I'd never believed in luck. Never had any cause to. Never relied on it, because I never could.

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

I need a stimulating environment to write because my books are driven at 100 miles per hour at a time.

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.

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.

I was fired from my television job, simple as that. Well, downsized, really, a classic 1990s situation.

I had a teacher once, grade school somewhere. Philippines, I think, because she always wore a big white hat. So it was somewhere hot. I was always twice the size of the other kids, and she used to say to me: count to ten before you get mad, Reacher. And I've counted way past ten on this one. Way past.