316 Quotes by Tom Clancy

Liberation and equal-rights issues notwithstanding, it was a man’s job to make a woman feel cherished and respected.

War is the ultimate criminal act, an armed robbery writ large. And it’s always about greed. It’s always a nation that wants something another nation has. And you defeat that nation by recognizing what it wants and denying it to them.

Probably what pushed the Russians over the edge was SDI. They realized they couldn’t beat us.

If you give people a firm opinion, you run the risk of being wrong. Guess what? People remember when you’re wrong a lot more often than when you’re right. So the tendency is to include all the possibilities. It’s intellectually honest, even.

I’d rather talk to people who do things than complain about other people who do things. I say they’re idiots.

Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if “X” happened? That’s how you start.

I wanted to see my name on the cover of a book. If your name is in the Library of Congress, you’re immortal.

Of all human lamentations, without doubt, the most common is if only I had known. But we can’t know, and so days of death and fire so often begin no differently than those of love and warmth.

Everyone knew Russia’s ambitions extended to the Crimea, but a few years earlier some steam was let out of the kettle when the pro-nationalist Ukrainian president was replaced by a pro-Russian successor. The fate of the Black Sea fleet in the port of Sevastopol seemed secure, and Russia went about its business.