Quotes from Andrew Vachss

Fighting means you could lose. Bullying means you can't. A bully wants to beat somebody; he doesn't want to fight somebody.

A kid in an abusive home has far fewer rights than any POW. There is no Geneva Convention for kids.

I want to disabuse people of the idea that knowledge is power. Knowing how to get to Detroit is not the same thing as having the bus fare.

Life is a fight, but not everyone's a fighter. Otherwise, bullies would be an endangered species.

Life is a fight, but not everyone's a fighter. Otherwise, bullies would be an endangered species.

A kid in an abusive home has far fewer rights than any POW. There is no Geneva Convention for kids.

I believe my publisher has shown a great deal of faith in me over a lot of years but I'm not prepared to be so arrogant to say that the long-term literary value of my work would compensate them for a financial failure.

Perfection cannot be achieved by men," he told me. "Our highest calling is the pursuit of perfection. My haiku will be finished when I die, but it will never be perfect.

I] settled down with the Daily News and the Post , glad to be back with journalism where all murders are "brutal," all prosecutors are "tough," and all blondes are "attractive." And any lawyer who cooperates with the reporter is "high-powered.

Lawyers for abused kids can challenge bad agency decisions because they can always bring a lawsuit. A volunteer cannot.#barahona

You want proof evolution is for real, don't waste your time with fossils; just check out the New York City rat. They started out as immigrants, stowaways in some ship's cargo hold. Only the survivors got to breed, and they've been improving with every new litter. Smarter, faster, stronger. Getting ready to rule. Manhattan wouldn't be the first island they took over.

The Bowery station on the J line is what happens to a neighborhood once politicians realize the people who live there don't vote.

He had the radio turned to some Spanish-language station at a volume that reminded me of the holding tank at Riker's Island - and for an added touch of authenticity he screamed 'Maricon!' and waved his fist out the open window at another driver who had the audacity to attempt to share the road with us.

The biggest threat to children is always inside their houses. The predator with the ski-mask who grabs the kid out of a van, while a real thing, is a tiny percentage of those who prey upon children. Most victimization of children is within the Circle of Trust — not necessarily a parent, but somebody who was let into that circle, who can be a counselor, or a coach, or someone at a day-care center. The biggest danger to children is that they're perceived as property, not human beings.

Pervasive abuse and neglect of children is a greater danger to our species than cocaine and Communism combined.

A couple of buffoons were running for some state-senate seat just vacated by the incumbent's prison term. One accused the other of being "against the Internet" - a knockout punch in a world where whole hordes of humans think better sex is a faster modem.

Biology does not make a man a father--nor a woman a mother. We are what we do.

the ferret, hunting, eyes on the ground, never hears footsteps of the hawk

take some pleasure from telling him no. My guess was that she worked for the landlord, not

The maltreated child cries 'I hurt.' Unheard or unheeded, that cry becomes prophecy.

I have learned that a man who counts himself a shepherd is not worthy to be a member of a flock.

Going to prison is pretty common. Coming out a better person than when you went in, that's never been done.

There isn't a liquor store in the world that lets you buy on credit. So, if a man walks into a liquor store after dark, it's either because he's got money … or because he doesn't.

Hard" isn't the same as "mean".