Quotes from David Baldacci

if you think too much about things, life sometimes just passes you by.

I will never forget that the passing down of memories is the strongest link in the gossamer bridge that binds up as people. I plan to devote my live to doing just that. And if you've taught me anything, it's that what we hold in our hearts is truly the fierest component of our humanity.

People like to talk about other people's misery; it makes them feel their own life is somehow better when it usually isn't.

It's often said that God works in mysterious ways. You have to really think about what He's trying to do. You can't be lazy and believe in God; He doesn't make it that easy. It takes spirit and faith and passion to really believe. Like most things worthwhile in life, you get back what you put into it. Only with faith, you get back a lot more.

It would actually constitute more than a miracle, he realised. It would take divine intervention plus luck, plus some unknown element of cosmic wizardry.

Libraries are the mainstays of democracy. The first thing dictators do when taking over a country is close all the libraries, because libraries are full of ideas and differences of opinion, all the things we say we want in a free and open society. So keep 'em, fund 'em, embrace and cherish 'em.

Lots of people don't talk about their military service." "I bet heroes do." "No. A pretty accurate rule of thumb is the people who did the most talk about it the least. The blowhards are the ones who did squat.

She glanced around at the tombstones. "You're surrounded by death here. Way too depressing. You really might want to think about getting another job." "You see death and sadness in these sunken patches of dirt, I see lives lived fully and the good deeds of past generations influencing the future ones.

Diamond Skinner had had no material possessions to his name and yet had been the happiest creature Lou had ever met. He and God would no doubt get along famously.

Alex said, Okay, I need to know something. Why the Camel Club? Stone answered, Because camels have great stamina. They never give up. That's what Oliver says, but the real reason is this, Reuben countered. In the 1920s there was another Camel Club. And at each meeting of that club they would all raise their glasses and take a vow to oppose Prohibition to the last drop of whiskey. Now, that's my kind of club.

love is like a good piece of wood: It just gets stronger and stronger as the years go by.

The one thing I learned is that the Russians are some of the most cunning people on earth. They never do anything without a very good reason. And just because they're no longer a superpower doesn't mean they don't want to be again. - Oliver Stone

At the end of a lifetime's worth of lights and nights, it seemed that family was really the only important thing there was. And yet how many of us truly appreciated that significance before our last breath left us?

Every time I walk with Alex I'm reminded both how lucky I am to have friends like him and also how unworthy I am to have friends like him. - Oliver Stone

I guess we're all lonely in some way. - Oliver Stone

He'd been given an assignment to write about teen beauty pageants [...], which he'd accepted because he enjoyed blood sports as much as the next person.

Miz Louisa, she believed in God with all her soul. But she don't subscribe to church much. She say the way some folk run they's churches, it take God right out cha heart.' - Eugene Randall

Politics is a dirty, ruthless business, Agent Robie. It makes the intelligence sector look relatively honorable by comparison.

I'm actin' pro se. Do you even know what that means?" "Yeah, it's Latin for 'dumbass.

Give an economist a result you want, and he'll find the numbers to justify it.

In some ways, it was far easier to be bad than good. When you're bad, you don't care what happens to anyone other than yourself. When you're trying to do god, you have to worry about everyone.

I figure if you think too much about things, life sometimes just passes you by.

What grade does she teach?" "Eighth. Where kids make the jump from nice, innocent kids to something a lot more complicated and emotional drama runs deep and hormones are out of control. Some days she comes home looking like she got hit by a bus." "In my book, all teachers are underpaid," said Decker.

More guns! No guns! Second Amendment! Guns kill! No, people kill!