General John Bell Hood: Venal and evil men are destroying the world you were born in. It's us against them my good friend. Don't compromise your principles or abandon your cause.
Dave Robicheaux: How would you define the idea of understanding?
Bootsie Robicheaux: Well it's knowing something, and knowing what it means.
Dave Robicheaux: I think there's two ways of looking at the idea of understanding. One is if you don't look you never will see. And the other is, if you look a little less you'll understand a hell of a lot more.
Bootsie Robicheaux: You might not be over those drugs they put in your drink.
Dave Robicheaux: In the ancient world, people placed heavy stones on the graves of the dead so their souls would not wander and inflict the living. I always thought this was simply the practice of superstitious and primitive people. But I was about to learn that the dead can hover on the edge of our vision with the density and luminosity of mist, and their claim on the earth can be as legitimate and tenacious as our own.
