“Why can't people just sit and read books and be nice to each other?”

“A smart man understood that victory was not inevitable. An even smarter man knew that defeat was never really total if you figured out how to handle the aftermath with skill and just the right spin.And the smartest men of all, even when they lost, they actually won.”

“The 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.”

“If Jackson had learned one thing over the years it was that nothing, absolutely nothing, was above corruption so long as human beings were involved, because, in truth, most people were not above the lure of the dollar or other material entitlements.”

“Libraries are the mainstays of democracy. The first thing dictators do when taking over a country is close all the libraries, because libraries are full of ideas and differences of opinion, all the things we say we want in a free and open society. So keep ‘em, fund ‘em, embrace and cherish ‘em.”

“Can't say a body ever gets used to hard work”

“Pender laughed. "Verify? In this day and age? Who cares about verifying anything? It's all about the speed. Who gets there first defines the truth. You know that as well as any man living.”

“Woe be to the wug who forgets that destroying one part of a thing does not equal victory”

“you ask too many questions," snapped Cletus.I kept my gaze on Roman. "that's because I get too few answers.”

“She apparently didn't expect any trouble but she also never expected everything to go perfectly either. That was a good rule to live by Robie knew. Because perfection was rarely the case in the field.”

“Politics is a dirty, ruthless business, Agent Robie. It makes the intelligence sector look relatively honorable by comparison.”