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The Expendable Man

Book by Dorothy B. Hughes · 33 quotes · Page 107, Page 109, Page 119

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All Page 107 Page 109 Page 119 Page 154 Page 62 Smiles Arizona Cactus Desert Page 113 Page 130 Page 169 Page 17 Page 171 Page 174 Page 184 Page 186 Page 196 Page 202 Page 223

The Expendable Man Quotes

“Her smile was small but reassuring. “I’m not thinking of myself as a pillar. It’s just—I couldn’t stand the waiting anywhere else.”

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“This time Skye’s smile for her was as if they’d known each other for years.”

Smiles Page 130

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“He'd always had a quickening of the heart when he crossed into Arizona and beheld the cactus country. This was as the desert should be, this was the desert of the picture books, with the land unrolled to the farthest distant horizon hills, with saguaro standing sentinel in their strange chessboard pattern, towering supinely above the fans of ocotillo and brushy mesquite.”

Desert Arizona Cactus Southwestern

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“In the interval of silence, each with his own thoughts, the insistence of sound was audible. She said, “I believe that’s my phone.”

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“She didn’t say anything. She opened the door of the car and backed out, holding the handbag and traveling case against her. She pushed the door shut with her foot. She looked in at him and again said, “Thanks,” as if she hated to say it.”

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“She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, he who came from a family of beauties. Ellen carried herself like a model, tall and slender and prideful. Small nose, enormous black eyes slightly tilted, skin like golden sand. Smooth dark hair not worn in one of the silly modern French fashions but with a bang across her forehead, and brushed down to a slight curve just above her shoulders.”

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“Emerging at seven-thirty, the warmth of the day past was pleasant on his face. He was inordinately hungry.”

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“The marshal had the decency to look abashed, but Ringle said, “I don’t mind where a tip comes from. As long as it proves out.”

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“No further messages had been insinuated under his door. He was asleep when his head touched the pillow.”

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“Ellen’s voice on the telephone was as bright as the slant of the sun dividing the drapes on the lanai windows. “I let you sleep as long as I could.” His watch hands read quarter to ten. She was speaking with an eager carelessness, girl to boy, in case anyone was listening. “Do you want to come out and get me? I’m moving to The Palms.”

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“Innocently involved? No, he couldn’t call it innocent. Rather, it was mindless. It was neither; it was a paper chain of circumstance, cut from sympathy and too much imagination.”

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“Most travelers, like most men, were intrinsically decent. The end result for Iris would have been the same, cruelly the same. But he needn’t have been involved. He was the wrong man to have played Samaritan, and he’d known it, known it there on the road and in every irreversible moment since.”

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“Now that he would be leaving, she went directly to what must have been weighting her thoughts throughout the hour. “You were with the police this morning.”

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“He hadn’t thought before in terms of actual physical violence, only of facing up to the man, demanding the truth. He wasn’t a fighter; he’d never had to be and never wanted to be. As a student doctor he had seen the results of the cruelty of man when reduced to animal viciousness. In particular the cruelty unleashed in today’s juveniles, in the gang warfares of the city.”

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“It was surprising what old experiences remembered could do to a presumedly educated, civilized man.”

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“I intend to be governor of this state. My target is four years from now.” He spoke coolly, agreeably, but there was an underlying hint of power in him that hadn’t surfaced before.”

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“For an instant, he took his eyes off the road. She was smiling. Not at him, but at the certainty of the coming-true of the plans they both were making.”

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“It could have been a performance, the tragedian now. But at least a part of it was real. And it was real later when the deputy started to take him away.”

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“If it had been possible, he would have gone alone, silently as shadow. But when he glanced across the room, Ellen’s questioning eyes were on him, waiting for his signal.”

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“The intuitive knowledge of each other which had been evident in the first meeting of Ellen and Skye seemed heightened as they worked together. It didn’t come from the words they spoke, the meaningless light phrases, it simply was there. It set Hugh silent, apart. If they noticed they would believe it was the weight of tonight’s near thing. Not the jealousy which he grudgingly admitted. Not the self-pity he was fighting with every atom of his pride.”

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“His pulses were beating too fast, not in fear but in desperate hope.”

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“He had awakened cupidity. Even in the poor light, he could see the flicker of it over the shadowed face.”

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“It was just as well he hadn’t had a chance to be alone with her, he might have fallen. A young doctor, not yet in practice, had nothing to offer an Ellen Hamilton. Moreover, he had no intention of getting involved with any girl until he had paid back the family for their backing him all these years, and was earning enough to support a wife on a decent economic level.”

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“Again she broke into galloping words, punctuated with Mahm Gittys, ending by raising her voice, “Pepita! Pepita!” with an epilogue which seemed to wash her hands of the whole subject.”

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“It was factual and he accepted it.”

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“In the silence, Ringle grunted, “Who needs it?” but the two men facing each other didn’t hear him. The two were friends. But at this moment there was nothing between them but the contest of their wills shaped by their legal knowledge.”

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“This was his special part of the countryside, the prime of desert and far mountain landscape. The sun was lifting higher and hotter; it was a good thing he’d made an early start.”

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“I’m Marshal Hackaberry,” the officer said. He might have been thirty years or fifty; he had the deceptive weathered face of Western outdoor men. His eyes were horizon-blue, his hair sandy. There was an Arizona twang in his voice.”

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“It was a lie and they all knew it was a lie, but there was no rancor among them. This clerk couldn’t cancel the system; her genuine friendliness was her contribution toward eroding it. Five years ago she wouldn’t have had a vacant unit; ten years ago she would have said, “We don’t take N******,” if any had had the courage or spunk to inquire.”

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“He wondered if the Judge had mentioned that Hugh was a N*****, or if when you reached Judge Hamilton’s position such subtleties wouldn’t occur to you. And he wondered if Ellen had this latent fear when meeting someone new. With her background, it wouldn’t seem to be something she had to face, yet how could she escape it entirely? The quickening in the eyes, the certain intonation of the voice, the unspoken awareness: you are black. Even if you were brown or beige or lightly sun-tanned.”

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“She reached the living room as he entered. She was buttoning a beach coat over her swim suit. As always she gave him the quick searching glance, to read in his face if things were good or ill.”

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“She wasn’t a girl who fussed. She retrieved an embroidered purse from somewhere and they left unnoticed among other departing guests.”

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“For a moment they stood there looking at each other, then as if she sensed he held private plans, she lifted herself taller and touched his cheek with her lips. “Don’t be brave,” she said. “You’re in enough trouble.”

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