Quotes from Lee Child

suffer. If you don't do what we

They wondered why does God forsake some of his children while he so richly blesses others, and not always the most deserving ones at that.

first Reacher didn't know what he was looking at.

He was no longer young, and not yet old. Mentally and physically he was up there on a broad plateau of common sense and maturity and peak capability. He was not behind schedule. He was not speeding. He was not drunk. He

But we were hungry. And we had things to do. Roscoe put on the clothes she'd brought from her place in the morning. Jeans, shirt, jacket. Looked wonderful. Very feminine, but very tough. She had a lot of spirit.

While coolness in disaster is the supreme proof of a commander's courage, energy in pursuit is the surest test of his strength of will. Wavell.

Stands for, aren't really Marines yet." "Like Marine stands for muscles are requested, intelligence not expected.

armor-piercing item just

Generally I avoid having things to do. Clearly a reaction against literal regimentation earlier in my life. The result is I have no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there.

Chang said, "The French are crazy." Reacher said, "My mother was French." "Was she crazy?" "Pretty much.

about someone wearing body armor. It's

from The Art of War by Sun-tzu: To fail to take the battle to the enemy when your back is to the wall is to perish.

I wanted miles to travel and absolutely no idea where I was going.

He glanced out the roll-up door. Bright morning sunshine. The gate, open. The street, empty. Maybe thirty

Reacher saw a vertical array of green message bubbles. Texts. Unreadable foreign words, but mostly regular letters, the same as English. Some were doubled up. Some had strange accents above or below. Umlauts and cedillas.

Wiley was waking up, in his bedroom, the same place he had woken up for the last three months. In his rented apartment on the waterfront. The new development. A village within the city. But not really. It was actually a giant dormitory, full of incurious people who rushed in and out in the dark, and slept the few hours between. He had never seen his neighbors, and as far as he knew they had never seen him. Perfect. He

SAS was MP code for "stupid asshole sometimes

comfortable, in its accustomed

It was purely utilitarian.

Dawn on New Year's Day is as close as any inhabited place gets to absolute stillness.

The only fights you truly win are the ones you don't have.

Los generales son mortales —dije—. Como todos.

No one says always or never. Everyone says sometimes.

Dutiful mapmakers drew lines and wrote India or Pakistan or Afghanistan, and the Pashtun smiled politely and went about their eternal business.