How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Civilisation, after all, is defined by what we forbid, more than what we permit." (1.2.162)
Didier is just chock full of one-liners, and this one actually had us thinking for a while. So it's not so interesting that we eat animal meat, but rather that we don't eat human meat, according to him. What does our prohibition of cannibalism tell us about civilization, then? Maybe that it's all about barely keeping it together, keeping us from annihilating the human race.
Quote #5
The first rule of black business everywhere is: never let anyone know what you're thinking. Didier's corollary to the rule was: always know what the other thinks of you. (1.2.196)
"Black business," as Lin calls it, is all illegal trade, the black market. It's not so much that there are clear victims or that it's a violent crime. It's more buying and selling things without paying the taxes or going through all the regulatory paperwork. It can also, of course, refer to trade in illegal items like drugs or arms.
Quote #6
There's a special sleight of hand that's peculiar to policemen: the conjuring trick that palms and conceals banknotes with a skill that experienced shell-game swindlers envy. (1.3.132)
Lin compares the cops to magicians with phrases like "sleight of hand" and "conjuring trick." They can make money disappear with an abracadabra. This ability, we have to assume, is not part of standard police academy training. But the fact that they can accept a bribe so easily and nonchalantly means that they are living in a corrupt system.