Quotes About Authority

Some officers of his acquaintance had barked and yelled and shouted. He had always found it more effective to speak low and quiet, enunciating clearly and precisely as if to an idiot child, bearing down with an icy stare. That way he had found the implied menace to be unmistakable.

OK," Reacher said. "It wasn't a colonel. It was a one-star general.

I don't really care about the little guy. I just hate the big guy. I hate big smug people who think they can get away with things.

Law and order are everywhere the law and order which protect the established hierarchy.

Reacher hadn't seen the guy before. Big hands, broad shoulders, a seamed face, clothes all covered with dirt. Chosen in some way, presumably, to be the point man. To be the spokesperson. The pick of the local litter, no doubt, according to popular acclaim.

For a military cop, walking into a bar is like a batter stepping to the plate.

Don't let ego get in the way of a good decision." "You just trashed every general in our nation's history.

there with the unfamiliar insignia of their rank.

Maybe he thinks you're an agent of deep state oppression. We're dealing with an old guy with a ponytail here.

Ryantown ain't yours.

The fantastic cascade of bullshit coming down from senior officers with nothing better to do.

Cops are the same the world over. Once they commit to a position in public they never back down. Trying to make them is a waste of time. Reacher knew that from personal experience. But still, there are standards to uphold.

She pressed buttons and waited for answering beeps, and then she said, "I want the personnel jacket for U.S. Army Private First Class Wiley, first name unknown, currently four months absent without leave from an air defense unit in Germany. To me in Hamburg, seriously fast." Then she clicked off. The National Security Council. The keys to the kingdom. There was a knock at the door. For

The way to take out a gang is to hit the leader first.

Delegation. Rule one in the modern environment. Especially against a guy so big.

He was the Praetorian Guard, and they were the great gentlemen.

Then the lights seemed to dim as Chief of Detectives Griezman walked up to their table. Six-six and three hundred pounds. Billowing gray suit the size of a pup tent. The floor creaked. Griezman said, "I am very sorry to interrupt." Reacher

Right there. Stan Reacher, nem con. Which was short for the Latin nemine contradicente, which meant no one spoke against, which meant no one else wanted the job.

But you need to know whose number it is, right?" I said. "You know some way of doing that without a warrant?" he asked. "Maybe," I said. "Why don't you just call it up and see who answers?

Twelve-gauge lead shot settles most disputes at the first time of asking.

You can still do that here? Deputize people?

But this guy was five years too old for that. And behind his greeting he had a proprietorial air. He was saying welcome, for sure, but to my house. Like he owned the place.

He pushed off the wall and parted the crowd, chest out, as straight and slow as a funeral march. No one blocked him. He made it to the street door. In front of it was a tight knot of six men. In their thirties, probably, and none of them slender. But desk workers. Their suits were shiny on the ass and the elbow. He could read their body language. They were set to let him pass, and then they would about-turn fast and spill out behind him, on the damp and shiny cobblestones. Reacher

Frenchman Honoré de Balzac wrong when he wrote, 'Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.