1. âThe difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.â âLarry King Live, 2000, and included in Quotable Quotes.
2. âThe only way to do all the things youâd like to do is to read.â
3. âYou learn to write the same way you learn to play golf. You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isnât divinely inspiredâitâs hard work.â âAMC blog, 2007.

4. âThe U.S. Military is us. There is no truer representation of a country than the people that it sends into the field to fight for it. The people who wear our uniform and carry our rifles into combat are our kids, and our job is to support them, because theyâre protecting us.â âPenguin Books, 2010.
5. âRemember, for every shot you fire, someone, somewhere, is making money.â
6. âCourage is being the only one who knows how terrified you are.â âRed Rabbit, 2002.
7. âTwo questions form the foundation of all novels: âWhat if?â and âWhat next?â (A third question, âWhat now?â, is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but itâs more a cry than a question.) Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if âXâ happened? Thatâs how you start.â
8. âNothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away.â âWriters, 1995.
9. âWhat do I know about sex? Iâm a married man.â
10. âIâve made up stuff thatâs turned out to be real, thatâs the spooky part.â âThe New York Times, July 27, 1986.
11. âVictory comes only to those prepared to make it, and take it.â âPatriot Games, 1987.
12. âIâve been telling people for 12 years that if you want to get a nuclear device into the United States, just bring it through the port of Miami disguised as cocaine.â âKudlow & Cramer, 2003.
13. âThe difference between me and you is that I do good fiction.â âspeech to reporters at the National Press Club, May 18, 1999.
14. âWhat underclass? I mean you know, what underclass? Do you know any of them? Do they have automobiles? Most of them probably do. Do most of them have television sets? Do most of them have telephones? Well, if they can afford automobiles, they can afford computers. And since they have television sets, they already have access to communications technology. And since they have telephones, they can talk to one another. Wherein are they deprived?â âInc., December 12, 1995.
16. âFighting wars is not so much about killing people as it is about finding things out. The more you know, the more likely you are to win a battle.â
17. âThereâs nothing more pornographic than glorifying war.â âCNN interview, 1999.
18. âWars are begun by frightened men. They fear war, but more than that, they fear what will happen if they don't start oneâor take equivalent action, I suppose.â âRed Rabbit, 2002.
19. âShow me an elitist, and Iâll show you a loser.â âInc., December 12, 1995.
20. âFifteen years ago, there was this country called the Soviet Union that had over 10,000 nuclear warheads pointed at us ... Theyâre not there anymore. Thatâs a good thing. And when people talk about how the world is more dangerous now than it was because we had these terrorists running around, my reply is, you know, a terrorist is like a buzzing mosquito.â âLarry King Live, 2000.
21. âWhat the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. Itâs not good at much else.â âKudlow & Cramer, 2003.