Brad Thor Quotes

Success leaves clues, and if you sow the same seeds, you'll reap the same rewards.

You know when I told you the joke about how a friend will help you move, but a real friend will help you move a body? I was only kidding.

If we talk about the glass being half empty or half full, I want to know what does the glass look like from underneath the table?

After the Berlin Wall came down and Communism was on the run, I looked around and wondered what the next threat to the United States would be.

I tell people you should write what you love to read because that's where your passion is.

Have a smile for everyone you meet and a plan to kill them.

What has bothered and angered radical Muslims is that I'm a non-Muslim writing anything at all about Islam. But this is fiction, and I don't think Islam is above criticism or fictionalization any more so than Judaism, Christianity, Mormonism or Hinduism is.

He carried no electronics. No laptop, no cell phone, no walkie-talkie. He carried no ID. Beside his large-caliber Glock, spare magazines, and a knife, there was nothing on his person that could connect him to anything, anyone, or anywhere. That was how professionals worked.

If there's one lesson I've learned, it's that life is all about change, and stress comes from avoiding change.

My #1 job as a thriller author is to give readers the best white-knuckle thrill ride I am capable of. I am first and foremost in the entertainment business. If that suspenseful ride is also terrifying because it hits really close to home, then I am once again doing what I am supposed to do as a thriller author.

Muslim students would go through a bunch of feel-good exercises and leave with the impression that without Islamic contributions to science, there would be no U.S. space program.

The Tea Party is clearing gunk out of the fuel lines of this country. It started with throwing out Democrats, but the Republicans are going to be next. We're doing what needs to be done for the sake of the country.

Making the best-seller list is a big deal; it's like being nominated for an Oscar. Hitting No. 1 is like actually winning the award. It's very gratifying.

There aren't many honest men or women in Washington anymore. Politicians get where they are by the sheer force of their egos, not their convictions. And you know what? It's our fault as voters. We don't demand better candidates, so we end up getting what we deserve - on both sides of the aisle.

I like books that have razor-sharp plotting that snaps and moves along. It's not about the main character being different at the end. I don't want my main character to be different in the end. I still want him committed to his ideas, to be steadfast, true and loyal.

Visiting Lucerne is like going to Disneyland: You can't imagine that it is real because it looks like a movie lot.

There are writers who go their whole lives and never hit that No. 1 spot.

I have been blessed to have had many excellent teachers. The further I get away from school, though, the more I realize that the greatest teachers in my life have come from outside of academia.

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. - JOHN F. KENNEDY

Incredible brilliance often dwells on the razor's edge of madness ...

If he's like any other man I've ever met, it's not my smile he's going to be looking at.

The reason socialism has failed around the world every time it's been tried is because people in socialist countries have looked at the United States and have said if they can have it that good, we can. It's a failed, flawed ideology, but if you ask socialists why it's always failed, it's because the United States has stood in the way.

I've got more ideas for books than I'll ever be able to use in my lifetime. I'm very fortunate like that.

My number one goal as a thriller writer is to entertain you. But I've got a chance to not only entertain people, but have them close my book and be smarter having read it.

All members of Congress should be required wear NASCAR uniforms. You know, the kind with the patches? That way we'd know who is sponsoring each of them. I think he was kidding; they'd never be able to do it but it's a great idea and would wake people up in this country.

My point is that bureaucrats - like everyone else - have a mind-set. The longer they work for government, the more they believe government is the answer, and the less they trust the everyday citizen. In fact, they begin to believe that certain groups of citizens are the root of the nation's problems. They see them as a threat. If those citizens can be brought to heel, the bureaucracy sees itself as doing the citizenry at large a greater good, actually making their lives better.

The Afghans I met were some of the nicest and most honorable people I've ever encountered. There is a code called 'Pashtunwali,' so if someone invites you into their village, every last man will fight to protect your life. I was impressed by that.

From the political angle, I'm trying to be apolitical if you will. I mean people say, 'Are you a red state or blue state?', I say, 'I'm purple.' I think there are great ideas on both sides of the aisle and neither side has cornered the market.

In America, only opportunity is assured, not outcomes. Anyone who promises otherwise is acting contrary to the values upon which our Republic was founded.

In the wake of 9/11, my wife Trish and I were stranded on the East Coast. We had planned a vacation to Greece, but flights had been halted. Instead, we ended up on a tiny island off the coast of Georgia.

Robert Ashford possessed one of the key character flaws necessary to a traitor. He thought he was smarter than everyone else. This allowed the overeducated career bureaucrat to sell out his own country, because he believed he knew what was best for his nation and its people.

I write about things that are important for us as Americans. I'm concerned about al-Qaeda sneaking across the border with the illegal immigrants that are using the coyotes to get across the border. And that's not a Democrat or Republican issue, that's a national security issue.

I live in America. I have the right to write whatever I want. And it's equaled by another right just as powerful: the right not to read it. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend people.

What's this bit in Chinese that keeps popping up?" he said. "Xuĕ Lóng?"
"It's the codename for the operation."
"What does it mean?"
"Xuĕ Lóng is a mythical Chinese creature said to bring darkness, cold, and death."
"What's the translation?"
"In English, it would be called a snow dragon.

If you steadfastly refused to quit, you rapidly narrowed your options to only winning.

I really believe that a writer is someone who has trained their mind to misbehave.

Show me one single patriot who has ever been in Barack Obama's life in any position of influence. You can't do it ... Barack Obama detests this nation as founded. He has zero respect for the founding documents.

The only people who might hope to survive were those who had exercised some degree of caution and had prepared in advance.

'The Last Patriot' is set in the present day but is based upon the premise that the Prophet Mohammed had a final revelation, he shared it with his disciples, and they killed him to keep it hidden and out of the Qur'an. If this missing revelation can be found, its impact on the world will be incredible.

Power perceived is power achieved.

While the words are yet unspoken, you are master of them; when once they are spoken, they are master of you.

When you grow up with a name like Brad Thor, people expect you to be 6-foot-4 and a pile of muscles.

Tell you the truth, Father, I don't think God has a favorite football team, or a favorite

I am indeed honored to call him my friend.

The great thing about the British SAS was that they viewed war the same way the American Special Operations community did. You didn't win by thinking inside the box and following someone else's rules. You turned the box upside down and made your own rules, no matter what the enemy threw at you.

Let me make this very clear: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, our digital exhaust is being sucked up by the government. It is being compiled on big server farms and it's being analyzed by different computer programs, looking for any hint that you and I are up to no good.

Most Americans are unaware that Thomas Jefferson was the first American president to go to war against radical Islam. Jefferson was very concerned with Islam's war-like doctrine and its inability to separate mosque and state.

Carlton signaled and merged into a faster-moving lane. "Jacobson gave us his file with everything on the

Anyone that goes to battle goes to battle knowing the mindset and tactics of their enemies.

Aerotechnik Super Vivat Icarus motorgliders had an enormous wingspan and looked like a typical side-by-side pilot/passenger configuration sailplane that had been crossed with a small Cessna single-prop aircraft.

Someone putting down $25 of his or her hard-earned money to buy my product, then doing it again because they felt the payoff was worth it. That's as good as it gets for an author.

Benjamin Franklin, that those who trade some of their liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither and will lose both. The wisdom of the founders never ceased to amaze him.