Red Sparrow Quotes
"There was nothing, not a hint of units swirling, leapfrogging, banging around corners on the streets behind him, no reaction to his moves."
"Ignore the cold that wraps around your chest, pushing tight. Stay in the sensory bubble, let it expand under the stress."
"He was a tuning fork resonating in the frosty air, keyed and primed, but strangely calm."
"Not this one, not on my watch. He would not fail."
"Dominika grew stronger and more supple, there was something else coming alive within Dominika’s body, an extension of the rigors of dance, an awareness of her own body."
"Dominika, stretching after a long day of ballet, interrupted her father’s soft-spoken narrative by relating what she had heard at school."
"Nina looked at Vassily. She wanted to tell her daughter the truth, to warn her about the pitfalls of the system that had killed her career."
Dominika put her hands on his chest and whispered, "Dushka, wait for me on the bed. I will be two minutes."
"The familiar fear of failing, of not excelling, disappeared."
"Nate’s nightmare was failing, getting kicked out, showing back up in Richmond."
"A screw came loose during Matorin’s five years in the valleys of Afghanistan, and the threads were permanently stripped."
"He had the ability to go back there in his mind, to see the sights, to hear the sounds,"
"You realize that this is not a recruitment operation, at least not in the classic sense. The primary goal is not foreign intelligence."
"Do you realize that this is more a trap, a snare? All we require is an indication—active or passive, it doesn’t matter—when and how this American meets his agent."
"But I think people still struggle. The cruelest outcome is seeing a new age dawning, but nothing coming of it."
"The program was very difficult, and he did not apply himself."
"I’m sure I cannot speak for the Deputy Director. All you need to focus on is to move the relationship forward."
"She knows his face from a hundred surveillance photos in his file."
"Americans never take things seriously enough. They are always making fun."
"It’s just that she doesn’t seem like the type who’s an SVR operator. Dour and scared, at least that’s my assessment."
"What a strange thing to say, thought Dominika."
"I think I should concentrate elsewhere. A waste of time. C’mon, get motivated."
"The new weapons are oil and natural gas, but behind the scenes there’s just as much cruelty and repression and corruption as before."
"This is the sort of anti-Russia attitude that we are constantly aware of. It is simply not true."
"Tell that to Alexander Litvinenko or Anna Politkovskaya."
"Sometimes the harder you try to find a target, to start a case, the farther away it gets from you."
"You got performance anxiety. The longer you stare at your pecker, the softer it’s gonna be."
"This Russian sugar-britches is gold waiting to be mined."
"He was out on the street covering your arrival."
"They were effective simply because they mixed different looks on the street with an instinct about what the rabbit was going to do next."
"First, we are quite sure that up until now she has not detected or suspected surveillance."
"I thought you were going to talk to me about world peace."
"I think you are honest, and funny, and kind. I like having you as a friend."
"Don’t try to get her in bed before you recruit her. She will correctly conclude that you fucked her to get her to sign up."
"I have discovered that the American seems to favor museums."
"I would have followed him into the outer office, stripped the hide off him with a birch branch, then shipped him home under escort to the Lubyanka basement."
"You make me forget my boss and work and the lousy day."
"I’ve been doing some interesting economic work lately, working on timber exports from Finland."
"Just don’t dismiss Russia all the time; we deserve some respect."
"We’ll think back and remember this as our first fight."
"I have been noticing your close friendship with Corporal Egorova."
"This case is on Headquarters’ scope now, big-time. Everyone’s nose is going to be in it."
"You are repulsive. It is you who should leave Egorova alone. Don’t sully her with your disgusting manner."
"I am to meet the American again next week. I will remember your guidance concerning intimacy, and I will report progress."
"She’s young and nervous, a little Russian-nutso, she doesn’t have fucking supervisors as sensitive and helpful as you got."
"Running away is not exactly how I would describe it."
"What did he think about the changes in Russia? Was he glad to see the Soviet Union disappear?"
"She is not operational. She is not handling agents and is not involved in operational support to the rezidentura. She does not have a job to do."
"She is lonely. She goes straight from the embassy to her little apartment. She buys groceries for one. She walks alone on the weekends."
"Running an SVR officer, and eating breakfast in bed with cunty fingers."
"It’s all right. Just don’t dismiss Russia all the time; we deserve some respect."
"This will be horribly dangerous, potentially fatal."
"My advice, Domi, is to keep telling them you’re working very diligently, progress is slow, but you’re encouraged by developments."
"Do you know him well enough to do that? Will you be able to know?"
"She didn’t hear Matorin whisper, 'Bozhe? No, God could not be here tonight.'"
"She cried for Russia, but she knew she no longer believed."
"What surprised me was that I continued to let you work on me because—it dawned on me—I wanted you to continue to work on me."
"We're gonna protect her every way we know how."
"This was something she owned, hers alone."
"Your charming pursuit ensured only that we would spend more time together."
"Fuck the manual, what about our agent? They might have Dominika in a chair in the basement right now, and you’re eating omelets."
"Total radio silence, but that could mean they’re being extra careful."
"What we’re going to do is absolutely nothing," said Forsyth.
"You’d be like Romeo yelling for Juliet to come out on the balcony."
"No fucking way," said Forsyth. "You’d be like Romeo yelling for Juliet to come out on the balcony."
"Let me go to the airport," said Nate. "I won’t fuck around. I’ll just scope it out."
"This horseradish sauce is excellent," he said.
"She’s like a fucking Bond villain," said Nate.
"Fuck that," said Benford. "Collect what we have, we can call the FBI in now."
"Sending a message to them from Moscow would have been a frightful risk."
"How had such a decent, thinking man lasted this long in the Service? From where did he draw sustenance?"
"You escaped this time, they seemed to be saying to her. We’ll be watching."
"The more sugar he spooned out, the more vinegar would fill her mouth."
"Betraying him was difficult, but it was necessary. That was how it had to be."
"Could the general sense the woolpack of her hatred?"
"Vanya did not see another official car, less grand, heading toward the Senate building he had just left."
"Senator Boucher rolled down the passenger-side window and screamed, 'Fuck you,' at the other car as it squeezed by."
"If it suited her, Philips reported, Stephanie Boucher would not think twice about the morality of spying for Russia."
"Golov tried to imagine the meeting at which Boucher would be told that she would be required to continue spying for Moscow or be exposed."
"He watched her march into the hotel, her blond hair swaying with her stride."
"Who would have thought those two young Academy graduates would have such careers?"
"If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one."
"She was a greedy, uncontrolled sociopath."
"He ordered a brandy and began composing the cable to Egorov in his head."
"He collapsed in the backseat, contemplating the disasters that lurked in the career of ambition."
"The CIA officer called Nash who held the name of the traitor in his head."
"Apart from my direction, a senior officer is supervising the action in the field against the American."
"It’s because of people like you that we’re in third place!"
"Everything must be done to protect SWAN, but she was a security nightmare."
"The nights of not knowing, of not being totally certain."
"Only an asset as valuable as SWAN would make him take these risks."
"She continued to refuse all reasonable proposals to improve her security."
"The gravity of the moment now past, her eyes wandered around the room."
"A lifetime ago. Now he and Dominika walked down the broad gravel avenues dappled by sunlight filtering through the plane trees."
"Dominika began walking around the small lake on legs she could not feel."
"He had been worried, then relieved. Wonderful."
"She pushed him against the balcony railing and wordlessly they fumbled with his belt buckle."
"The CIA-directed mole was responsible for this costly loss."
"She was relieved that he had rented the room, using a forged US driver’s license and traveler’s checks, without a problem."
"I’m waiting for my attorney," she said, crossing her arms across her chest."