Andrew Vachss > Quotes

“Life is a fight, but not everyone’s a fighter. Otherwise, bullies would be an endangered species.”
― Andrew Vachss, Terminal

“Cats are the lap-dancers of the animal world. Soon as you stop shelling out, they move on, find another lap. They're furry little sociopaths. Pretty and slick -- in love with themselves. When's the last time you saw a seeing-eye cat?”
― Andrew Vachss, Safe House

“Stealing to eat ain’t criminal—stealing to be rich is.”
― Andrew Vachss, A Bomb Built in Hell

“It's the family you choose that counts.”
― Andrew Vachss

“People who don't have much get ugly about giving up the little they have left.”
― Andrew Vachss

“Be he the first to stand or the last, a man must stand," the father had told his adoring son. "And if there is only one man, then that man must stand alone." ~Thomas to Bruce Wayne”
― Andrew Vachss, Batman: The Ultimate Evil

“Fear is an enemy that can be killed only at close range. The closest range of all is intimacy. The deeper the fear is embedded in one’s spirit, the more vulnerable it is.”
― Andrew Vachss, Haiku

“A dog is like a person—he needs a job and a family to be what he’s meant to be.”
― Andrew Vachss

“In my world, people are always plotting. You
have no idea of all the crimes people in business commit every
day. Like it was nothing. Or there’s a set of special rules for them.
Remember when Bush made that whole speech about ‘corporate
ethics’ last year? What a fraud. You think stuff like Enron or
WorldCom is an aberration? It’s only the tip. Business is a religion.
Probably the only one practiced all over the world.”
― Andrew Vachss, Down Here

“Camouflage doesn't help when the other guy is willing to defoliate the whole jungle.”
― Andrew Vachss, False Allegations

“When you hunt predators, the best camouflage is weakness.”
― Andrew Vachss, Sacrifice

“Family' is not just a biological word, it's an an operative one.”
― Andrew Vachss

“If a train is coming at you, closing your eyes won't save you ... but if you look right at it, you at least have a chance to jump.”
― Andrew Vachss, The Weight

“He said when the Lord made people He made them all the same for starters. But life marks people. If you know the way, you can read them like maps.”
― Andrew Vachss, Blue Belle

“The worst place to be is in the middle. When elephants fight, the grass
gets trampled.”
― Andrew Vachss, Footsteps of the Hawk

“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.”
― Andrew Vachss

“Roots are nice, but a tree can’t run.”
― Andrew Vachss, Flood

“The more bullets flying, the less accurate each individual slug has to be.”
― Andrew Vachss

“From the very second that two people sat together around a fire in the forest, there was another human out there who felt better in the dark.”
― Andrew Vachss, Flood

“Most investigators don't even know what the word means. You stop the cops from using informants and the only crimes they'd ever solve would be those by deranged postal workers who come to work once too often.”
― Andrew Vachss, False Allegations

“A free press doesn't mean it's not a tame press.”
― andrew vachss

“I wanted to ask her what the fuck was wrong but I had a date with a pack of skittish whores.”
― Andrew Vachss, Pain Management

“The Humane Society of America thinks Michael Vick should have a dog. I think whoever's in charge there should have a lobotomy.”
― Andrew Vachss

“That’s Manhattan today—all the money goes up top, while the infrastructure wastes away from neglect. The famous skyline is a cheap trick now, a sleight-of-hand to draw your eye from the truth, as illusory as a bodybuilder with osteoporosis.”
― Andrew Vachss, Mask Market

“The first thing any charlatan needs is nomenclature. A special language. Trappings. That's the true genesis of psychobabble terms such as 'disclosure' and 'in denial.' Every good con man needs plausibility. . .”
― Andrew Vachss, Footsteps of the Hawk

“The goal of a true family is not that their children follow in their footsteps, but that their children surpass them in all ways.”
― Andrew Vachss

“Even if sheep could talk, they'd never ask questions.”
― Andrew Vachss, Footsteps of the Hawk

“People won’t let you live the way you want to, but if you’re strong enough or quick enough, at least you don’t have to live the way they want you to.”
― Andrew Vachss, Flood / Strega / Blue Belle

“Some people have a personality disorder where they just have to go against the herd, right or wrong. They're so committed to their own lone-wolf image that...Well, put it this way: if the others suddenly came over to their side, they'd switch sides.”
― Andrew Vachss

“It isn’t much use writing slogans on a wall if you plan to total the building.”
― Andrew Vachss, A Bomb Built in Hell