Quotes from Donald Hamilton

I'm not responsible for what other people think, only for what I am.

When you act like a nice guy, everyone examines your motives with a microscope. When you act like a conscienceless louse, they generally take you at face value.

There's nothing more frightening to me than a character who thinks he knows what a real American is – mainly because it generally turns out he's convinced it's somebody like him. It seems an odd notion to me. I certainly don't want to live in a country populated with people just like me, God forbid! Anyway, I figure there's room for a little variety in a nation as big as ours.

She added, "Washington is the city of the soft heads and the chicken hearts.

Certainly, if the world ever is saved, it'll be by somebody young enough not to know that it can't be done.

Always call them 'Sir.' They aren't any harder to kill later!

I learned that Nordic beer comes in three grades of potency. The lowest grade is apparently a kind of beer-flavored soft drink that can safely be fed to babies; the highest is, to hear them tell it, loaded with atom juice. It sounded worth investigating, but when I asked for it I was regretfully informed that the place couldn't supply it, since their license didn't extend to such violent stuff. I had to settle for Grade Two, known as ordinary pilsener.

The girl whispered, "I'm dying, aren't I?" "I should hope so," I said. "If not, we'll have to send my associate back to marksmanship school.

My job is defending the people and to hell with the laws. Your job is defending the laws and to hell with the people.

Chapman's Piloting, Seamanship, and Small Boat Handling

Because our agriculture is so spread out, that makes it vulnerable. Our food gets transported a number of times and very widely.