Quotes from Lee Child

Then the retributive machinery clanks into action and a flawless career spent garnering nothing but praise is trashed at the stroke of a pen, because it all has to be somebody's fault. Shit happens, but never in an official inquiry commission's final report.

IT WAS ANOTHER HOUR BEFORE ANYTHING SHOWED UP.

There was nothing in the fourth stack. Not even a possible. A hundred and sixty gone by. Neagley slid the final forty into place. Reacher watched Klopp. One card at a time, left thumb and index finger, held easy, not near and not far. Decent vision, with his glasses on. Genuine concentration. Not a bored blank stare or an impatient sneer. A calm focus. He was interrogating the photographs, one by one, point by point. Eyes, cheek bones, mouth. Yes or no. No

Three miles at a slow jog, not much better than a fast walk

on the right, in what looked like the most expensive neighborhood since money was invented. To

19. Personal (VIII Premio RBA de Novela Policiaca, 2014)

He went to prison," she said. "For beating up on you?" "In Texas?" she said. She laughed, just a yelp, like a short cry of pain. "Now I know you're new here.

The dawn came up entirely gold, with no hint of pink or purple. The sky was a rinsed blue, like an old shirt washed a thousand times.

Unobtrusive. In no one's way.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

20. Oblígame (Make Me)

She spoke slowly and breathlessly but she was smiling a happy smile. We stepped up and hugged her. She felt cold and frail and insubstantial. She felt like she weighed less than her aluminum walker.

Drivers hit their horns in anticipation of potential fractional delays.

Up close he had pitted skin on his face, unnaturally white, as if it had been treated with chemicals. The pallor made his eyes look dark. He was tall and thin. Maybe six feet two. Maybe a hundred sixty pounds. But only if he had a dollar's worth of pennies in his pocket. All skin and bone, and awkward as a stepladder.

21. Escuela nocturna (Night School)

That's me being magnanimous in victory. Normally I kill them, kill their families, and piss on their ancestors' graves.

He went up the metal stairs as quietly as he could, reducing the likely clang to a duller pulsing boom, by placing his feet very carefully. He found 214 and knocked on its door, firmly but discreetly, like he imagined a bellboy would, in a fine hotel.

Writing is show business for shy people.

He was with a woman in a thousand-dollar dress, and between them they acted out all kinds of dissatisfied body language, telegraphing it, semaphoring it, huffing and puffing, getting more and more exaggerated, until even the doorman noticed.

What's his name?" "Jimmy Rat." "For real?" "That's what he goes by." "Where would I find Mr. Rat?

Thomas Brant watched them go. He used his cell phone and called his boss, a man named Curtis Mauney.

Maybe it's a good thing if we don't see her. It would mean she doesn't need what Billy was selling. It would mean she's OK. Someone stole her ring. You said so yourself." "Best case." "Which sometimes happens." "Sometimes," Reacher said. "How often?" "More than never. Less than always.

You were trained to play a game, and you're not even good enough to do that. I was trained to kill people, and I was the best at it.

As a rule, the Bureau and the military don't get along too well." "Well, there's a big surprise. Who the hell do you guys get along with?