Psychological Thriller Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Psychological Thriller. Here they are! All 100 of them:

You're driving me NORMAL!
Jeff Lindsay (Dearly Devoted Dexter (Dexter, #2))
She understood now why her friend Elizabeth, with her near-genius, analytical mind gave wide berth to murder mysteries, psychological thrillers, and horror stories, and read only romance novels. Because, by God, when a woman picked up one of those steamy books, she had a firm guarantee that there would be a Happily-Ever-After. That though the world outside those covers could bring such sorrow and disappointment and loneliness, between those covers, the world was a splendid place to be.
Karen Marie Moning (Darkfever (Fever, #1))
But this Scroll too has magical properties. From the moment I first saw it, the paper warmed to my touch. I know it came alive as I held it. Did you know there’s a serpent on the back? Some say it’s a dragon. It winked at me. Its lashes are gold.
Susan Rowland (The Alchemy Fire Murder: a Mary Wandwalker Mystery)
Mary stared at the dreamlike happenings on the page. Human figures faced each other; the man’s head was a golden ball with rays reaching up to huge stars and out to the distant mountains; the woman’s silver head was sickle-shaped and surrounded by birds like eagles with white beaks. Some of the black letters glowed because they had tips like tiny flames.
Susan Rowland (The Alchemy Fire Murder: a Mary Wandwalker Mystery)
I don't want you to be interested in my life. I want you to be interested in me.
Nicci French (Killing Me Softly)
I don't need my head examined, but where were you when I married my second husband. Sheesh.
Lisa Scottoline (Every Fifteen Minutes)
I’m neither your friend nor your frenemy, unless you have what I want. In that case, I’m not only your enemy, I’m your nightmare.
Lisa Scottoline (Every Fifteen Minutes)
I'm not making an enemy; I'm keepin' one.
Stephen King (Dolores Claiborne)
If you leave a door half open, soon you’ll hear the whispers spoken. If you play outside alone, soon you won’t be going home. If your window’s left unlatched, you’ll hear him tapping at the glass. If you’re lonely, sad, and blue, the Whisper Man will come for you.
Alex North (The Whisper Man)
What is the nature of your emergency?” “I was assaulted in the street,” Krissa responds. “What is the location of the assault?” “At my current coordinates.” “Do you need medical attention?” “No, but my attackers do.
Stephen Alder (Deehabta’s Song)
Denial. It’s the only thing that keeps most of us from losing our sanity.
Heena Rathore-Pardeshi (Deceived)
The devil finds work for idle hands. Bad thoughts find empty heads.
Alex North (The Whisper Man)
The caption reads, “Emperor Andon-Roon enjoys a surge in popularity after brokering a peace deal with Caderyn after twelve cycles of war.” For some reason this evokes strong emotions in her—deep sorrow, anger—and she stares at the screen transfixed, as if straining to find herself in the story.
Stephen Alder (Deehabta’s Song)
I don't make threats," she said. "I make reality.
Lee Matthew Goldberg (Stalker Stalked)
I screamed at them all to leave me alone, begged for their mercy, but they feasted until I was picked clean like a carrion would.
Lee Matthew Goldberg (Stalker Stalked)
What kills a person at twenty-five? Leukemia. An accident. But George knows the better odds are that someone who passes at that age dies of unhappiness. Drug overdose. Suicide. Reckless behavior.
Scott Turow (Limitations (Kindle County Legal Thriller, #7))
For God's sake stop making people in your image. Harry was real. He wasn't just your hero and my lover. He was Harry. He was in a racket. He did bad things. What about it? He was the man we knew.
Graham Greene (The Third Man)
My thoughts are quiet, but not calm. There is a terror on the edge of the silence, a terror fed by my burning flesh and the stench of death.
Christine Fonseca (Transcend)
Unhappy people can be very dangerous, don't forget that.
S.E. Lynes
You have the Answer. Just get quiet enough to hear it. ~Pat Obuchowski
Laurie Stevens (The Dark Before Dawn (Gabriel McRay #1))
And to take another life was, in many ways, the greatest expression of what it meant to be alive.
Peter Swanson (The Kind Worth Killing (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #1))
I brought a few old photos of Villageport. I didn’t know you were blind. I hoped you could put some names to the pictures.” “Eyes aren’t the only way to see, young lady.
Diane L. Kowalyshyn (Crossover (Cross your Heart and Die, #1))
The finest thing in the world is knowing how to belong to oneself. Michel de Montaigne
Laurie Stevens (The Dark Before Dawn (Gabriel McRay #1))
Mary started to scream, and then the curtains parted further and a hand appeared, holding a butcher's knife. It was the knife that, a moment later, cut off her scream. And her head.
Robert Bloch (Psycho (Psycho, #1))
My mind is quiet now. There is no fire or ash, no sulfur or shattering glass. Only silence, empty and cold.
Christine Fonseca (Transcend)
If I don't defend for myself, who will?
Wesley T. Calaway (Defender)
If you give people what they want, they like you, adore you, even. All you have to do is conform to standards while slightly rising above normal, and repress your true nature.
Rina Kent (God of Malice (Legacy of Gods, #1))
Love is pain. Real love – the one not spewed in poetry – is agony. It tears at your soul, strips you bare, drives you mad and demands the veracity of our existence. Love is madness.
Trisha Wolfe (Born, Madly (Darkly, Madly #2))
She was born under the sign of Gemini. And that stands for the good and evil twin. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both hiding and residing inside her heart. Her good twin was not bad at all. But her evil twin was even better, and showed up to be way too fatal!
Ana Claudia Antunes (Mysterious Murder of Marilyn Monroe)
Ien stopped her voice with more kisses, more promises of a world filled with only them.
Christine Fonseca (Transcend)
Jennifer’s eyes begin to water again. “Don’t let anything bad happen to him, Dr. Sampson. My husband is a famous lawyer. He sues doctors when they screw up.” “Jennifer!” Zack exclaims, embarrassed.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
All fear was, in the end, fear of death. Once you knew you were dying, there was nothing left fear. It gave you the last great gift, infinite courage.
Saul Black (The Killing Lessons (Valerie Hart, #1))
It took him about 20 minutes under the shower to start getting some self-respect back. It would have taken a bit less if he had a decent showerhead and decent water pressure.
Matt Francis (Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point (Murder in the Pacific #1))
Detroit? I never set foot in Detroit. A bit too dark for me if you know what I mean.” He glances at Ellington. Clare is offended by the overtly racist comment, but Billy’s heard it all before.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
So, when a judge requests your services as a ‘personal favor,’ declining representation is out of the question, unless you don’t mind appearing in front of a pissed-off judge with a long memory.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Fear,’ he whispered. ‘There is nothing quite like it. I love how it looks, I love how it feels, I love how it smells. And I especially love the sound of it.’ I felt his tongue on my cheek. ‘I even love the taste of it
B.A. Paris (Behind Closed Doors)
Other girls play with soft toys,” I said, “and you play with knives…
Jess C. Scott (Playmates)
. . . I also believe we can respect Second Amendment rights while, at the same time, preventing lawbreakers and people who are a danger to others from committing atrocities . . .
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
We have a few chicken-shit senators who are afraid of the NRA and its ilk, but with the right tweaks, I still think you have a shot . . .
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
If a buyer is having trouble getting a gun in Michigan, he or she just travels to Ohio or Indiana or Illinois. You know what I mean?”  
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
How can I be friendly to someone who clearly wants no friends?
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
She averted his eyes, but not before he recognized the pain in them, a tormented and languished gaze, a stare preserved for people who were able to love deeply enough that they could be destroyed by it.
Jacqueline Simon Gunn (Noah's Story)
I don’t want to leave. I’m not sure how to carry on without you. We’ve always been together. “And that will never change. You’ll still be able to watch over me and keep me safe.” I’m not going to say goodbye then. See you later? “You bet,” Karlee said. “But not for another sixty years or so.
Diane L. Kowalyshyn (Crossover (Cross your Heart and Die, #1))
There's talk he's become emotionally unhinged.
Dianne Harman (Blue Coyote Motel (Coyote #1))
Forever. He carved the word into his soul. Kiera was his forever, deformity or no deformity.
Christine Fonseca (Transcend)
One way to hurt Barrington is to beat the crap out of him in your lawsuit. Hurt him in the pocketbook.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
He wants to be perceived as a hero to people who have been bullied and not as a deranged lunatic who committed mass murder without rational explanation . . .
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Didn’t anyone ask you where your parents are?" "They asked. Especially about my parents." "What did you tell them?" "I said I ate them." "Jesus, Rosa.
Justine Larbalestier (My Sister Rosa)
That Kevin Burns, the one on television, is easy to hate, even to despise. He shot and tried to kill my son. He killed nine people. This Kevin Burns, a helpless child in prison garb and cuffs, looks meek and terrified, especially in the backdrop of a jail complex and cell, with two giant guards escorting him into the deposition room. 
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Marlowe's devils wore squibs attached to their tails: evil was like Peter Pan—it carried with it the horrifying and horrible gift of eternal youth.
Graham Greene (The Third Man)
No one should ever kiss their kids and send them off to school only to find out this was the last time they would ever see them alive.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
It is easy to talk about changing our culture. It is quite different to put forth bold initiatives to effectuate that change. Together, we can make a difference.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
When did school shootings become routine in America?” 
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
There’s no crying in political and legal advocacy, Mom . . .
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
This would be the Michigan version of the OJ trial, this time, with a guilty verdict.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
How did that damn kid’s father get these guns? Did he purchase them on the black market or our black market? I’ve got to find out.  
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Don't plant a seed just a day before you need the fruit. ~ Aarush Kashyap
Kirtida Gautam (#iAm16iCan)
. . . While competency and insanity are not the same things and the standards of proof are different, they are undoubtedly first cousins.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Are you crazy, Kenny Tracey? Do you have a death wish or something? Preventing someone from getting hurt and jumping in front of a bullet are not the same things!
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
The questions push me further into the space in between, the place where my madness lays waiting for me. I struggle with each question, determined to extract some sort of answer, an explanation for everything that has happened so far. But no answers come and I’m forced to acknowledge the feeling lodged between my two worlds Terror.
Christine Fonseca (Transcend)
She opens her eyes as the fury continues, pinning me with her glare. Her gaze reached into my soul as I spin the music back to the simple melody at its core—our melody. A moment of recognition washes over her, followed by regret, fear, terror. An entire kaleidoscope of emotions exists within a single heartbeat.
Christine Fonseca (Transcend)
He who fears being watched from the abyss will be unable to look into it himself. The truth can only be obtained by pressing forward.
Sadamu Yamashita (Silent Hill 2: The Novel)
Sometimes the closer you are to the truth, the harder it is to see.
Jacqueline Simon Gunn (Circle of Trust (Close Enough to Kill #2))
All this Second Amendment shit is a money grab for these people. Follow the damned money!
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Our love must be stronger than their hate.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Unfettered access to guns is that important to these guys?” Zack is totally disillusioned. POTUS sanctions a teenager’s assassination? Can it be true?
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Honey, I usually get $300, but I like you, so I'll just take $200.
Dianne Harman (Blue Coyote Motel (Coyote #1))
It was one of those late summer days trying its best to convince everyone that winter would never seep through and ravage the earth.
A.J. Waines (Girl on a Train)
Because of that, he didn't know how to love someone who actually loved him. He had learned a twisted, tormented kind of love filled with pain and exploitation.
Jacqueline Simon Gunn (Noah's Story)
The worst poverty isn’t about not having enough money to survive. Poverty of love is the worst thing you can be deprived of.
Paige Dearth (Never Be Alone (Home Street Home, #5))
Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today.
Lee Matthew Goldberg (Immoral Origins (The Desire Card, #1))
The problem with life is there is just too much of it. You identify one thing and it leads to another. Nothing is simply one thing only...it's like trying to read thruogh a foreign thesaurus. You look up one word and you find another twenty. If you look up even one of those twenty, you are already forty meanings away from the first one. And there's a good chance once of those brings you back to the start.
Katie Hall-May (Memories of a Lost Thesaurus)
Not all demons are born to the dark. And not all angels seek the light. Sometimes our circumstance demands a fusion of both. There is no good and evil. Only the time spent between both heaven and hell, where we find our peace. And love. Even the vilest of monsters deserve to be loved.
Trisha Wolfe (Born, Madly (Darkly, Madly #2))
We need to flood the Internet with fake news, ladies and gentlemen. They’re out to take our guns, don’t you know? People who look to Facebook for the news of the day will believe anything. They are sheep to slaughter . . .
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
I’ve always been suspicious of the assumption that great intelligence would be an unqualified benefit— that the madness that so often accompanies it can be cavalierly dismissed. So I asked the question: Suppose there were an entire subpopulation of extreme geniuses, well beyond anything that would occur naturally. What would that really look like?
Andrew M. Ryan (The Labbitt Halsey Protocol)
George lay on his bed, wide awake despite the early hour, imagining over and over Jeffrey’s demise. He didn’t feel guilty. Jeffrey was going to die anyway, so what was the big deal if it was today and not in a few more years?
Matt Francis (Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point (Murder in the Pacific #1))
You’re convinced our own government conspired with Roland Barrington III to assassinate an American citizen for the sole purpose of disrupting a lawsuit filed against his company, Barrington Arms?
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
 Who charges a deranged gunman like that? They’re perfect gentlemen, those Tracey boys. Do they ever do anything wrong? ‘Dudley Do-Rights,’ both of those fuckers. Still, I hope Kenny’s still alive.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
If the dad has a criminal record, he shouldn’t have been able to purchase the guns, and we’ve got a serious problem.” Barrington unloads again. “I pay you a lot of money to prevent us from having a serious problem. Take care of it, dammit!
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
To our law enforcement community, our first responders, the young student, staff members, and teachers who responded so bravely in the face of danger, we applaud your courage and thank you for your selfless actions.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
A direct appeal to our pro-gun base has served us well over the years. ‘Anti-gun nuts seeking to repeal the Second Amendment’ resonates well with gun owners. About twenty-five to thirty percent of the population is on our side from the minute we scream ‘they’re coming for our guns . . .
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
I guess accidents do happen, know what I mean? A blown tire here, failed brakes around a curve there. Perhaps the vehicle’s computer system goes haywire and results in an explosion. Those types of things send a clear message.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
That bastard tried to murder my son. He can spend the rest of his rotten, deceitful life in a prison cell. But he’s not the ultimate prize. I won’t rest until both the President and Attorney General of the United States are impeached, convicted, and thrown in a prison cell.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
From Zachary Blake? Not a chance in hell. All his cases are high-profile. And these days, he’s got a Midas touch. Every case he touches turns to gold. Blake is on a personal crusade for civil justice and safety—truth, justice, and the American way, don’t you know? Guns are an excellent target issue for someone like him.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't some­ thing that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you.
Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)
The country is solidly behind the various proposals to limit access to dangerous weapons, especially high capacity automatic weapons. However, only a short time after the Bloomfield tragedy, it became clear that Congress and the President had other ideas and are still in bed with the NRA.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
These are not red or blue issues—they are the human rights issues of our generation. We are here begging for our lives. If today’s political officeholders cannot accomplish real change on guns and gun issues, we will vote together on these issues in the next election and elect their successors . . .
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Our good friend and fellow sportsman George W. Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act into law back in 2005. Essentially, unless we make a terribly defective gun, the law creates a complete shield from liability. God bless Citizens United, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the NRA, tort reform, and needy and greedy politicians.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Books and movies are like a blueprint…a survival manual disguised as fiction. As folklore. Because the truth hides in plain sight and those that see have to hide and those that can’t see…well, they’re just a part of the plan.' ~ Excerpt from a NYPD Investigation, November, 1951
P.D. Alleva (Golem)
Zack cannot rationalize Kevin’s child-like demeanor with his horrific actions. The two are incompatible. Kevin categorically refutes any suggestion he is insane or incompetent. He was tired of being bullied and decided to do something about it. His mantra is that, maybe in the future, bullies across America and beyond will think twice about picking on the meek and the weak. 
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
I went over to where Ted was leaning against the green cinderblock wall. He was sitting with his legs splayed out below the bulletin board, which was full of notices from the Mathematical Society of America, which nobody ever read, Peanuts comic strips (the acme of humor, in the late Mrs. Underwood’s estimation), and a poster showing Bertrand Russell and a quote: “Gravity alone proves the existence of God.” But any undergraduate in creation could have told Bertrand that it has been conclusively proved that there is no gravity; the earth just sucks.
Richard Bachman
I have filed a lawsuit; I am not engaged in a legislative battle. I am very proud my son will help spearhead an effort to put forth a survivor’s legislative agenda with many of his fellow students, teachers, and other survivors of this tragedy. Kenny and his colleagues are now voting age or will be before the next election. Pro-gun politicians need to address the problem, or they may find themselves looking for work.
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Every time he studied this instrument, with its slender, gleaming steel rod that tapered down to such needle-like sharpness, he wondered why it was necessary to have things like this in the world. If it were truly only for chopping ice, you'd think a completely different design might do. The people who produce and sell things like this don't understand, he thought. They don't realize that some of us break out in a cold sweat at just a glimpse of that shiny, pointed tip.
Ryū Murakami (Piercing)
You might try then, as I did, to find a sky so full of stars it will blind you again. Only no sky can blind you now. Even with all that iridescent magic up there, your eye will no longer linger on the light, it will no longer trace constellations. You'll care only about the darkness and you'll watch it for hours, for days, maybe even for years, trying in vain to believe you're some kind of indispensable, universe-appointed sentinel, as if just by looking you could actually keep it all at bay. It will get so bad you'll be afraid to look away, you'll be afraid to sleep.
Mark Z. Danielewski (House of Leaves)
Guy tries to buy a gun, but when he returns, he learns he’s failed the background check. ‘Oh well,’ the guy tells himself. ‘It was worth a try.’ The dealer says to the guy, ‘Hold the phone, buddy. Ask a friend, your brother, your sister, anyone you know, to come in, pass the background check, and we’ll sell the guns to them instead of you. What happens to them afterward is none of our business . . .
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
Fire and fury! These people didn’t appreciate my art, laughed at my clothes, my looks, and made fun of my protruding ears. ‘Floppy,’ they called me. And the teachers and principals let it all happen. They didn’t give a shit. Whatever got them through the day without conflict or controversy worked for the teachers, but where were the parents? They taught their kids to be elitist snobs. These deaths are on you, assholes!
Mark M. Bello (Betrayal High (Zachary Blake Legal Thriller, #5))
But sometimes i have to ask myself this question. its true that to us his imaginings are nothing but the inventions of a busy mind. But to him, there simply is no other reality. Further more, he is happy there, so why, I ask myself, why in the name of healing him must we drag him painfully into the world of our own reality?' - Doctor's Memo
Sadamu Yamashita (Silent Hill 2: The Novel)
The young woman's perfect breast didn't yield beneath the gentle pressure of two latexed fingers. "What're you doing?" Professor Robert 'Lithium Bob' Beck frowned at me. "I don't know. It's what I did when I first saw her…" "Why?" asked Doc Donald, about to assist with the post mortem. "She seemed so… pink. Maybe to see if she was alive…" I saw the Prof and the Doc exchange a look. It was an unconventional - no, plain weird - place to touch her.
Morana Blue (Gatsby's Smile)
Apparently, we're all in the frame," I heard Harry murmur somewhere behind me. And I whirled back to him. Innate, irrational anger surged. Then stopped, dead - as I suddenly took in Handsome, Robert and Doc. They were all staring at me. They were concentrating, all resolute, all a tad furrow-browed… upon my face. Self-consciousness burgeoned. I gingerly fingered my and lips and my chin, "Am I drooling?" "Your arse is hanging out," said Harry, not looking up from the forensics he was scanning. And so it was. Handsome, Robert and Doc averted their eyes as I, wishing I'd merely been dribbling, grabbed the back flaps of my breezy hospital gown, fully placed my back against the wall. Then, thinking better of it, dived hurriedly, carefully, back into bed. If Chinese Lady'd been here, she could've, would've, told me. I missed her already.
Morana Blue (Gatsby's Smile)
A man who lives a part, not to others but alone, is exposed to obvious psychological dangers. In itself the practice of deception is not particularly exacting. It is a matter of experience, a professional expertise. It is a facility most of us can acquire. But while a confidence trickster, a play actor or a gambler can return from his performance to the ranks of his admirers, the secret agent enjoys no such relief. For him, deception is first a matter of self defense. He must protect himself not only from without, but from within, and against the most natural of impulses. Though he earn a fortune, his role may forbid him the purchase of a razor. Though he be erudite, it can befall him to mumble nothing but banalities. Though he be an affectionate husband and father, he must within all circumstances without himself from those with whom he should naturally confide. Aware of the overwhelming temptations which assail a man permanently isolated in his deceit, Limas resorted to the course which armed him best. Even when he was alone, he compelled himself to live with the personality he had assumed. It is said that Balzac on his deathbed inquired anxiously after the health and prosperity of characters he had created. Similarly, Limas, without relinquishing the power of invention, identified himself with what he had invented. The qualities he had exhibited to Fiedler: the restless uncertainty, the protective arrogance concealing shame were not approximations, but extensions of qualities he actually possessed. Hence, also, the slight dragging of the feet, the aspect of personal neglect, the indifference to food, and an increasing reliance on alcohol and tobacco. When alone, he remained faithful to these habits. He would even exaggerate them a little, mumbling to himself about the iniquities of his service. Only very rarely, as now, going to bed that evening, did he allow himself the dangerous luxury of admitting the great lie that he lived.
John le Carré (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (George Smiley, #3))