Lee Child Quotes

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

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.

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.

The way to write a thriller is to ask a question at the beginning, and answer it at the end.

Spread love and understanding,” Reacher said. “Use force if necessary.

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.

Don't get it right - get it WRITTEN!

Some old guy once said that the meaning of life is that it ends.

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.

Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it.

You see something scary, you should stand up and step toward it, not away from it. Instinctively, reflexively, in a raging fury.

Sometimes if you want to know for sure whether the stove is hot, the only way to find out is to touch it.

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.

I'm a rich man. To have everything you need is the definition of affluence.

I'm not afraid of death. Death's afraid of me.

Never forget a Favor, Never forgive a Slight!

It's a kind of zen question: if you write a book and no one reads it, is it really a book?

I don't want to put the world to rights... I just don't like people who put the world to wrongs.

No, I'm a man with a rule. People leave me alone, I leave them alone. If they don't, I don't.

I always wanted to be in the world of entertainment. I just love the idea of an audience being happy with what I am doing. Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it.

I have to warn you. I promised my mother, a long time ago. She said I had to give folks a chance to walk away.

So long as readers keep reading and my publishers keep publishing, I plan to keep on writing. I'd have to be an idiot to be burnt-out in this job.

British crime stories tend to be very internal, psychological, claustrophobic, very limited in terms of geography.

Many years from now when your children ask what New York City was like just after 9/11, this will be the book you give them in response. It's an exquisite novel full of heart, soul, passion and intelligence, and it's the one this great New York author was born to write.

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.