Lee Child quotes

Lee Child is a British author, best known for his thriller novels featuring the character Jack Reacher. His books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been adapted into major films. He continues to captivate readers with his action-packed storytelling and memorable characters. Here are 101 of his quotes:

Friday. Five o'clock in the afternoon. Maybe the hardest time to move unobserved through a city. Or, maybe the easiest. Because at five o'clock on a Friday nobody pays attention to anything. Except the road ahead.

Lee Child

Life is full of decisions and judgments and guesses, and it gets to the point where you're so accustomed to making them you keep right on making them even when you don't strictly need to. You get into a what if thing, and you start speculating about what you would do if some problem was yours instead of somebody else's. It gets to be a habit. It was a habit Jack Reacher had in spades.

Lee Child

Suicide bombers are easy to spot. They give out all kinds of telltale signs. Mostly because they're nervous. By definition they're all first-timers.

Lee Child

People have their reasons for giving rides, all of them different. Maybe they hitched a lot when they were younger and now they're settled and comfortable they want to put back what they took out. Like a circular thing. Maybe they have charitable natures. Or maybe they're just lonely and want a little conversation.

Lee Child

Jack Reacher ordered espresso, double, no peel, no cube, foam cup, no china, and before it arrived at his table he saw a man's life change forever. Not that the waiter was slow. Just that the move was slick. So slick, Reacher had no idea what he was watching. It was just an urban scene, repeated everywhere in the world a billion times a day: A guy unlocked a car and got in and drove away. That was all. But that was enough.

Lee Child

Don't get it right - get it WRITTEN!

Lee Child

No, I'm a man with a rule. People leave me alone, I leave them alone. If they don't, I don't.

Lee Child

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

Lee Child

I'm not a vagrant. I'm a hobo. Big difference.

Lee Child

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.

Lee Child

Slippery slope. I carry a spare shirt, pretty soon I'm carrying spare pants. Then I'd need a suitcase. Next thing I know, I've got a house and a car and a savings plan and I'm filling out all kinds of forms.

Lee Child

Imagine the uproar if the Federal government tried to make everyone wear a radio transmitter around their neck so we can keep track of their movements. But people happily carry their cell phones in their purses and pockets.

Lee Child

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

Lee Child

The way to write a thriller is to ask a question at the beginning, and answer it at the end.

Lee Child

Spread love and understanding,” Reacher said. "Use force if necessary.

Lee Child

Some old guy once said that the meaning of life is that it ends.

Lee Child

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

I have to warn you. I promised my mother, a long time ago. She said I had to give folks a chance to walk away.

Lee Child

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

I felt alienated by the experience and decided to stay away from corporate employment.

Lee Child

I have the 'thing' worked out - the trick or the surprise or the pivotal fact. Then I just start somewhere and let the story work itself out.

Lee Child

He had fallen out of the ugly tree, and hit every branch.

Lee Child