Persuader Quotes

“I don't care about the little guy. I just hate the big guy. I hate big smug people who think they can get away with things.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“Ninety percent of asking questions is about listening to answers.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“Nothing ever works like you predict it. All plans fall apart as soon as the first shot is fired.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“Being ex-military is like being a lapsed Catholic. Even though they’re way in the back of your mind, the old rituals still exert a powerful pull.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“Revising objectives is smart because it stops you throwing good money after bad.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“any structure that has a ranking system tempts you to try to climb it.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. He thought JFK had said it. I thought it was actually Friedrich Nietzsche, and he said destroy, not kill. What doesn’t destroy us makes us stronger.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“Now you had one come back, Harley.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“People who say "no" right away are usually lying. A truthful person is perfectly capable of saying "no" but generally they stop and think about it first. And they add "sorry" or something like that. Maybe they come out with some questions of their own. It's human nature. They say, "Sorry, no, why, what happened?”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“I fought to stay awake and keep the car on the road. And I thought back to texts I had read from the British Army in India, during the Raj, at the height of their empire. Young subalterns trapped in junior ranks had their own mess. They would dine together in splendid dress uniforms and talk about their chances of promotion. But they had none, unless a superior officer died. Dead men's shoes was the rule. So they would raise their crystal glasses of fine French wine and toast "bloody wars and dread diseases" because a casualty further up the chain of command was their only way to get ahead. Brutal, but that's how it's always been, in the military.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“I don’t really care about the little guy. I just hate the big guy. I hate big smug people who think they can get away with things.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“and heaved himself up and out. He stood in the cold clear air for a second and then turned and pushed the door shut again behind him. Held still for a second longer. Then he stepped forward and leaned against the side of the hood up near the headlight.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“try to do the right thing. Even though everybody hates us and nobody helps us and nobody thanks us afterward. I think doing the right thing is an end in itself.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“Too many cooks spoil the broth, many hands make light work, great minds think alike, fools never differ.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“that it’s easy enough to shoot a man. But there’s absolutely no way to unshoot one.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“I try to do the right thing. Even though everybody hates us and nobody helps us and nobody thanks us afterward. I think doing the right thing is an end in itself. It has to be, really, doesn’t it?”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“He stood there, panting. I was warming up nicely. I was beginning to feel I had some kind of a chance. He was a very poor fighter. Lots of very big guys are. Either their sheer size is so intimidating it stops fights from ever starting in the first place, or else it lets them win every one directly after their first punch lands. Either way, they don’t get much practice. They don’t develop much finesse.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“I dodged away again and felt the breeze as his giant fist passed an inch above my head.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“I was vaguely interested in getting ahead back then, maybe a little less so than most people, but any structure that has a ranking system tempts you to try to climb it. So I was vaguely interested. But I wasn’t a guy who hijacked subordinates’ achievements in order to make myself look good. I never did that. If somebody performed well, did a good job, I was always happy to stand back and let them reap the rewards. It was a principle I adhered to throughout my career. I could always console myself by basking in their reflected glow. It was my company, after all. There was a certain amount of collective recognition. Sometimes.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“town,”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“They called it the long-rod penetrator.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“He was way bigger than me, which put him firmly in the freak category. He was a giant.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“now.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“hope,”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“was no sound in the house at all, except people chewing. There was no coffee. I was on the point of taking that personally. I like coffee.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“they shuffled around to face my back.”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“try to do the right thing. Even though everybody hates us and nobody helps us and nobody thanks us afterward. I think doing the right thing is an end in itself. It has to be, really, doesn’t it?”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“plain deal”
― Lee Child, Persuader

“Here’s to bloody wars and dread diseases,”
― Lee Child, Persuader