Kelley Armstrong Quotes

If I get ‘em by the short and curlies, the hearts and minds will follow.

We know that there are programs coming up that he wants, and wants badly. And the only way that we will get back the programs is to hold them for ransom.

I'm really not good blackmail material.

When you play blackmail, you are asking for more blackmail.

Politics is the art of putting people under obligation to you.

Fear works. It is more effective than any drug, tactic, or torture device.

If they [terrorists] see a Western hostage can be sold for a couple of million dollars, they may conclude that by holding on to an American, they'll get some money out of us.

Hell no! Not one thing! You don't reward a kidnapper.

We cannot permit hostage taking to shape the foreign policy of this country.

If I were to be taken hostage, I would not plead for release nor would I want my government to be blackmailed. I think certain government officials, industrialists and celebrated persons should make it clear they are prepared to be sacrificed if taken hostage. If that were done, what gain would there be for terrorists in taking hostages?

People don’t willingly cooperate [with a prosecutor] unless you’ve got something to hold over their heads.

We don’t negotiate for hostages’ release.

You use whatever lever you have.

If you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.

I was forbidden to talk to my fellow hostages.

Get me inside any boardroom and I'll get any decision I want.

A habit leads a man so gently in the beginning that he does not perceive he is led - with what silken threads and down what pleasant avenues it leads him! By and by, the soft silk threads become iron chains, and the pleasant avenues Avernus!

It's their belief, their own will, that holds people in Scientology, even oftentimes when they have been abused.

I think if you're going to abuse someone, you really have to convince them of two things. First, you have to normalise what you're doing, convince them that it's not that bad. And the second thing is to convince them that they deserve it in some way.

We live in a world where there's a culture of fear, where some leaders have a strong pull on people, which is exactly what Pennywise does.

She stared up at me, and there was something in her eyes, something that said we finally had an understanding. She was afraid of me, and sometimes that’s the best you can do with people. I’d tried kindness. I’d tried friendship. I’d tried respect. But when all else fails, fear will do the job.

Killing you is not the worst thing they can do to you," I say. "Controlling you is.

If you tell me, I will leave you alone," I said. "And if you don't tell me, I am going to grab the nearest ghostwritten James Patterson romance novel and I am going to follow you through this store reading it out loud until you relent. Would you prefer me to read from Daphne's Three Tender Months with Harold or Cindy and John's House of Everlasting Love? I guarantee, your sanity and your indie street cred won't last a chapter. And they are very, very short chapters." Now I could see the fright beneath the defiance.

She make me beg for it until she give it up

Blackmail is more effective than bribery.