Steig Larsson Quotes

Normally seven minutes of another person's company was enough to give her a headache so she set things up to live as a recluse. She was perfectly content as long as people left her in peace. Unfortunately society was not very smart or understanding.

Impulsive actions led to trouble, and trouble could have unpleasant consequences.

I am a rapist and a sadistic pig,' if you get that tattoo removed I will carve it into your forehead, do you understand?

Friendship- my definition- is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don't have trust, the friendship will crumble.

Men who just call to say hello generally have ulterior motives.

Always retain the ability to walk away, without sentimentality, from a situation that felt unmanageable. That was a basic rule of survival. Don't lift a finger for a lost cause.

Everyone has secrets. It's just a matter of finding out what they are

But if you want to win, you're going to have to fight.

I know what kind of things I myself have been irritated by in detective stories. They are often about one or two persons, but they don't describe anything in the society outside.

I'm not going to apologize for the way I've led my life.

There were not so many physical threats that could not be countered with a decent hammer.

No, I don't believe in God, but I respect the fact that you do. Everyone has to have something to believe in.

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility.

To exact revenge for yourself or your friends is not only a right, it's an absolute duty.

Armageddon was yesterday, today we have a serious problem.

He's pulling the load of an ox and walking on eggshells.

In the evening he went to the cinema to see "The Lord of the Rings", which he had never before had time to see. He thought that orcs, unlike human beings, were simple and uncomplicated creatures.

Writing detective stories is about writing light literature, for entertainment. It isn't primarily a question of writing propaganda or classical literature.

In ordinary detective novels you never see the consequences of what happens in a story in the next book. That you do in mine.

I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.

From a purely physical standpoint she didn't have a chance, but her attitude was that death was better than capitulation.

What irritated her most was that they kept brushing off her arguments with patronizing smiles, making her feel like a teenager being quizzed on her homework. Without actually uttering a single inappropriate word, they displayed towards her an attitude that was so antediluvian it was almost comical. You shouldn't worry your pretty head over complex matters, little girl.

Being a homicide detective ca be the loneliest job in the world. The friends of the victim are upset and in despair, but sooner or later - after weeks or months - they go back to their everyday lives. For the closest family it takes longer, but for the most part, to some degree, they too get over the grieving and despair. Life has to go on; it does go on. But the unsolved murders keep gnawing away and in the end there's only one person left who thinks night and day about the victim: it's the office who is left with the investigation.

Crime stories are, as you know, one of the most popular forms of entertainment that exist. If you then try to have something to say... that I have, of course.

Harley-Davidson," she said. "Sweet.

As a girl, she was a legal prey, especially if she was dressed in a worn black leather jacket and had pierced eyebrows, tattoos, and zero social status.

What she had realised was that love was that moment when your heart was about to burst.

Isn't it fascinating that Nazis always manage to adopt the word freedom?

Her voice was as rough as sandpaper. As long as Blomkvist lived, he would never forget her face as she went on the attack. Her teeth were bared like a beast of prey. Her eyes were glittering, black as coal. She moved with the lightning speed of a tarantula and seemed totally focus on her prey as she swung the club again, striking Martin in the ribs.

Don't call me crazy.I'm a survivor. I do what I have to do to survive.

I abhor crime novels in which the main character can behave however he or she pleases, or do things that normal people do not do, without those actions having social consequences.

Then she made up her mind.It was absurd to pretend that he did not exist.It no longer hurt her to see him. She opened the door wide and let him into her life again.

He comes off a little like Practical Pig in The Three Little Pigs.

There's always someone willing to believe malicious rumours.

Salander was afraid of no-one and nothing. She realized that she lacked the necessary imagination - and that was evidence enough that there was something wrong with her brain.

Bullshit," Salander said again. "Gottfried isn't the only kid who was ever mistreated. That doesn't give him the right to murder women. He made that choice himself. And the same is true of Martin.

There was a whole army of people who seemed not to have anything better to do than to try to disrupt her life, and , if they were given the opportunity, to correct the way she had chosen to live it.

She's married. I'm more a friend and occasional lover.

Then I discovered that being related is no guarantee of love!

The media have the ability to attract the craziest people to call in perfectly absurd tips. Every newsroom in the world gets updates from UFOlogists, graphologists, scientologists, paranoiacs, and every sort of conspiracy theorist.

Wennerström was devoting himself to fraud that was so extensive it was no longer merely criminal–it was business.

She wondered what she thought of herself, and came to the realization that she felt mostly indifference towards her entire life.

Dear Government... I'm going to have a serious talk with you if I ever find anyone to talk to.

She saw him drenched with gasoline. She could actually feel the box of matches in her hand.

Those pointless equations, to which no solution exists, are called absurdities.

I’ve had many enemies over the years. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s never engage in a fight you’re sure to lose. On the other hand, never let anyone who has insulted you get away with it. Bide your time and strike back when you’re in a position of strength—even if you no longer need to strike back.

Don't exaggerate. Just give your natural bitchy selves full rein

He often wondered whether it were possible to be more possessed by desire for any other woman. The fact was that they functioned well together, and they had a connection as addictive as heroin.

their relationship was built on friendship, and in matters of friendship he was boundlessly loyal. It was a relationship that would survive the harshest test.