The Destructors by Graham Greene

They worked with the seriousness of creators. -and destruction is after all a form of creation." (page 165)

"I'd like to see his face when we are through"..."You hate him a lot?" "There'd be no fun if I hated him." "All this hate and love. It's soft. It's hooey. There's only things, Blackie" (pg 166)

"Old Misery did not want to soil his house, which stood jagged and dark between bomb sites, saved so narrowly from destruction." (pg 167)