king of the beasts. When he leaves his den, he stretches and gazes out over all the directions. Before seeking his prey, he lets forth a mighty roar that causes the other creatures to tremble and flee.
- Birds fly high, crocodiles dive beneath the water, foxes slip into their holes. Even village elephants, decked in fancy belts and ornaments and shaded by golden parasols, run away at the sound of that roar.
-Community, the proclamation of the Way of Enlightenment is like that lion’s roar! …..False doctrines fear and tremble. When Impermanence, Non-self, and Dependent Co-arising are proclaimed, all those who have long sought false security in ignorance and forgetfulness must awaken, celestial beings as well as human beings. When a person sees the dazzling truth, he exclaims, ‘We embraced dangerous views for so long, taking the impermanent to be permanent, and believing in the existence of a separate self. We took suffering to be pleasure and look at the temporary as if it were eternal. We mistook the false for the true. Now the time has come to tear down all the walls of forgetfulness and false views.
”
”
Thich Nhat Hanh (Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha)
“
Give a man entertainment and comfort and watch him throw his dreams and ambitions away like they were nothing. This world is shallow and dictated by trends and what to buy next. Always more, always another thing. It’s a rat race, that’s all it is. A rat race to the grave, and the winner has the most in his
bank account and the most cybergenetic enhancements to get rid of what made him human!
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
The ideas and notions of the 'dissidents' collapse as soon as they come in contact with facts; moreover, they do not accord with the views held by historians in the West today. On the other hand, they fit in well with anti-communist propaganda of the cheapest kind designed for people who do not know any better. And such ideas and notions can be used by reactionary forces in the West, not for the purpose of policy planning (the real worth of the 'dissidents' is well known among government circles in the West), but in their 'psychological warfare' whose only weapons are lies and slander. That is why the 'dissidents' are given not just crocodile tears over the fate of the 'fighters' against communism, but also financial handouts. Solzhenitsyn had, in 1973, 1.5 million dollars on his bank accounts in Switzerland. Each one of these dollars is covered with dirt.
”
”
Nikolai N. Yakovlev (Solzhenitsyn's Archipelago of Lies)
“
Like the two were learning with one another now, there’s always something so serene about simply sitting down and relaxing quietly in the company of a connected other. To bask in the attendance of an admired someone without a single word spoken possesses an odd tendency to spin a fine web
of pure solace. Focusing solely on the comfort they bring, the surrounding environment turns into that of an inessential
consequence of time. Nothing more and nothing less.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
She closed her eyes. Tears fell from her eyelashes. Every last fiber in my body felt as if it were being twisted and wrung. I’d wrenched our relationship to the breaking point and watched it split apart. I know I made you suffer. I’ll never cut you off again. I spit out the words that were caught in my throat. She let out a laugh, and then, as if she’d finally been torn open, a cry of pain. To paint a picture of our embrace, I’d almost have to use her blood and guts.
”
”
Qiu Miaojin (Notes of a Crocodile)
“
... as the cover falls my hawk makes a curious, bewitching movement. She twitches her head to one side then turns it upside down and continues to regard me with the tip of her beak pointing at the ceiling. I am astonished. I've seen this head-turning before. Baby falcons do it when they play. But goshawks? Really? I pull a sheet of paper towards me, tear a long strip from one side, scrunch it into a ball, and offer it to the hawk in my fingers. She grabs it with her beak, It crunches. She likes the sound. She crunches it again and then lets it drop, turning her head upside down as it hits the floor. I pick it up and offer it to her again. She grabs it and bites it very gently over and over again: gnam gnam gnam. She looks like a glove puppet, a Punch and Judy crocodile. Her eyes are narrowed in bird-laughter. I am laughing too. I roll a magazine into a tube and peer at her through it as if it were a telescope. She ducks her head to look at me through the hole. She pushes her beak into it as far as it will go, biting the empty air inside. Putting my mouth to my side of my paper telescope I boom into it: 'Hello, Mabel.' She pulls her beak free. All the feathers on her forehead are raised. She shakes her tail rapidly from side to side and shivers with happiness.
”
”
Helen Macdonald (H is for Hawk)
“
Daniel.”
“Ma.”
“Are you well?” She was angry. If the straight-to-voicemail treatment for the last week hadn’t tipped me off, her tone now was a dead giveaway.
“I’m great,” I lied. “And how are you?”
“Fine.”
I laughed, silently. If she heard me laugh, she’d have my balls.
“Did you get my messages?”
“Yes. Thank you for calling.”
I waited for a minute, for her to say more. She didn’t.
“I leave you twenty-one messages, three calls a day, and that’s all you got for me?”
“I’m not going to apologize for needing some time to cool off and I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Who do you think I am? Willy Wonka? You missed my birthday.” She sniffed. And these weren’t crocodile tears either. I’d hurt her feelings.
Ahh, there it is. The acrid taste of guilt.
“Ma . . .”
“I don’t ask for a lot. I love you. I love my children. I want you to call me on my birthday.”
“I know.” I was clutching my chest so my heart didn’t fall out and bleed all over the grass.
“What could have been so important that you couldn’t spare a few minutes for your mother? I was so worried.”
“I did call you—”
“Don’t shit on a plate and tell me it’s fudge, Daniel. You called after midnight.”
I hadn’t come up with a plausible lie for why I hadn’t called on her birthday, because I wasn’t a liar. I hated lying. Premeditated lying, coming up with a story ahead of time, crafting it, was Seamus’s game. If I absolutely had to lie, I subscribed to spur-of-the-moment lying; it made me less of a soulless maggot.
“That’s true, Ma. But I swear I—”
“Don’t you fucking swear, Daniel. Don’t you fucking do that. I raised you kids better.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
“What was so important, huh?” She heaved a watery sigh. “I thought you were in a ditch, dying somewhere. I had Father Matthew on standby to give you your last rights. Was your phone broken?”
“No.”
“Did you forget?” Her voice broke on the last word and it was like being stabbed. The worst.
“No, I sw—ah, I mean, I didn’t forget.” Lie. Lying lie. Lying liar.
“Then what?”
I grimaced, shutting my eyes, taking a deep breath and said, “I’m married.”
Silence.
Complete fucking silence.
I thought maybe she wasn’t even breathing.
Meanwhile, in my brain:
Oh.
Shit.
What.
The.
Fuck.
Have.
I.
Done.
. . . However.
However, on the other hand, I was married. I am married. Not a lie.
Yeah, we hadn’t had the ceremony yet, but the paperwork was filed, and legally speaking, Kat and I were married.
I listened as my mom took a breath, said nothing, and then took another. “Are you pulling my leg with this?” On the plus side, she didn’t sound sad anymore.
“No, no. I promise. I’m married. I—uh—was getting married.”
“Wait a minute, you got married on my birthday?”
Uh . . .
“Uh . . .”
“Daniel?”
“No. We didn’t get married on your birthday.” Shit. Fuck. “We’ve been married for a month, and Kat had an emergency on Wednesday.” Technically, not lies.
“That’s her name? Cat?”
“Kathleen. Her name is Kathleen.”
“Like your great aunt Kathleen?”
Kat wasn’t a thing like my great aunt. “Yeah, the name is spelled the same.”
“Last month? You got married last month?” She sounded bewildered, like she was having trouble keeping up. “Is she—is she Irish?”
“No.”
“Oh. That’s okay. Catholic?”
Oh jeez, I really hadn’t thought this through. Maybe it was time for me to reconsider my spur-of-the-moment approach to lying and just surrender to being a soulless maggot.
“No. She’s not Catholic.”
“Oh.” My mom didn’t sound disappointed, just a little surprised and maybe a little worried. “Daniel, I—you were married last month and I’m only hearing about it now? How long have you known this woman?”
I winced. “Two and a half years.”
“Two and a half years?” she screeched...
”
”
Penny Reid (Marriage of Inconvenience (Knitting in the City, #7))
“
Bronte ends with a warning, " says Mum, and goes to the last verses. "Then did I check the tear of useless passion -- Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine; Sternly denied its burning with to hasten Down to that tomb already more than mine. "And, even yet, I dare not let it languish, Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain; Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish, How could I seek the empty world again?" "That's the danger of grieving, " she says. "The dead can become more real to you than the living.
”
”
Peter Godwin (When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa)
“
I saw him for the first time in Rangoon
In the zoo.
In a colorful, grilled iron cage.
A lonely white elephant in an iron cage.
His eyes were black, as were his nails,
But he himself snow-white.
He looked at you in such a way
As if to speak.
One can rarely find a white elephant,
One can rarely find an elephant in captivity.
He left the forest a year ago,
And can't stand his heartache in the cage.
And very often
He raises his trunk and roars,
Shedding crocodile tears,
And calling on his free brothers
To help him.
They say that elephants live long lives.
White elephant, white elephant!
Do you need a long life
Imprisoned in a cage for a hundred years?
White elephant, white elephant!
”
”
Rasul Rza
“
Of you capitalists, weeping your crocodile tears, we demand that you stop crying about devastation that you yourselves have created. Your cards are on the table. Your game is up.
”
”
S.A. Smith (The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions Book 63))
“
The judgement of the court is an indictment of the government which has been shedding crocodile tears for 14 years during which they have done precious little for the relief of the poor victims. The court has wisely left all other issues untouched. The government should easily be able to read in the judgement a gentle reprimand for its hypocrisy.
”
”
Ram Jethmalani (RAM JETHMALANI MAVERICK UNCHANGED, UNREPENTANT)
“
It is, however, admitted that the intelligence organisations of these ‘free countries’ do give wide coverage to the activities of their citizen in almost all sphere of activities. Their systems keep track of the citizen from the Cradle to the Grave. No other country, except, perhaps the former Soviet Union, has documented their citizen in such exhaustive and comprehensive manner. India has not been able to keep track of its own citizen. The faulty system allows unhindered entry of alien nationals from the neighbouring countries. Periodically some Indian politicians wake up and raise slogans for comprehensive documentation of the citizens of the country. Vote-bank beggars in the right, left and centre of the political spectrum oppose them, because they depend a lot on illegal migrant voters from the neighbouring countries. They also shed crocodile tears in the name of ‘secularism’- an apartheid mechanism devised by the Indian democracy. Once in a while the intelligence and police agencies are whipped up to trace out the illegal settlers. They even violate the rights of the natural citizens.
”
”
Maloy Krishna Dhar (Open Secrets: The Explosive Memoirs of an Indian Intelligence Officer)
“
Ironically enough, when we returned to the zoo, the Dr. Dolittle cameo almost came true. We had to transfer a big female crocodile named Toolakea to another enclosure. Steve geared up for the move as he always did.
“Don’t think about catching Toolakea,” he instructed his crew, me included, before we ever got near to the enclosure. “If you’re concentrating on catching her, she’ll know it. We’ll never get a top-jaw rope on. Crocs know when they’re being hunted.”
For millions of years, wild animals have evolved to use every sense to tune into the world around them. Steve understood that their survival depended on it. So as I approached the enclosure, I thought of mowing the lawn, or doing the croc show, or picking hibiscus flowers to feed the lizards. Anything but catching Toolakea.
It went like clockwork. Steve top-jaw-roped Toolakea, and we all jumped her. He decided that since she was only a little more than nine feet long, we would be able to just lift her over the fence and carry her to her other enclosure.
Steve never built his enclosures with gates. He knew that sooner or later, someone could make a mistake and not latch a gate properly. We had to be masters at fence jumping. He picked up Toolakea around her shoulders with her neck held firmly against his upper arm. This would protect his face if she started struggling. The rest of us backed him up and helped to lift Toolakea over the fence.
All of a sudden she exploded, twisting and writhing in everyone’s arms.
“Down, down, down,” Steve shouted. That was our signal to pin the crocodile again before picking her up. Not everyone reacted quickly enough. As Steve moved to the ground, the people on the tail were still standing up. That afforded Toolakea the opportunity to twist her head around and grab hold of Steve’s thigh.
The big female croc sank her teeth deep into his flesh. I never realized it until later. Steve didn’t flinch. He settled the crocodile on the ground, keeping her eyes covered to quiet her down. We lifted her again. This time she cleared the fence easily. I noticed the blood trickling down Steve’s leg.
We got to the other enclosure before I asked what had happened, and he showed me. There were a dozen tears in the fabric of his khaki shorts. A half dozen of Toolakea’s teeth had gotten through to his flesh, putting a number of puncture holes in his upper thigh.
As usual, Steve didn’t bother with the wound. He cleaned it out and carried on, but even after his leg had healed, he couldn’t feel the temperature accurately on his leg. Once, about a month after the incident, I got a drink out of the fridge and rested it on his thigh.
“I can feel something there,” he said.
“Hot or cold?” I quizzed.
“I don’t know,” he said.
The croc-torn khaki shorts he wore that day made an amazing souvenir for a lucky sponsor of the zoo. People who donated a certain amount of money to our conservation efforts received a bonus in return: one of Steve’s uniforms and a photograph of him in it. Steve was very proud to include his khakis with teeth holes in them as the gift for a generous supporter.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
The big female croc sank her teeth deep into his flesh. I never realized it until later. Steve didn’t flinch. He settled the crocodile on the ground, keeping her eyes covered to quiet her down. We lifted her again. This time she cleared the fence easily. I noticed the blood trickling down Steve’s leg.
We got to the other enclosure before I asked what had happened, and he showed me. There were a dozen tears in the fabric of his khaki shorts. A half dozen of Toolakea’s teeth had gotten through to his flesh, putting a number of puncture holes in his upper thigh.
As usual, Steve didn’t bother with the wound. He cleaned it out and carried on, but even after his leg had healed, he couldn’t feel the temperature accurately on his leg. Once, about a month after the incident, I got a drink out of the fridge and rested it on his thigh.
“I can feel something there,” he said.
“Hot or cold?” I quizzed.
“I don’t know,” he said.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
There was plenty of wildlife to film: water pythons, venomous snakes, numerous beautiful birds, koalas, possums, and all kinds of lizards. But the big croc remained elusive.
Finally we found him. But something was wrong. As we approached, he failed to submerge. We were horrified to discover that the poachers had beaten us--and shot him. It was likely that he had been killed some time ago. Crocs often take a long while to die. They have the astonishing ability to shut off blood supply to an injured part of their body. The big croc had shut down and gone to the bottom of the river, at last, to succumb to his wound. He was huge, some fifteen feet long, fat and in good shape.
Steve was beside himself; he felt as if the croc’s death was a personal failure. We filmed the croc and talked about what had happened. But eventually, Steve simply had to walk away. When I went to him, there were tears in his eyes. Steve had a genuine love for crocodiles and appreciated each individual animal. This croc could have been fifty years old, with mates, a family, and a history as king of this river. His death wasn’t abstract to Steve. It was personal, as though he had lost a friend, and it fueled his anger toward the poacher who had killed such a magnificent animal.
Steve knew there was another croc in the area that was also in potential danger. “Maybe if we save that one,” Steve said, with resolve, “we can salvage something out of this trip.”
He didn’t give up. That night we cruised Cattle Creek again to film the trap sites. It seemed that wherever we went, Steve had an uncanny ability as a wildlife magnet.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
The next morning, Steve took his boat out and saw what had happened. The big male had triggered the trap and was snared in the mesh--sort of. Even though the rectangular-shaped net was the biggest he had, the croc’s tail and back leg stuck out. But the black ghost had finally been caught.
At Steve’s approach, the animal thrashed wildly, smashing apart mangrove trees on either side of the trap. Steve tried to top-jaw-rope the croc, but it was fighting too violently. Normally Chilli acted as a distraction, giving Steve the chance to secure the croc. But the dog wanted no part of this. She cowered on the floor of the dinghy, unwilling to face this monstrously large croc. Steve was truly on his own.
He finally secured a top-jaw rope and tied the other end to a tree. With a massive “death roll”--a defensive maneuver in which the reptile spins its enormous body--the big croc smashed the tree flat and snapped it off. Steve tried again; the croc thrashed, growling and roaring in protest at the trapper in khaki, lunging again and again to tear Steve apart.
Finally, the giant croc death-rolled so violently that he came off the bank and landed in the boat, which immediately sank. Chilli had jumped out and was swimming for shore as Steve worked against time. With the croc underwater, Steve lashed the croc, trap and all, in the dinghy. But moving the waterlogged boat and a ton of crocodile was simply too much. Steve sprinted several miles in the tropical heat to reach a cane farm, where he hoped to get help. The cane farmers were a bit hesitant to lend a hand, so Steve promised them a case of beer, and a deal was made. With a sturdy fishing boat secured to each side of Steve’s dinghy, they managed to tow it downriver where they could winch croc and boat onto dry land to get him into a crate. By this time, a crowd of spectators had gathered.
When Steve told me the story of the capture, I got the sense that he felt sorry he had to catch the crocodile at all.
“It seemed wrong to remove the king of the river,” Steve said. “That croc had lasted in his territory for decades. Here I was taking him out of it. The local people just seemed relieved, and a couple even joked about how many boots he’d make.”
Steve was very clever to include the local people and soon won them over to see just how special this crocodile really was. Just as he was dragged into his crate, the old croc attempted a final act of defiance, a death roll that forced Steve to pin him again.
“I whispered to him to calm him down,” Steve said.
“What did you say to him?” I asked.
“Please don’t die.”
The black crocodile didn’t die. Steve brought him back to Beerwah, named him Acco, and gave him a beautiful big pond that Bob had prepared, with plenty of places to hide.
We were in the Crocodile Environmental Park at the zoo when Steve first told me the story of Acco’s capture. I just had to revisit him after hearing his story. There he was, the black ghost himself, magnificently sunning on the bank of his billabong.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
Do they not see? he thought. Do they not
see this unbearable reality we’ve created?
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
Whatever happened to people really caring
for one another? What happened to the people who would brighten the whole room with only a smile when they walked in?
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
have produced and benefited from, start with this: Lean out so we can actually just stand up without being beaten down. Pledge to vote for feminist women only. Don’t run for office. Don’t be in charge of anything. Step away from the power. We got this. And please know that your crocodile tears won’t be wiped away by us anymore. We have every right to hate you. You have done us wrong. #BecausePatriarchy. It is long past time to play hard for Team Feminism. And win.55
”
”
Gad Saad (The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense)
“
As we leave, I remember how Khalil used to run up to the car when I was about to go, the sun shining on the grease lines that separated his cornrows. The glimmer in his eyes would be just as bright. He’d knock on the window, I’d let it down, and he’d say with a snaggletooth grin, “See you later, alligator.” Back then I’d giggle behind my own snaggleteeth. Now I tear up. Good-byes hurt the most when the other person’s already gone. I imagine him standing at my window, and I smile for his sake. “After a while, crocodile.” FIVE
”
”
Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1))
“
Busing," I told audience after audience,"is an artificial way of solving the segregation problem." Open housing is the real answer, I said. But as long as the problem exists, an artificial solution is better than none. Then I would let them have it. "Where were you," I asked the whites," when for years black children were being bused out of their neighborhoods and carried miles on old rattletrap buses to go down back roads to a dirty school with a tarpaper roof and no toilets? If you believed in neighborhood schools, where were you then? I'm not going to shed any crocodile tears for you now that you've discovered the busing problem." If there was any other candidate in the Florida primary who was taking a similarly strong stand in the face of public agitation over the phony busing issue, I have yet to read about it. Jackson lined up with Wallace; Humphrey took so many stands that no one could pin him down, but the impression he left was that he was against busing; McGovern, Lindsay and Muskie equivocated. It was a sorry performance, and one that George Wallace did not fail to seize on—all the Northern liberals suddenly talking out of both sides of their mouths when they came down South looking for votes. Shirley Chisholm, he was to say repeatedly, was the only other candidate who said the same things in the South that she said in the North.
”
”
Shirley Chisholm (The Good Fight)
“
I am a woman who loves women. The tears I cry, they spring from a river and drain across my face like yolk.
”
”
Qiu Miaojin (Notes of a Crocodile)
“
India has not been able to keep track of its own citizen. The faulty system allows unhindered entry of alien nationals from the neighbouring countries. Periodically some Indian politicians wake up and raise slogans for comprehensive documentation of the citizens of the country. Vote-bank beggars in the right, left and centre of the political spectrum oppose them, because they depend a lot on illegal migrant voters from the neighbouring countries. They also shed crocodile tears in the name of ‘secularism’—an apartheid mechanism devised by the Indian democracy. Once in a while the intelligence and police agencies are whipped up to trace out the illegal settlers. They even violate the rights of the natural citizens.
”
”
Maloy Krishna Dhar (Open Secrets: The Explosive Memoirs of an Indian Intelligence Officer)
“
What kind of ‘loving god’ allows untold thousands of poor innocent women and children to suffer the ravages of disease and poverty?” The Accuser was an actor of the highest caliber. He actually looked as if he meant what he was saying. Tears flowed from his crocodile eyes down his glistening scaly face. He did not care a whit for women and children. He actually thought poverty and disease were good ways to keep the population from expanding to unmanageable numbers that would threaten the earth’s ecosystem of life. To the Accuser, humans were in fact parasites of Mother Earth, grubworms of the Great Goddess. Disease was the Earth’s balancing revenge. But that belief would not stop him from using rhetoric to appeal to the sympathies and compassion of his enemy.
”
”
Brian Godawa (Enoch Primordial (Chronicles of the Nephilim #2))
“
Oh, devil, devil!
If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.
Out of my sight!
”
”
William Shakespeare
“
As we started our long drive back to the zoo, we stopped at what could be called a general store. There was a pub attached to the establishment, and the store itself sold a wide variety of goods, groceries, cooking utensils, swags, clothing, shoes, even toys. As we picked up supplies in the shop, we passed the open doorway to the pub. A few of the patrons recognized Steve from television. We could hear them talking about him. The comments weren’t exactly positive.
Steve didn’t look happy. “Let’s just get out of here,” I whispered.
“Right-o,” he said.
One of the pub patrons was louder than the others. “I’m a crocodile hunter too,” he bragged. “Only I’m the real crocodile hunter. The real one, you hear me, mate?”
The braggart made his living at the stuffy trade, he informed his audience. A stuffy is a baby crocodile mounted by a taxidermist to be sold as a souvenir. To preserve their skins, hunters killed stuffys in much the same way that the bear poachers in Oregon stabbed their prey.
“We drive screwdrivers right through their eyes,” Mister Stuffy boasted, eyeing Steve through the doorway of the pub. “Right through the bloody eye sockets!”
He was feeling his beer. We gathered up our purchases and headed out to the Ute. Okay, I said to myself, we’re going to make it. Just two or three more steps…
Steve turned around and headed back toward the pub.
I’d never seen him like that before. My husband changed into somebody I didn’t know. His eyes glared, his face flushed, and his lower lip trembled. I followed him to the threshold of the pub.
“Why don’t you blokes come outside and tell me all about stuffys in the car park here?” he said. I couldn’t see very well in the darkness of the pub interior, but I knew there were six or eight drinkers with Mister Stuffy.
I thought, What is going to happen here? There didn’t seem any possible good outcomes. The pub drinkers stood up and filed out to face Steve. A half dozen against one. Steve chose the biggest one, who Mister Stuffy seemed to be hiding behind.
“Bring it on, mate,” Steve said. “Or are you only tough enough to take on baby crocs, you son of a bitch?”
Then Steve seemed to grow. I can’t explain it. His fury made him tower over a guy who actually had a few inches of height on him and outweighed him with a whole beer gut’s worth of weight. I couldn’t imagine how he appeared to the pub drinkers, but he was scaring me.
They backed down. All six of them. Not one wanted to muck with Steve, who was clearly out of his mind with anger. All the world’s croc farms, all the cruelty and ignorance that made animals suffer the world over, came to a head in the car park of the pub that evening.
Steve got into the truck. We drove off, and he didn’t say anything for a long time.
“I don’t understand,” I finally said in the darkness of the front seat, as the bush landscape rolled by us. “What were they talking about? Were they killing crocs in the wild? Or were they croc farmers?”
I heard a small exhalation from Steve’s side of the truck. I couldn’t see his face in the gloom. I realized he was crying. I was astounded. This was the man I had just seen turn into a furious monster. Five minutes earlier I’d been convinced I was about to see him take on a half-dozen blokes bare-fisted. Now he wept in the darkness.
All at once, he sat up straight. With his jaw set, he wiped the tears from his face and composed himself. “I’ve known bastards like that all my life,” he said. “Some people don’t just do evil. Some people are evil.”
He had told me before, but that night in the truck it hit home: Steve lived for wildlife and he would die for wildlife. He came by his convictions sincerely, from the bottom of his heart.
He was more than just my husband that night. He was my hero.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
One evening Steve and I didn’t feel like cooking, and we had ordered a pizza. I noticed that I was a bit leaky, but when you are enormously pregnant, all kinds of weird things happen with your body. I didn’t pay any particular attention. The next day I called the hospital.
“You should come right in,” the nurse told me over the phone. Steve was fairly nearby, on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane, filming bull sharks.
I won’t bother him, I thought. I’ll just go in for a quick checkup.
“If everything checks out okay,” I told them at the hospital, “I’ll just head back.”
The nurse looked to see if I was serious. She laughed. “You’re not going anywhere,” she said. “You’re having a baby.”
I called Steve. He came up from the Gold Coast as quickly as he could, after losing his car keys, not remembering where he parked, and forgetting which way home was in his excitement.
When he arrived at the hospital, I saw that he had brought the whole camera crew with him. John was just as flustered as anyone but suggested we film the event.
“It’s okay with me,” Steve said. I was in no mood to argue. I didn’t care if a spaceship landed on the hospital. Each contraction took every bit of my attention.
When they finally wheeled me into the delivery room at about eight o’clock that night, I was so tired I didn’t know how I could go on. Steve proved to be a great coach. He encouraged me as though it were a footy game.
“You can do it, babe,” he yelled. “Come on, push!”
At 9:46 p.m., a little head appeared. Steve was beside himself with excitement. I was in a fog, but I clearly remember the joy on his face. He helped turn and lift the baby out. I heard both Steve and doctor announce simultaneously, “It’s a girl.”
Six pounds and two ounces of little baby girl. She was early but she was fine. All pink and perfect.
Steve cut the umbilical cord and cradled her, gazing down at his newborn daughter. “Look, she’s our little Bindi.”
She was named after a crocodile at the zoo, and it also fit that the word “bindi” was Aboriginal for “young girl.” Here was our own young girl, our little Bindi.
I smiled up at Steve. “Bindi Sue,” I said, after his beloved dog, Sui.
Steve gently handed her to me. We both looked down at her in utter amazement. He suddenly scooped her up in the towels and blankets and bolted off.
“I’ve got a baby girl!” he yelled, as he headed down the hall. The doctor and midwives were still attending to me. After a while, one of the midwives said nervously, “So, is he coming back?”
I just laughed. I knew what Steve was doing. He was showing off his beautiful baby girl to the whole maternity ward, even though each and every new parent had their own bundle of joy. Steve was such a proud parent.
He came back and laid Bindi beside me. I said, “I couldn’t have done it if you hadn’t been here.”
“Yes, you could have.”
“No, I really needed you here.”
Once again, I had that overwhelming feeling that as long as we were together, everything would be safe and wonderful. I watched Bindi as she stared intently at her daddy with dark, piercing eyes. He gazed back at her and smiled, tears rolling down his cheeks, with such great love for his new daughter. The world had a brand-new wildlife warrior.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
We trapped several smaller females, all around the nine-foot mark. That’s when Steve stepped back and let the all-girl team take over: all the women in camp, zoo workers mainly, myself, and others. We would jump on the croc, help secure the tracking device, and let her go.
At one point Steve trapped a female that he could see was small and quiet. He turned to Bindi. “How would you like to jump the head?”
Bindi’s eyes lit up. This was what she had been waiting for. Once Steve removed the croc from the trap and secured its jaws, the next step was for the point person to jump the croc’s head. Everybody else on the team followed immediately afterward, pinning the crocodile’s body.
“Don’t worry,” I said to Bindi. “I’ll back you up.” Or maybe I was really talking to Steve. He was nervous as he slipped the croc out of its mesh trap. He hovered over the whole operation, knowing that if anything went amiss, he was right there to help.
“Ready, and now!” he said. Bindi flung herself on the head of the crocodile. I came in right over her back. The rest of the girls jumped on immediately, and we had our croc secured.
“Let’s take a photo with the whole family,” Professor Franklin said. Bindi sat proudly at the crocodile’s head, her hand casually draped over its eyes. Steve was in the middle, holding up the croc’s front legs. Next in line was me. Finally, Robert had the tail. This shot ended up being our 2006 family Christmas card.
I look at it now and it makes me laugh out loud. The family that catches crocs together, rocks together. The Irwin family motto.
Steve, Bindi, and I are all smiling. But then there is Robert’s oh-so-serious face. He has a top-jaw rope wrapped around his body, with knots throughout. He took his job seriously. He had the rope and was ready as the backup. He was on that croc’s tail. It was all about catching crocs safely, mate. No mucking around here.
As we idled back in to camp, Robert said, “Can I please drive the boat?”
“Crikey, mate, you are two years old,” Steve said. “I’ll let you drive the boat next year.”
But then, quite suddenly and without a word, Steve scooped Robert up and sat him up next to the outboard. He put the tiller in his hand.
“Here’s what you do, mate,” Steve said, and he began to explain how to drive the boat. He seemed in a hurry to impart as much wisdom to his son as possible.
Robert spent the trip jumping croc tails, driving the boat, and tying knots. Steve created a croc made of sticks and set it on a sandbar. He pulled the boat up next to it, and he, Robert, and Bindi went through all the motions of jumping the stick-croc.
“I’m going to say two words,” Robert shouted, imitating his father. “’Go,’ and ‘Now.’ First team off on ‘Go,’ second team off on ‘Now.’” Then he’d yell “Go, now” at the top of his lungs. He and Steve jumped up as if the stick-croc was about to swing around and tear their arms off.
“Another croc successfully caught, mate,” Steve said proudly. Robert beamed with pride too.
When he got back to Croc One, Robert wrangled his big plush crocodile toy. I listened, incredulous, as my not-yet-three-year-old son muttered the commands of a seasoned croc catcher. He had all the lingo down, verbatim.
“Get me a twelve-millimeter rope,” Robert commanded. “I need a second one. Get that top-jaw rope under that tooth, yep, the eye tooth, get it secured. We’ll need a third top-jaw rope for this one. Who’s got a six-millimeter rope? Hand me my Leatherman. Cut that rope here. Get that satellite tracker on.”
The stuffed animal thoroughly secured, Robert made as if to brush off his little hands. “Professor Franklin,” he announced in his best grown-up voice, “it’s your croc.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
As we idled back in to camp, Robert said, “Can I please drive the boat?”
“Crikey, mate, you are two years old,” Steve said. “I’ll let you drive the boat next year.”
But then, quite suddenly and without a word, Steve scooped Robert up and sat him up next to the outboard. He put the tiller in his hand.
“Here’s what you do, mate,” Steve said, and he began to explain how to drive the boat. He seemed in a hurry to impart as much wisdom to his son as possible.
Robert spent the trip jumping croc tails, driving the boat, and tying knots. Steve created a croc made of sticks and set it on a sandbar. He pulled the boat up next to it, and he, Robert, and Bindi went through all the motions of jumping the stick-croc.
“I’m going to say two words,” Robert shouted, imitating his father. “’Go,’ and ‘Now.’ First team off on ‘Go,’ second team off on ‘Now.’” Then he’d yell “Go, now” at the top of his lungs. He and Steve jumped up as if the stick-croc was about to swing around and tear their arms off.
“Another croc successfully caught, mate,” Steve said proudly. Robert beamed with pride too.
When he got back to Croc One, Robert wrangled his big plush crocodile toy. I listened, incredulous, as my not-yet-three-year-old son muttered the commands of a seasoned croc catcher. He had all the lingo down, verbatim.
“Get me a twelve-millimeter rope,” Robert commanded. “I need a second one. Get that top-jaw rope under that tooth, yep, the eye tooth, get it secured. We’ll need a third top-jaw rope for this one. Who’s got a six-millimeter rope? Hand me my Leatherman. Cut that rope here. Get that satellite tracker on.”
The stuffed animal thoroughly secured, Robert made as if to brush off his little hands. “Professor Franklin,” he announced in his best grown-up voice, “it’s your croc.
”
”
Terri Irwin (Steve & Me)
“
the little crocodile Improve his shining tail, And pour the waters of the Nile On every golden scale! ‘How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly spread his claws, And welcome little fishes in With gently smiling jaws!’ ’I’m sure those are not the right words,’ said poor Alice, and her eyes filled with tears again as she went on, ‘I must be Mabel after all, and I shall have to go
”
”
Anonymous
“
It wasn’t until Seantrel heard the last few words that he realized LaShon was involved in the car accident as well. He didn’t care about her crocodile tears either. He knew that LaShon always wanted to come first so there was no way that she could convince him that it was an accident. Before
”
”
Kevina Hopkins (When A Bitch Fed Up 3)
“
. His big crocodile tears stabbed my heart, and I knew my son wasn’t allowed to cry again.
”
”
Michelle Hughes (Cowboy Sanctuary)
“
Maybe every child abandoned to the cruelties of the world, every child left, abused, neglected, was somehow frozen in that place where first they had known the pain the world could inflict on the young, the fragile, the deserted. And if they could not find shelter soon enough, perhaps they were stranded on the shores of Neverland forever, where the Captain Hooks and the crocodiles were all too real.
”
”
Cindy Brandner (Mermaid in a Bowl of Tears)
“
I did," Ace says. "I think Ms. Manning will be pleased to know that her daughter suffered before she died.” Corina steps out from behind him. My expression goes slack with shock. She's cleaned her face, removed all evidence of her earlier crocodile tears—if what my memory is telling me is true. She's redressed in a black pencil skirt and heels that flash red on the bottoms as she makes her way towards me. Her makeup is perfectly applied once more—black eyeliner and red lipstick to match the rest of her. Her hair has been pulled back into a high ponytail, and I suddenly have the urge to do to her what I did to Kate. No. I have the urge to do far worse than simply make her piss herself as I chop off her hair. I’d rather take a blade to her motherfucking throat and let her drown in her own blood.
”
”
Lucy Smoke (Stone Cold Queen (Sick Boys, #2))
“
Oh, all these intellectual complications make me sick, disgust me—all this philosophy that uncovers the beast in man, and then seeks to save him, excuse him . . . I can’t stand it, sir. When a man seeks to “simplify” life bestially, throwing aside every relic of humanity, every chaste aspiration, every pure feeling, all sense of ideality, duty, modesty, shame . . . then nothing is more revolting and nauseous than a certain kind of remorse—crocodiles’ tears, that’s what it is.
”
”
Luigi Pirandello (Six Characters in Search of an Author)
“
This world is a circus, and we are the clowns.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
The world is worth living in. Especially when I can look into your eyes and see your smile.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
Don't be afraid of the dare to dream.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
It was like heartbreak. That dreadful feeling everyone knows in their lifetime. That one specific sensation that isn’t ever easily forgotten.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
They talked of their pasts, presents, and futures as well as their dreams, passions, and ambitions. To them, their encounter with each other simply felt wholeheartedly right. Like the universe brought them together for that singular purpose of connection—a powerful idea and one not so easily dismantled.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
—and indeed, a dare to dream is momentous with all its zealous natures and all its ardent toils.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
Still, one could dream.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
Contemplating whether or not everything you’ve learned is a lie is worse than terrifying.
”
”
Rhett Downing (Crocodile Tears)
“
Justice and Humanity Passed away
---
The world has heard that
Justice and humanity have passed away
In the White House, suffering from
Conflicts of interests and mafia politics
The Kremlin will host the burial that
The European Union will express its condolences
For the loss of justice and humanity
The United Nations will present a wreath
At the graves of the dead ones
While the International Court of Justice
Will issue a verdict like crocodile tears
OIC is enjoying its blind, deaf, dumb life,
Let's pray to God:
May God grant the gone ones
A place in heaven, Amen.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
Not all tears are made up from sorrow or happiness.
”
”
Anthony T. Hincks
“
Sabrina surely had one dead ex-boyfriend on her record.
But did Martina have a deceased ex-boyfriend in her past too?
Biggie’s words swirled in my head, mixing with the reality I faced:
’Sabrina reminding me of Lil Cease with her crocodile teeth,
the warpath we rode apart and together, our laughter,
our tears—my tears, their laughter—the player haters,
the cocaine-snorting bitches, the cats with no dough,
try to play me at my show, pull up and crack doors,
short-change bitches with 5 to 20 euro notes
not enough to powder their beak and nose. They still tickle me,
Sabrina and them midgets cripple me, make me as hard as Martina's nipples be,
I'm sour like a pickle be. You disobey the rules.
Now the year’s new and I want my spot back; fake two,
all the planes I flew, all the bitches I went through, mothersnuggers mad, cause I’m blue,
bitches envy us, too many bitches in my club
guard your dogs before I stick you for your re-up,
maniacs put my name in raps,
living by hugs from fake friends,
your whole life you live sneaky,
you burn when you creep me,
you slipping try to break me,
living by my love, hating me,
they like to hustle backward,
Acid rain, Cadillac Fleetwood
look what you made me do,
you made me and my girl Marine blue
make you, open the safe too’
Della Reese had been on my mind since a while as if she wanted to tell me something a wisdom she wanted to share with me.
The lyrics and the words the bad people played mindgames with me kept mixing up in my head.
’Maniacs put my name in raps;
the club is dead without me
they can hustle only backwards
with all the beef against me.
Blunt wraps and Dutchies,
all the smoking accessories;
they can't touch me. One third is on me.
Martina's butt a public touchy-touchy.
My enemies holding their cats shaky.
Sabrina is dead or alive, her ghost is under me.
”
”
Tomas Adam Nyapi (BARCELONA MARIJUANA MAFIA)
“
So Roy's tears were understandable when he remembered tying animals to all those stakes. Such a cruel experiment had been performed on animals, of course, on sheep and pigs and cattle and horses and monkeys and ducks and chickens and geese, but surely not on a zoo such as Roy described. To hear him tell it, he had tethered peacocks and snow leopards and gorillas and crocodiles and albatrosses to the stakes. In his big brain, Bikini became the exact reverse of Noah's ark. Two of every sort of animal had been brought there in order to be atom-bombed.
”
”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Galápagos)
“
Did you see those crocodile tears?” “Chilling,” MacKenzie agreed. “Unfortunately, a lot of people would fall for that. Maybe even a jury. Plus, he’s good-looking.” “What difference does that make?” “You know what difference it makes,” MacKenzie replied. “Psychological studies have proven that people tend to ascribe positive characteristics to people they find attractive, and negative characteristics to those they find unattractive. If Bobby Singh turns on the tears and bats his big brown eyes at the female jurors, they’d acquit him on grounds of reasonable doubt.
”
”
L.J. Ross (Penshaw (DCI Ryan Mysteries, #13))
“
The passion builds compassion that speaks and proves itself; otherwise, it defines as the tears of the crocodile.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
India neither respects UN Security Council resolutions nor has the intention to build peace in the region. Indian Intelligence Agencies have always tried for conspiracy against Pakistan and caused economic damage with false propaganda and collaboration of international media, writers, scholars, and such ones, who became of them a chess propaganda army everywhere.
The fools, traitors, and idiots having no brain became delicious chocolate for the Indian Intelligence. It is not an illusion or delusion, or table made, story; it is a real and significant truth ever since, as they tried to buy me as well; I am authentic evidence of it.
Sold figures harp their voice, motives, and advocacy for them, with the crocodile tears, on the fears of deaths. While such ones never realize the killing of innocent children, elderly and mothers, in Kashmir.
When selfishness and greediness dominate upon one, who became sold is unworthy, whether having academic or dynasty background.
The peace lies in Indian ruling minds, the biggest democracy in the world if that, realize and accomplish the regulations of the Security Council; indeed, peace shall prevail.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
At Gauristhalam, Bijala gave a stirring speech ; it was something Keki had made him practice for many days. He spoke about going deep into the jungle to catch this enemy of the country; how he hd wrestled with crocodiles in the river Mahishi, and tigers in the forest; how he had hiked up the ice-capped peaks of Gauriparvat to crawl into its caves and meditate on the future Mahishmathi. He talked about his sacrifices for the people-but he also made sure to talk about me he lost on the way. With tears on his eyes, he called the widows of soldiers who had died on the mission. The prince fell at their feet. 'Mothers,' he cried his voice quivering , his lips trembling with emotion. 'Your husbands were all brave men. I am a sinner. I couldn't save them . Every time a man died under my watch, I wanted to jump into the funeral pyre along with him. The only thing that kept me alive was the thought that I needed to apologie to you. Now that I have done so, allow me to jump into a pyre.
”
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Anand Neelakantan (Chaturanga (Baahubali: Before the Beginning Book 2))
“
Be true to God in everything that you say and do, don't be fake; don't shed crocodile tears, do not decieve anybody, do not conceal the truth because God sees everything, God knows all things, God is everywhere. You cannot hide from God. God will always reveal the truth against all odds. The world will see right through you.....
Yeah...
God Our Protector Keep My Faith:Biblical Verses 6, a book by Stellah Mupanduki.
”
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Stellah Mupanduki
“
Memorial Day Sonnet
We don't want your celebration,
We don't want you to honor us.
All we want is for you to grow up,
And end all tribalism that kills us.
A thousand holidays can't bring us back,
Nor can they wipe the tears of our spouses.
How will you console our children,
How will you comfort our broken parents!
Enough with your flowers and rituals,
Enough with your crocodile care!
If you have an iota of humanity,
Step up and make all divides disappear.
Yet if you still want to live life as tribal,
Rest assured we'll give ours with a smile.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Mucize Insan: When The World is Family)
“
THE NEXT DAY WAS RAIN-SOAKED and smelled of thick sweet caramel, warm coconut and ginger. A nearby bakery fanned its daily offerings. A lapis lazuli sky was blanketed by gunmetal gray clouds as it wept crocodile tears across the parched Los Angeles landscape.
When Ivy was a child and she overheard adults talking about their break-ups, in her young feeble-formed mind, she imagined it in the most literal of essences. She once heard her mother speaking of her break up with an emotionally unavailable man.
She said they broke up on 69th Street. Ivy visualized her mother and that man breaking into countless fragments, like a spilled box of jigsaw pieces. And she imagined them shattered in broken shards, being blown down the pavement of 69th Street.
For some reason, on the drive home from Marcel’s apartment that next morning, all Ivy could think about was her mother and that faceless man in broken pieces, perhaps some aspects of them still stuck in cracks and crevices of the sidewalk, mistaken as grit.
She couldn’t get the image of Marcel having his seizure out of her mind. It left a burning sensation in the center of her chest. An incessant flame torched her lungs, chest, and even the back door of her tongue.
Witnessing someone you cared about experiencing a seizure was one of those things that scribed itself indelibly on the canvas of your mind. It was gut-wrenching. Graphic and out-of-body, it was the stuff that post traumatic stress syndrome was made of.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates (Remains To Be Seen)