Quotes from The Affair

“The best fights are the ones you don't have", a wise man once said to me.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“I said nothing. I’m good at saying nothing. I don’t like talking. I could go the rest of my life without saying another word, if I had to.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“He had fallen out of the ugly tree, and hit every branch.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“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, quote from The Affair

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

“No one expects a head butt. Humans don’t hit things with their heads. Some inbuilt atavistic instinct says so. A head butt changes the game. It adds a kind of unhinged savagery to the mix. An unprovoked head butt is like bringing a sawed-off shotgun to a knife fight.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“The best fights are the ones you don’t have,”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Sometimes if you want to know for sure whether the stove is hot, the only way to find out is to touch it.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“On his day of demobilization a lugubrious one-armed, one-eyed brigadier wished him well and then added, apropos of nothing, “Mark my words, Moutier, a great war leaves a country with three armies: an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“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, quote from The Affair

“The Pentagon was built because World War Two was coming, and because World War Two was coming it was built without much steel. Steel was needed elsewhere, as always in wartime. Thus the giant building was a monument to the strength and mass of concrete. So much sand was needed for the mix it was dredged right out of the Potomac River, not far from the rising walls themselves. Nearly a million tons of it. The result was extreme solidity.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Most right-handed people end up walking wide counterclockwise circles, because most right-handed people have left legs fractionally shorter than their right legs. Basic biology and geometry. I avoided that particular peril by stepping to the right of every tenth tree I came to, whether I thought I needed to or not.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“They all shared Stan’s personal allegiance to the famous old saying: War is not about dying for your country. It’s about making the other guy die for his.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“He said all that needs to happen for evil to prevail is that good men do nothing.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“You ever notice how the folks who talk loudest about small government always seem to live in the states with the biggest subsidies?”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Rule two: watch his eyes. If they stayed up, he was going to swing. If they dropped down, he was going to kick.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“No one expects a head butt. Humans don’t hit things with their heads. Some inbuilt atavistic instinct says so. A head butt changes the game. It adds a kind of unhinged savagery to the mix. An unprovoked head butt is like bringing a sawed-off shotgun to a knife fight. The guy went down like an empty suit.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Realitatile sunt musafiri nepoftiti in lumea fanteziei.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“old enough to show some mileage, young enough to still find some amusement in the world.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“It would have been hard to be noisier, in fact, short of firing the Winchester a couple of times and singing the National Anthem.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“He also said the day we see the truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Any day could be the last of life or liberty, so small pleasures were always worth pursuing.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“plant. She said, “OK, time out. Convince”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Then I sat in my chair”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Cand e vorba de sange, cu putin ajungi departe.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“You looked angry twenty minutes ago. With the McKinney family.” “That was just a technical problem. Space and time. I didn’t want to be late for dinner. I wasn’t angry, really. Well, not at first. I got a bit frustrated later. You know, mentally. I mean, when there were four of them, I gave them the chance to come back in numbers. And what did they do? They added two more guys. That’s all. They showed up with a total of six. What is that about? It’s deliberate disrespect.” Deveraux said, “I think most people would consider six against one to be fairly respectful.” “But I warned them. I told them they’d need more. I was trying to be fair. But they wouldn’t listen. It was like talking to the Pentagon.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“Both of them had noses like spoiled eggplants. Both of them had two black eyes. Both of them had crusted blood on their lips. Neither one of them”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

“impatient, reckless, careless, and full of entitlement.”
― Lee Child, quote from The Affair

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“Dickinson left the rostrum to applause, loud shouts of approval. Franklin was surprised, looked toward Adams, who returned the look, shook his head. The chamber was dismissed, and Franklin pushed himself slowly up out of the chair. He began to struggle a bit, pain in both knees, the stiffness holding him tightly, felt a hand under his arm.
“Allow me, sir.” Adams helped him up, commenting as he did so, “We have a substantial lack of backbone in this room, I’m afraid.”
Franklin looked past him, saw Dickinson standing close behind, staring angrily at Adams, reacting to his words.
“Mr. Dickinson, a fine speech, sir,” said Franklin.
Adams seemed suddenly embarrassed, did not look behind him, nodded quickly to Franklin, moved away toward the entrance. Franklin saw Dickinson following Adams, began to follow himself. My God, let’s not have a duel. He slipped through the crowd of delegates, making polite acknowledgments left and right, still keeping his eye on Dickinson. The man was gone now, following Adams out of the hall. Franklin reached the door, could see them both, heard the taller man call out, saw Adams turn, a look of surprise. Franklin moved closer, heard Adams say, “My apologies for my indiscreet remark, sir. However, I am certain you are aware of my sentiments.” Dickinson seemed to explode in Adams’ face. “What is the reason, Mr. Adams, that you New England men oppose our measures of reconciliation? Why do you hold so tightly to this determined opposition to petitioning the king?” Franklin heard other men gathering behind him, filling the entranceway, Dickinson’s volume drawing them. He could see Adams glancing at them and then saying, “Mr. Dickinson, this is not an appropriate time...” “Mr. Adams, can you not respond? Do you not desire an end to talk of war?” Adams seemed struck by Dickinson’s words, looked at him for a long moment. “Mr. Dickinson, if you believe that all that has fallen upon us is merely talk, I have no response. There is no hope of avoiding a war, sir, because the war has already begun. Your king and his army have seen to that. Please, excuse me, sir.” Adams began to walk away, and Franklin could see Dickinson look back at the growing crowd behind him, saw a strange desperation in the man’s expression, and Dickinson shouted toward Adams, “There is no sin in hope!”
― Jeff Shaara, quote from Rise to Rebellion

“You may growl, and hiss, and meow, and maybe sometimes you bring out those claws, but I know how to make you purr. I'm the king of the jungle. I'm the predator.”
― J.M. Darhower, quote from Monster in His Eyes

“What it is,” she sighed, “to have to choose between self and security.”
― Tsitsi Dangarembga, quote from Nervous Conditions

“BELIZE: Louis, I’d even pray for you.      He was a terrible person. He died a hard death. So maybe . . . A queen can forgive her vanquished foe. It isn’t easy, it doesn’t count if it’s easy, it’s the hardest thing. Forgiveness. Which is maybe where love and justice finally meet. Peace, at least. Isn’t that what the Kaddish asks for?”
― Tony Kushner, quote from Angels in America

“She kicked me off the bed!”
― Anne Bishop, quote from Murder of Crows

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