Brian Andrews > Quotes

“When ego trumps fidelity, the end result is inevitably betrayal—betrayal of country, of kith or kin, or of self.”
― Brian Andrews

“The best lie is one so exquisite and so tempting that both the deceiver and the listener yearn for it to be true.”
― Brian Andrews, Tier One

“knowing it was harder to be a passive-aggressive asshole when you had to do it to someone’s face.”
― Brian Andrews, Violence of Action

“People should be measured by the depth of their depravities. Virtue can be ignored, whereas our depravities leave an indelible mark upon everyone we touch.”
― Brian Andrews, Violence of Action

“With Petrov, everything is a zero-sum game—for Russia to rise, America must fall. Everything he’s done over the past decade has been an effort to sully and tarnish the reputation of Western democracies. Promoting Brexit, actively trying to break up the EU and NATO, turning Italy against France, stoking the fires of partisanship in the United States. And while we turn inward, trying to tame and manage the chaos Russia unleashed in our house, Petrov is systematically moving his chess pieces all over the board.”
― Brian Andrews, Red Specter

“Breaking a country is no different than breaking a man; all you have to do is take away hope. —Matias Zinovenko”
― Brian Andrews, Collateral

“The world was changing fast. But so long as he was in it, he’d make the hard choices, and do the hard things, to ensure that change was for the better.”
― Brian Andrews, Tom Clancy Act of Defiance

“Just like he would never invade Ukraine to annex Crimea, or use chemical agents in the UK to assassinate his critics in broad daylight, or conduct cyberwarfare campaigns to corrupt elections in the US,” the Lithuanian fired”
― Brian Andrews, Red Specter

“They have a new playbook, and they’re a bigger threat than ever,” he continued. “With Petrov, everything is a zero-sum game—for Russia to rise, America must fall. Everything he’s done over the past decade has been an effort to sully and tarnish the reputation of Western democracies. Promoting Brexit, actively trying to break up the EU and NATO, turning Italy against France, stoking the fires of partisanship in the United States.”
― Brian Andrews, Red Specter

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Jarvis chuckled. “I knew I could count on you to cheer me up.” He heard the flick of a cigarette lighter and pictured Harel lighting up a Noblesse in his glass-walled office for everyone to see in the explicitly smoke-free building. During the pause while Harel took his first drag, Jarvis added, “Anyway, that’s not the real reason I called.” “No?” the Israeli spymaster said, his voice ripe with sarcasm. “What other happy news do you have for me today, Kelso? Let me guess, someone stole your pickup truck, you lost your guitar, and your dog died? Oh, wait, that’s a country music song.”
― Brian Andrews, Red Specter

“He could breach and clear a room while picking out guitar chords in his head for a new country song, but this simple technique required all his attention.”
― Brian Andrews, Tier One

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break, it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. —Ernest Hemingway”
― Brian Andrews, Tier One

“He was aware of Chunk moving parallel to him off to his left, but he felt another presence accompanying him, too. Ghosts of his fallen teammates—his Tier One brothers lost in the original Operation Crusader—were advancing with him. On his right were Thiel, Pablo, Helo, and Gabe. On his left, Rousche, Gator, and Spaz. They were all here. And so were their wives, and their children. Everyone had come to help him, the entire Tier One extended family he’d lost. Normally, he chased his ghosts away, but not this time. Not today. He let his teammates and their families advance on the truck with him. This was their mission, too. Hell, they were the mission.”
― Brian Andrews, Crusader One

“You have enemies? Good. That means you have stood up for something, sometime in your life.” —Winston Churchill”
― Brian Andrews, Sons of Valor

“None goes his way alone: All that we send into the lives of others Comes back into our own. —Edwin Markham”
― Brian Andrews, War Shadows

“For the millionth time, he watched Mendez get blown to pieces on the video screen inside his mind. Just like Romeo. Just like fucking Romeo. The SEAL inside him knelt and unzipped the black bag. John Dempsey could not bring himself to do anything at the moment, so he let the SEAL do what needed to be done.”
― Brian Andrews, War Shadows

“And do you want to know why? Because you have pride. Not the overconfident, dangerous kind of pride. Not the conceited, we’re better than you kind of pride. No, I’m talking about the pride that comes from knowing you can count on each other—for support, for encouragement, for help, and most importantly, to do the right thing when the right thing is not the easy thing. Every day that we’re forward deployed, each and every one of us is putting our lives in our shipmates’ hands. That takes an incredible amount of trust. As your commanding officer, I want you to know that I do not, and will not, ever take that trust for granted.”
― Brian Andrews, Collateral

“You go to war with the army you have .”
― Brian Andrews, Sons of Valor

“Stalker, Blackbeard. Team in two elements. Half at the package on the cargo deck amidships. Half-split between port and starboard below the deck rails. Taking sniper fire from the bridge tower, and heavy contact from the aft cargo deck. Everyone aft of our lights is a shithead.” “Copy,”
― Brian Andrews, Tier One

“My parents are spies. That’s not something you can simply pretend away.” “Sure you can,” Dempsey said. “My parents were Democrats, but I found a way to manage.”
― Brian Andrews, War Shadows

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’—George Santayana,” she said,”
― Brian Andrews, Tom Clancy Act of Defiance

“And when the ritual was finished, the SEAL returned to the bag for something else to inventory or clean, and finding the bag empty the SEAL left, leaving John Dempsey alone—head down, palms flat on the workbench, eyes rimmed with tears. “You okay?” Grimes asked. He didn’t answer.”
― Brian Andrews, War Shadows

“Regret was an unproductive preoccupation for old men. Besides, he still had work to do. And”
― Brian Andrews, Tier One

“It was up to him to solve the unknown variables and balance the equation. Everything in life was an equation, and unbalanced equations set off chain reactions and became chaos. In a perverse sense, he considered himself a bookkeeper, maintaining the ledgers of madness that mankind perpetually unleashed on itself and the world at large. When the books were balanced, a fragile sort of peace persisted until the tireless agents of entropy began their work anew. What is peace but war held in check? What is life but entropy held at bay? He could not remember when the thought first occurred to him that good and evil could be—must be—understood in mathematical terms. Entropy is the true devil in the universe, not some cackling, fiery satyr with horns and a pitchfork. Entropy is the great destructor, the root of all disorder and chaos. What are the seven deadly sins, if not a failure to resist the decay of one’s moral fiber? What is war, if not an alliance with entropy to bring chaos and destruction to an ordered world? It took 182 years to build Notre Dame de Paris—182 years of effort, energy, and discipline to construct a magnificent cathedral from sand, wood, and stone unhewn. But with only one Mark 83 general-purpose bomb, this beautiful triumph over entropy could be reduced to rubble. Would the bombing of Notre Dame be a sin, even with no human casualties? Yes, because the very existence of such a structure in the universe is good.”
― Brian Andrews, Tier One

“Who is it?” “A Mr. Smith,” she said, her sarcastic tone telling him she suspected otherwise. “Put it through,” he said, and then before she closed the door, “Oh, and Abby?” “Sir?” “Luck or skill?” She gave him a deer-in-the-headlights look at the non sequitur. “If you could only have one, which would you choose—luck or skill?” “Skill,” she said without hesitation. He nodded at her. “Thank you; that will be all.” Skill. He chuckled to himself. When I was her age I would have answered the same. Now, I’m not so sure.”
― Brian Andrews, Crusader One

“Willpower is a child on a journey . . . enthusiastic and energetic at the onset but quick to tire and lose interest.”
― Brian Andrews, Dark Angel

“Their advances were like bees at a picnic—unwanted, bumptious, and minatory.”
― Brian Andrews, Collateral

“Life, in all its forms, is good. Because life, by definition, is the endeavor to persist against the forces of entropy, always nibbling and clawing to redistribute life’s energy and matter into the cold, homogeneous ether.”
― Brian Andrews, Tier One

“The crowd bowed their heads and listened to the chaplain recite a brief prayer—vague and generic enough to offend no one, which, of course, resulted in offending almost everyone.”
― Brian Andrews, Tier One

“The day will come when we’ll both need a friend on the other side. I believe our countries share something much more intimate than defense contracts and Hanukkah.”
― Brian Andrews, Crusader One