Quotes from A Wanted Man

Lee Child ·  15 pages

Rating: (48.4K votes)


“Some old guy once said that the meaning of life is that it ends.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“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, quote from A Wanted Man


“A handgun at two hundred feet is the same thing as crossing your fingers and making a wish.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“It gives me some kind of chance to survive the night."

"How are those better odds? If you come back with me, you're guaranteed to survive the night."

"No," Reacher said. "If I come back with you, I'm guaranteed to die of shame.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“And most people stick to underwear from their country of origin.” “Do they?” “As a general rule. It’s a comfort issue, literally and metaphorically. And an intimacy issue. It’s a big step, putting on foreign underwear. Like betrayal, or emigration.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man



“Foreign, for sure. But we all bleed the same color red. No doubt about that. The truth of that statement was plain to see. Reacher put the guy out of misery. A single shot, close range, behind the ear. An unnecessary round expended, but good manners had a price”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“At one point they said they were heading to”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“an average infantryman records one enemy fatality for every fifteen thousand combat rounds expended.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Resolute, responsible, determined, knowledgeable, and perceptive”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“As a general rule. it's a comfort issue, literally and metaphorically. And intimacy issue. It's a big step, putting on foreign underwear. Like betrayal, or emigration.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man



“Does this thing have fast forward?” Sorenson asked. “Hold down the shift key,” the kid said.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Suppose twenty years ago Congress had proposed a law saying every citizen had to wear a radio transponder around his neck, all day and all night, so the government could track him wherever he went. Can you imagine the outrage? But instead the citizens went right ahead and did it to themselves. In their pockets and purses, not around their necks, but the outcome is the same.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Reacher remembered a line from an old song: Set the controls for the heart of the sun.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Reacher prowled the hallway, his gun stiff-armed way out in front of him, his torso jerking violently left and right from the hips, like a crazy disco dance. The house-storming shuffle.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Reacher killed the lights and squeezed back through the slit in the plastic. He crossed the empty”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man



“Iowa had a quarter of America’s best-grade topsoil all to itself, and therefore it was at the head of the list when it came to corn and soybeans and hogs and cattle.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“I bet he burned real well. All that fat? I bet he went up like a lamb chop on a barbecue.” King said nothing. Reacher said, “You would too, probably. You’re not much thinner. Is it a genetic thing? Was your momma fat as well as ugly?” No”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“I’m wide open to ideas, Agent”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Reacher said, ‘Do you have an accurate headcount?’
McQueen said, ‘Twenty-four tonight, not including me.’
‘Six left, then.’
‘Is that all? Jesus.’
‘I’ve been here at least twenty minutes.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Perhaps he would glance down and see that he was doing 76 miles an hour, and he would see that 76 squared was 5,776, which ended in 76, where it started, which made 76 an automorphic number, one of only two below 100, the other being 25, whose square was 625, whose square was 390,625, which”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man



“They may never be able to prove it.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“volume up high and played the recording one”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Both had been taken out of front-line service after the Gulf War in 1991. Neither had proved sufficiently durable. Their task had been to haul Abrams battle tanks around. Battle tanks were built for tank battles, not for driving from A to B on public roads. Roads got ruined, tracks wore out, between-maintenance hours were wasted unproductively. Hence tank transporters. But Abrams tanks weighed more than sixty tons, and wear and tear on the HETs was prodigious. Back to the drawing board. The old-generation hardware was relegated to lighter duties. But”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Why don’t you live anywhere?” “Do you have a house?” “Of course.” “Is it a pure unalloyed pleasure?” “Not entirely.” “So there’s your answer.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man


“Reacher had no patience for people who claimed that y was a vowel.”
― Lee Child, quote from A Wanted Man



About the author

Lee Child
Born place: The United Kingdom
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Then I'm going?" Kendra asked.
The adults in the room exchanged tacit glances before nodding.
Then we only have one more problem left to discuss," Seth said.
Everyone turned to him.
How do I get invited”
― Brandon Mull, quote from Grip of the Shadow Plague


“Free again, but it's just a feeling; freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit yourself to what is best for you.”
― Paulo Coelho, quote from The Zahir


“Human beings are a much worse poison than schnapps or tobacco".”
― Erich Maria Remarque, quote from Three Comrades


“And - of course! - the Non-people. The whole freaking world was full of people who were bound to tell you they weren't qualified to do this or that but they were determined to go ahead and do just that thing anyway.”
― Tom Wolfe, quote from The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test


“It was as if the press in America, for all its vaunted independence, were a great colonial animal, an animal made up of countless clustered organisms responding to a central nervous system. In the late 1950's (as in the late 1970's) the animal seemed determined that in all matters of national importance the proper emotion, the seemly sentiment, the fitting moral tone, should be established and should prevail; and all information that muddied the tone and weakened the feeling should simply be thrown down the memory hole. In a later period this impulse of the animal would take the form of blazing indignation about corruption, abuses of power, and even minor ethical lapses, among public officials; here, in April of 1959, it took the form of a blazing patriotic passion for the seven test pilots who had volunteered to go into space. In either case, the animal's fundamental concern remained the same: the public, the populace, the citizenry, must be provided with the correct feelings! One might regard this animal as the consummate hypocritical Victorian gent. Sentiments that one scarcely gives a second thought to in one's private life are nevertheless insisted upon in all public utterances. (And this grave gent lives on in excellent health.)”
― Tom Wolfe, quote from The Right Stuff


Interesting books

Collected Poems
(14.3K)
Collected Poems
by Dylan Thomas
Billiards at Half-Past Nine
(2.8K)
Billiards at Half-Pa...
by Heinrich Böll
The Society of the Spectacle
(11.4K)
The Society of the S...
by Guy Debord
Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake
(39.1K)
Catch Me If You Can:...
by Frank W. Abagnale
The Rake
(6.6K)
The Rake
by Suzanne Enoch
Spell Bound
(13K)
Spell Bound
by Kelley Armstrong

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.