It occured to Starling how much Roden would benefit from an elbow smash in the hinge of his jaw.

… It is not healing to see your childhood home, but it helps you measure whether you are broken, and how and why, assuming you want to know.

Did you ever think, Clarice, why the Philistines don't understand you? It's because you are the answer to Samson's riddle. You are the honey in the lion.

It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told.

A census taker tried to quantify me once. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a big Amarone. Go back to school, little Starling.

Funerals often make us want sex-it's one in the eye for death.

Fear comes with imagination, it’s a penalty, it’s the price of imagination.