Michael > Michael's Quotes

“I realized fear one morning, with the blare of the fox hunter's sound. When they're all chasin' the poor bloody fox, 'tis safer to be dressed like the hound. ”
― Jack Higgins

“Don't get it right - get it WRITTEN!”
― Lee Child

“Don't be sad that roses have thorns.
Be glad that thorns have Roses.


Today's the day I worried about yesterday and it didn't happen.”
― Lee Child

“Evaluate. Long experience had taught me to evaluate and assess. When the unexpected gets dumped on you, don’t waste time. Don’t figure out how or why it happened. Don’t recriminate. Don’t figure out whose fault it is. Don’t work out how to avoid the same mistake next time. All of that you do later. If you survive.”
― Lee Child, Killing Floor

“Reacher said, "So here's the thing Brett. Either you take your hand off my chest, or I'll take it off your wrist.”
― Lee Child, Worth Dying For

“The third guy was different. He was what you got when you ate squirrels for four generations. Smarter than a rat and tougher than a goat, and jumpier than either one.”
― Lee Child, The Affair

“Never forgive, never forget. Do it once and do it right. You reap what you sow. Plans go to hell as soon as the first shot is fired. Protect and serve. Never off duty.”
― Lee Child, 61 Hours

“I don't care about the little guy. I just hate the big guy. I hate big smug people who think they can get away with things.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“Hope for the best, plan for the worst.”
― Lee Child

“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“No, I'm a man with a rule. People leave me alone, I leave them alone. If they don't, I don't.”
― Lee Child, Nothing to Lose

“An unprovoked head butt is like bringing a sawed-off shotgun to a knife fight.”
― Lee Child

“I'm not afraid of death. Death's afraid of me.”
― Lee Child, 61 Hours

“The first day of the rest of my life.”
― Lee Child, The Affair

“A person less fortunate than yourself deserves the best you can give. Because of duty, and honor, and service. You understand those words? You should do your job right, and you should do it well, simply because you can, without looking for notice or reward.”
― Lee Child, Nothing to Lose

“They found out about him in July and stayed angry all through August. They tried to kill him in September. It was way too soon. They weren't ready. The attempt was a failure. It could have been a disaster, but it was actually a miracle. Because nobody noticed.”
― Lee Child, Without Fail

“I'm a rich man. To have everything you need is the definition of affluence.”
― Lee Child, Gone Tomorrow

“I'm twenty-nine, yes really, I'm from Aspen, Colorado, I'm six feet one, yes really, I've been at Quantico two years, yes I date guys, no I dress like this just because I like it, no I'm not married, no I don't currently have a boyfriend, and no I don't want to have dinner with you tonight.”
― Lee Child, Running Blind

“Anecdotally his fitness reports rated him well above average in the classroom, excellent in the field, fluently bilingual in English and French, passable in Spanish, outstanding on all man-portable weaponry, and beyond outstanding at hand-to-hand combat. Susan knew what that last rating meant. Like having a running chainsaw thrown at you”
― Lee Child, 61 Hours

“Her breasts rested on the edge of the table.”
― Lee Child, Killing Floor

“There are a lot of them, all around the wsorld, all built a lifetime ago, during the long and spectacular blaze of American military power and self-confidence, when there was nothing we couldn't or wouldn't do. I was a product of that era, but not a part of it. I was nostalgic for something I had never experienced.”
― Lee Child, The Affair

“I'm not a vagrant. I'm a hobo. Big difference.”
― Lee Child, Killing Floor

“I went to college. West Point is technically a college.”
― Lee Child, One Shot

“The officers shook hands, and the sniper gave a millimetric nod, which Reacher returned, equally briefly, which for two alleged snipers was effusive, and for a dogface and a jarhead meeting for the first time was practically like rolling around on the floor in an ecstatic bear hug.”
― Lee Child, Deep Down

“This was like July 13th, 1943, the pivotal day of the Battle of the Kursk. We were like Alexander Vasilevsky, the Soviet general. If we attacked now, this minute, we had to keep on and on attacking until the enemy was run off his feet and the war was won. If we bogged down or paused for breath even for a second, we would be overrun again.”
― Lee Child, The Enemy

“They had come for us in the night. Hey had come expecting a lot of blood. They had come with all their gear. Their rubber overshoes and their nylon bodysuits. Their knives, their hammer, their bag of nails. They had come to do a job on us, like they'd done on Morrison and his wife.”
― Lee Child, Killing Floor

“One day it seemed like a good idea, the next day it didn’t. That kind of thing happened all the time, way back when, because strategy was fluid. Or because nobody had the faintest idea what they were doing.”
― Lee Child, 61 Hours

“You do not mess with the special investigators.”
― Lee Child, Bad Luck and Trouble

“To fill a small bag means selecting,and choosing, and evaluating. There's no logicial end to that process. Pretty soon I would have a big bag, and then two or three. A month later I'd be like the rest of you.”
― Lee Child, 61 Hours

“Imagine the uproar if the Federal government tried to make everyone wear a radio transmitter around their neck so we can keep track of their movements. But people happily carry their cell phones in their purses and pockets.”
― Lee Child, A Wanted Man