Tommie Estrem > Tommie's Quotes

“Mildred adjusted the papers and scribbled some more. When she was finished, she took off her glasses, leaving them to swing from the chain around her neck. She gave the women around the table a pointed look. “Now think hard, ladies, can you come up with anything else?”
― Kirsten Fullmer

“From the antique Persian rugs covering the gleaming hardwood floors to the molded tin ceilings and ornate chandeliers, the house was a showstopper. Throughout its long life, no one had allowed this home to fall into disrepair. Every detail of the wainscoting, every pocket door, every window, floor tile, and bathtub was original to the house.”
― Kirsten Fullmer, Trouble on Main Street

“She gripped the wheel and squared her shoulders. She didn’t have to do any of this alone. All she had to do was notify the society and put out an All Points Bulletin on Adam and she’d know everything there was to know about the man within 24 hours.”
― Kirsten Fullmer

“The mayor stood, his surprise at her interruption apparent by his twitching mustache. “You—you can’t just burst in here. Who are you?”
― Kirsten Fullmer, Trouble on Main Street

“Adam offered her a heart-melting smile and a wink, then headed for the door. With his hand on the door, he paused and turned back.
Heidi’s eyes jumped up from his butt to his face.”
― Kirsten Fullmer, Trouble on Main Street

“Heidi's role as grand master was to monitor all the women and to manage their locations and communication. Even though she’d done this many times on multiple missions, her heartbeat still pounded in her ears.”
― Kirsten Fullmer, Trouble on Main Street

“an easy ascent up the stairs. The”
― Cynthia Ellingsen, The Lighthouse Keeper

“direction.”
― Cynthia Ellingsen, The Winemaker's Secret

“The glass is where it all begins.” I lifted the flute, and the bubbles seemed to dance in”
― Cynthia Ellingsen, The Winemaker's Secret

“Maybe it was just a matter of letting life happen to me a little bit more and planning for it a little bit less.”
― Cynthia Ellingsen, The Lighthouse Keeper

“ladder. I made a move to climb up, too, and Kip touched”
― Cynthia Ellingsen, The Lighthouse Keeper

“I remembered the moment I saw him on the beach. I liked him, for a total of about ten seconds. Then he spoke.”
― Cynthia Ellingsen, The Lighthouse Keeper

“We rose from our chairs and bowed at each other, Japanese-style. The eight of them sat on the opposite side of the table to us, leaving the middle chair empty. All looking at us, no-one speaking a word. A long minute later, a very short, rather elderly lady – also dressed in funereal black – waddled in and seated herself in the empty chair in the middle of the row, directly facing us. She smiled; well, she attempted to twist her mouth. Too much effort. Her expression reverted to seriousness. Lin, sitting next to her, now spoke and introduced her as the Managing Director. She didn’t speak any English. Nor, it transpired, did any of the others – or if they did, we would never know, as either they weren’t brave enough to try or were inhibited by the business hierarchy. A scene that could have come out of Kafka.”
― Oliver Dowson, There's No Business Like International Business: Business Travel – But Not As You Know It

“Mierda.” José screeched to a halt, and reversed to start a three-point turn – of which points two and three never materialised as, looking back, the road from where we’d come was now filled side-to-side by an advancing column of police, some with riot shields, some on horseback, marching towards us. José decided, quite reasonably in my opinion, that this wasn’t a place to be trapped so his passenger could try out his Spanish with the Venezuelan Riot Police. His solution – drive straight ahead at a tangent to the road, across a vast stretch of wasteland.”
― Oliver Dowson, There's No Business Like International Business: Business Travel – But Not As You Know It

“In Brazil, every road, bridge and viaduct has been given a name, usually that of some long-forgotten personage who was once famous for doing something worthy. Honestly, every one of them; deeper into the country, I’ve even found unsurfaced dirt tracks given names. I’m never likely to have even five minutes of fame, but if I did, I don’t think I’d want to be remembered by a dirt track going from Nowhere Town to Obscure Village.”
― Oliver Dowson, There's No Business Like International Business: Business Travel – But Not As You Know It

“I am trying to get to an airport hotel. I can see it. I know it’s the right hotel because the name is shining out from the top of it in 10-foot-high illuminated letters. It is huge. It is right next to the highway. But there is no exit. I have no idea how to get there or, more pressingly, how to get off this road in the first place. There’s a lot of traffic and, worse, motorcycles with no lights are buzzing past me on the nearside. They all know where they are going and are determined to go there as fast as they can. They have no patience for a foreign visitor searching for an exit. This is no time to learn to drive all over again.”
― Oliver Dowson, There's No Business Like International Business: Business Travel – But Not As You Know It

“So, putting my faith in other passengers who told me it was definitely going to the city, I boarded a bus and spent well over an hour standing, swaying and trying to look out of the window to guess where we were. Traffic was solid, as expected. When we moved, we crawled. Eventually the bus reached somewhere that seemed significant – at least, somewhere a lot of people were getting off – and, sure enough, I was in the city, and there were taxis. The wrong side of the city, as it transpired, so a long taxi ride ensued. Nearly four hours from leaving the factory to reaching the hotel. I wasn’t doing that again.”
― Oliver Dowson, There's No Business Like International Business: Business Travel – But Not As You Know It

“All I do know is that the plant manager himself took me outside to the gate, waved down a passing police open-top jeep, greased the palm of the officer who was driving, and pushed me into the back next to a man dressed in camouflage with an automatic rifle on his lap. Sirens blaring, I was driven to the airport, scared out of my skin.”
― Oliver Dowson, There's No Business Like International Business: Business Travel – But Not As You Know It

“The questions appeared to be pre-rehearsed. The senior people spoke to the young one in Japanese, and he translated. I answered, and he translated back. Another one. Another one. And one more, that I felt needed a longer answer. Only then did I also notice that there was a clock on the wall opposite me, ticking past 11:59. I opened my mouth and began my answer. To my astonishment, mid-sentence, everyone just stood up, bowed, turned to their right and, in line, walked out of the room. Even while I was talking. They weren’t being rude. It’s just how meetings in Japan work.”
― Oliver Dowson, There's No Business Like International Business: Business Travel – But Not As You Know It

“I think I screamed. She certainly did. I started to walk away, she followed. We continued to scream at each other. We were in the middle of a busy square. People stopped to look at us. A lot of people. I wonder now what they thought. That Jin-Ae was my wife? My lover? Surely not an ambitious employee haranguing her boss!”
― Oliver Dowson

“In life you have to learn to count the good days. You have to tuck them in your pocket and carry them around with you. So I’m putting today in my pocket and I’m off to bed.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“You can have too much choice in this world. And when everyone has too much choice, it is also much harder to get chosen. And we all want to be chosen.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“It was a well-known fact that there were no calories in homemade cakes.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“Many years ago, everybody here would wake early because there was much to do and only so many hours in the day. Now they wake early because there is much to do and only so many days left.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“Some people love their children more than they love their partner,’ says Ibrahim, ‘and some people love their partner more than their children. And no one can ever admit to either thing.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“Donna has always been headstrong, always acted quickly and decisively. Which is a fine quality when you are right, but a liability when you are wrong. It’s great to be the fastest runner, but not when you’re running in the wrong direction.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“You always know when it’s your first time, don’t you? But you rarely know when it’s your final time.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“...There are silly, proper tears now. I'll let them fall. If you don't cry sometimes, you'll end up crying all the time.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

“I watched him spread out his arms with a smile before he crashed through the table in a beautiful crescendo, the glass sounding like tinkles from a piano as its shavings glittered across the floor and sliced through his face and body.”
― Lee Matthew Goldberg, Slow Down