Most folks here got rules 'bout trespassing. Warning shot's fired right close to the head. Get they's attention. Next shot gets a lot more personal. Now I'm too old to waste time firing a warning shot.
David BaldacciBut if I worried too much about publishers' expectations, I'd probably paralyze myself and not be able to write anything.
David BaldacciFiction is sort of a way to set the record straight, and let people at least believe that justice can be achieved and the right outcomes can occur.
David BaldacciDepending on the situation, sometimes you can know a person better in ten minutes than someone you have crossed paths with all your life.
David BaldacciSee, that why I ain’t go to church. Figger I got me a church wherever I be. Want’a talk to God, well I say, ‘howdy-howdy, God,’ and we jaw fer a bit.’ - Jimmy ‘Diamond’ Skinner
David BaldacciAll you have to do [to win a Pulitzer Prize] is spend your life running from one awful place to another, write about every horrible thing you see. The civilized world reads about it, then forgets it, but pats you on the head for doing it and gives you a reward as appreciation for changing nothing.
David BaldacciThe human spirit was the strongest medicine on earth. And sometimes all it needed was a little encouragement to pull off a miracle.
David BaldacciBecause life doesn't work that way. You can do everything perfectly. Do everything you think you're supposed to be doing. Fulfill every expectation that other people may have. And you still won't get the results you think you deserve. Life is crazy and maddening and often makes no sense.
David BaldacciIn every thriller written about Washington, particularly after 9/11, there are good guys and there are bad guys, and there's no gray area at all.
David BaldacciSmall mistakes tend to lead to large ones. Ours is a lifetime appoinment, and all you have is your reputation. Once it's gone, it doesn't comeback.
David BaldacciI look for material that both interest me and challenges me. If I am drawn to the material and I have to work hard at it, the characters and the plots reflect the hours and hours of research.
David BaldacciI'd read a lot of thrillers about politicians and presidents, but never one where you flip the stereotypes and make good people bad and bad people good.
David BaldacciThat's what civilization sometimes did to threats, real or perceived. They walled them off. Us against them. Survival of the fittest. You die so I can live.
David BaldacciLibraries rock! Not a sermon, just a fact. As a kid I was a library rat and books changed my life. They can change yours.
David BaldacciIt's my experience that most folk who ride trains could care less where they're going. For them it's the journey itself and the people they meet along the way. You see, at every stop this train makes, a little bit of America, a little bit of your country, gets on and says hello.
David BaldacciYou know what kind of person it takes to run for President? Not normal. They could start out okay, but by the time they reach that level they've sold their soul to the devil so many times and stomped the guts out of enough people that they are definitely not like you and me, not even close.
David BaldacciIt's the hardest thing in the world to put yourself in someone else's place, try to really feel what they feel, figure out why they do the things they do. Especially when it's easier to stick a label on something. Or someone.
David BaldacciThe military is a very cool world to write about. I went down to Ft. Benning, Ga., for military training, and I learned a lot about soldiers and officers and why they joined up and what their life has been like.
David BaldacciAs my father wrote, one's courage, hope, and spirit can be severely tried by the happenstance of life. But as I learned on this Virginia mountain, so long as one never loses faith, it is impossible to ever truly be alone.
David BaldacciAs a lawyer, as a private citizen, you see a lot of injustice. You see a lot of people who should have been punished and are not, and people who were punished wrongfully are not vindicated. Fiction is sort of a way to set the record straight, and let people at least believe that justice can be achieved and the right outcomes can occur.
David BaldacciMost people associate reading with laying on the beach. They don't see that it's crucial for a democracy!
David BaldacciIt's often said that God works in mysterious ways. You have to really think about what He's trying to do. You can't be lazy and believe in God; He doesn't make it that easy. It takes spirit and faith and passion to really believe. Like most things worthwhile in life, you get back what you put into it. Only with faith, you get back a lot more.
David BaldacciOnly I could drink a thousand drinks and never forget a damn thing. I would just remember every detail of the thousand drinks down to the shapes of the ice cubes.
David BaldacciPeople have given me classified information, but always with the disclaimer 'This can never end up in a book.' And it never does.
David Baldacci