The General's Daughter Quotes
"No man wants to die. But many men can be motivated to risk their lives in defense of their countries, their families, and even an abstraction, or a philosophy. Democracy, religion, racial pride, individual honor, unit and interpersonal loyalty, the promise of plunder, and, yes, women... rape. These are among the historical motivators for frontline troops."
"The ultimate objective of psychological operations is to chip away at these motivators, but not to tackle them head-on, as they are often too strong and too ingrained to be changed in any significant way through propaganda or psy-ops."
"Sometimes it’s a small thing like a record album collection, or paintings of cats on the walls, or dirty underwear on the floor. Sometimes it’s the books on the shelves or the lack of them, a photo album, or, eureka, a diary."
"The hearts of evil men remain the same; the compulsion to stick it in the most available vagina supersedes Army regulations."
"Fear and panic. Fear of death, fear of grotesque wounds, fear of fear. Panic—that least understood of all psychological states of mind. Panic—a deep abiding, free-floating anxiety, often without any reason or logical basis."
"Never rely on a weapon you just found and never tested. Says so in the manual. Just call out, then cover me."
"Create phantom battalions in the minds of the enemy."
"Map and watch represent a subconscious desire to have sex, but on her terms, timewise and locationwise."
"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster."
"And when you look long into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you."
"It doesn’t matter if I go to class or not, it doesn’t matter what I do here. They’re going to graduate me anyway."
"The world would actually be a better place if we all had a fantasy room in which to act out."
"The end product, national defense, is somewhat of an abstract, like peace of mind, and therefore priceless."
"If you’ve touched anything or come in contact with anything, I will need prints from you, and fibers from your clothing."
"Please keep in mind that you are on a military reservation and that I have the sole responsibility for this case."
"I’ll consider that after the CID lab is finished with it."
"We don’t need you here making it worse."
"This post is like a small town, and the deceased’s circle of friends, family, and acquaintances includes the top echelons of this community."
"Ann had a favorite expression, a sort of personal motto that she got from… some philosopher… Nietzsche. The expression was, ‘What does not destroy us, makes us stronger.’"
"I liked her, but we weren’t so close that I took it very badly. I’m more upset professionally."
"The clue to her killer may be in that room."
"We were at the O Club. She never told me what happened, and I didn’t ask."
"But you never know. I’m just identifying motives."
"You can’t be stiff and cold, as if it never happened, yet you can’t be too familiar because it’s not happening anymore."
"Sometimes you have to fight for what you want. If you want it."
"We don’t like our personnel being arrested by outside people without our knowing about it."
"What does not destroy us, makes us stronger. Now she’s destroyed."
"I’m trying to hang on to my little warrant officer bar."
"You think you’re funny, but you’re not."
"I’d like to see her killer found because I’m curious about who it may be."
"We’re all criminally insane, but most of us have good control mechanisms, internal and external. Remove the controls and you have a killer."
"None of this was random, and everything was planned."
"The area search turned up nothing, and neither did the dogs, so the clothes will be in a plastic, odorproof bag."
"It’s like we’ve arrived in a small town and everybody knows everybody’s dirty secrets."
"I think ten years is the limit. I’ve had almost twenty. This is my last case."
"The goal was to weaken their self-confidence, lower their self-esteem, and demoralize them."
"I’m not saying she blackmailed anyone. She never did, but there was an element of coercion sometimes."
"Sex. Ninety percent of the human sex drive comes from the mind, and when the mind is wrong, the sex is wrong."
"If she had been the general’s son, for instance, and had fought in the Gulf, Panama, or Grenada, she would have been idolized."
"The reality, however, is that it was a female, she was raped, and it was General Campbell’s daughter."
"There is equal justice for all, but some people get more of it."
"I usually ask when the suspect and I are both ready for that kind of conversation."
"She initiated all the attention, and ended it when it pleased her."
"But we know there is a secret, and we know that the stuff about imagined injustices and irrational anger toward her father is not cutting it."
"The will and the burial instructions were updated a week before Captain Campbell left for the Gulf, which would not be unusual."
"A rising cock has no conscience, Cynthia."
"Explain the photos I found in her basement."
"You never get your meat where you get your bread."
"Whatever hurts you makes me stronger, what does not destroy me makes me stronger."
"I suppose I didn’t want to embarrass her."
"Don't mess with me, son. There ain’t nothin’ in that trailer."
"I have this post by its collective balls."
"In any case, by next month you’ll be looking for a job in a small firm, or you’ll be the attorney-in-resident at Leavenworth."
"I thought about killing her once or twice."
"I am my own knight, I am my own dragon, and I live in my own castle. Everyone else are props and bit players."
"The thought of suicide is a great consolation, and it's gotten people through many a bad night."
"If a person has performed honorably for twenty years—as Colonel Moore has—then he should be treated with honor and respect."
"An officer’s rights and privileges carry a heavy responsibility, and any breach of duty and discipline should carry a proportionately heavy punitive burden."
"In almost all cases, the murderer thinks he or she was justified. Civilian juries are starting to buy it, too."
"We’re all a heartbeat away from tragedy."
"The average person might feel revulsion against a killer, but a killer can also command fear and respect, especially if there’s a sense that the killer was doing something not quite all bad."
"The only cure for shame and humiliation is revenge."
"You form a callus around your heart, I think, but it’s only as thick as you want it to be, and sometimes a particularly vicious crime cuts right through the callus, and you’re wounded again."
"She’s not the type. But she’s at a disadvantage. He says something, she says something."
"He’s a horny, lovesick jerk. He wants to talk. Really he wants to have sex with her, one way or the other."
"Especially in modern relationships, you should never pull a gun on your date. Especially if she’s armed, too."
"But she knows that her father will eventually realize the same thing, and will have to come back in order to avoid that disgraceful occurrence."
"Women control seventy percent of the wealth in this country, and a hundred percent of the pussy."
"You can’t order me to do something that I think is tactically incorrect and may jeopardize the case for the FBI."
"I mean, there was no music here, no candles, no champagne. The only thing here was the ghost of Ann Campbell."
"We serve to the best of our ability, and if we become incapable of serving, or become redundant, then we leave."
"Why do some men think they have to be knights in shining armor? I don’t need a knight. I am my own knight, I am my own dragon, and I live in my own castle."