“The Bowery station on the J line is what happens to a neighborhood once politicians realize the people who live there don’t vote.”

“He had the radio turned to some Spanish-language station at a volume that reminded me of the holding tank at Riker's Island - and for an added touch of authenticity he screamed 'Maricon!' and waved his fist out the open window at another driver who had the audacity to attempt to share the road with us.”

“Most investigators don't even know what the word means. You stop the cops from using informants and the only crimes they'd ever solve would be those by deranged postal workers who come to work once too often.”

“People who don't have much get ugly about giving up the little they have left.”

“From the very second that two people sat together around a fire in the forest, there was another human out there who felt better in the dark.”

“In my world, people are always plotting. Youhave no idea of all the crimes people in business commit everyday. Like it was nothing. Or there’s a set of special rules for them.Remember when Bush made that whole speech about ‘corporateethics’ last year? What a fraud. You think stuff like Enron orWorldCom is an aberration? It’s only the tip. Business is a religion.Probably the only one practiced all over the world.”

“He said when the Lord made people He made them all the same for starters. But life marks people. If you know the way, you can read them like maps.”