Clancy Quotes & Sayings

Do you like to read?" I asked, pointing at my little shelf.
Moses eyed my books. "Yes."
His answer surprised me. Maybe it was his reputation as a gang banging delinquent. Maybe it was because of the way he looked. But he didn't seem like the type who enjoyed sitting quietly with a book.
"What's your favorite book?" I sounded suspicious and his eyes tightened.
"I like Catcher in the Rye. The Outsiders, 1984, Of Mice and Men, Dune, Starship Troopers, Lord of the Rings. Anything by Tom Clancy or JK Rowling."
He said JK Rowling quickly, like he didn't want to admit to being a Potter fan. But I was stunned. — Amy Harmon

One of the compensations for wearing a uniform and earning less money than an equally talented man can make in the real world is the off chance of being killed. — Tom Clancy

I've 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. — Tom Clancy

A trend was a trend only because people thought it so. And in thinking it so, they made it so. — Tom Clancy

November 1775, when our Founding Fathers ". . .resolved, that two Battalions of Marines be raised. . .[and]. . .that particular care be taken that no person be appointed or enlisted into said Battalions, but such as are good seamen or so acquainted with maritime affairs as are able to serve to advantage by sea, — Tom Clancy

Sunday was the normal day for the political awareness session at sea. Ordinarily Putin would have officiated, reading some Pravada editorials, followed by selected quotations from the works of Lenin and a discussion of the lessons to be learned from the readings. It is very much like a church service. — Tom Clancy

Switzerland is a land where crime is virtually unknown, yet most Swiss males are required by law to keep in their homes what amounts to a portable, personal machine gun. — Tom Clancy

The role of fiction is supposed to be divorced from the role of reality. — Tom Clancy

Tradition is important," Evans said. "For a soldier, tradition is often the reason one carries on when there are so many reasons not to. It's more than just yourself, more than just your mates - but it's not just something for soldiers, is it? It is true - or should be true - of any professional community. — Tom Clancy

Mr. President. Douglas MacArthur said every military disaster can be explained in two words: 'Too late. — Tom Clancy

With the selection of Acting Secret Service Director Joseph P. Clancy as the director, President Obama has guaranteed that the agency will continue to lurch from one shocking security failure to another. — Ronald Kessler

Melanie's father had been an Army colonel who instilled in her a sense of duty as well as a sense of individuality. She grew up reading biographies of great men and women, mostly men and women in the military and government, and she recognized through her readings that no one rose to exceptional greatness exclusively by being "a good soldier." No, those few men and women who went against the establishment from time to time, only when necessary, were what ultimately made America great. — Tom Clancy

never pick up a baby to kiss it," trent said. "they always puke on you, and somebody always gets a picture. always kiss the baby in the mom's arms. — Tom Clancy

The three wolves didn't know that the sheep herd had three dogs in it. Big ones. — Tom Clancy

The first rumors about Zenith came from the Czechoslovakians. — Tom Clancy

Clancy comments that the subtleties of national character can impact the world stage by making espionage more difficult. Americans were quirky by nature, making the sorts of eccentric moves that had to be followed up on as potential espionage cues. Russians, on the other hand, were too orderly by nature to make such distractions appear natural. — Tom Clancy

I was one of the first generations to watch television. TV exposes people to news, to information, to knowledge, to entertainment. How is it bad? — Tom Clancy

I had some very, very fond memories of the people I worked with and the authors I worked with - and I won't mention any names - but as I have been traveling through rural Maine over the past few weeks, one of my favorite things to do is to go into bookstores on the side of rural routes and paw through the old copies of Tom Clancy and Trevanian books they have in there for weird old 1970s thrillers that I haven't read yet. — John Hodgman

Star Wars - the movie I saw 12 times as a 17-year-old. The movie that began a cultural and creative universe that now spans generations. For me to be a part of this in The Clone Wars is a dream come true. — Clancy Brown

We don't have to live up to the expectations of others. Passion is personal. As long as our passion is fueled with the right stuff then keep on plodding forward. I'll never be Mark Twain or Tom Clancy. But that's okay, because neither of them could teach you to mix a boundless number of grays, or where to place the catch light in a portrait. — Jack White

Being married to a footballer is some girls' dream, but it isn't always like that. I work. — Abbey Clancy

For a lot of people, it's a massive deal to be on the front row at Fashion Week and look perfect. I don't go to be seen; I go to look at the collections and support my friends, like Henry, Giles and Jonathan Saunders. As much as I love clothes and shopping, it doesn't drive me. — Abbey Clancy

The acting director of the Secret Service, Joseph Clancy, said they may make the fence around the White House taller because of the recent security failures. When asked if he had any other ideas, he said, 'Uh, make the sidewalk lower?' — Jimmy Fallon

I rubbed my face with my hands, trying to clear away the image of Clancy Gray trapped down in the dark. That's where he belongs, came the savage voice in my mind. — Alexandra Bracken

Live simply, love seriously, care deeply, speak kindly ... leave the rest to God. — Joanne Clancy

Clever deceivers rarely tell outright falsehoods. It's too risky. The art of deception is closely related to the magician's craft: it involves knowing how to draw attention to a harmless place, to deflect it away from the action. Deeply entrenched patterns of perceptual, emotional, and cognitive dispositions serve as instruments of deception. A skilled deceiver is an illusionist who knows how to manipulate the normal patterns of what is salient to their audience. He places salient markers - something red, something anomalous, something desirable - in the visual field, to draw attention just where he wants it. — Clancy Martin

You won't break me. Just fucking own me. — Clancy Nacht

To Ronald Reagan, The Man Who Won the War. — Tom Clancy

The assistant commander at any post is supposed to be a ruthless son of a bitch. — Tom Clancy

Panic is something that good operations officers plan for. — Tom Clancy

I'm determined not to start dressing like I'm 45 years old now that I'm a mum. — Abbey Clancy

I never go wild with nails. — Abbey Clancy

Bill Clinton is a man who thinks international affairs means dating a girl from out of town. — Tom Clancy

With him, I didn't have to be afraid, not of what I could do intentionally or by mistake. I din't have to throw up every defence I possessed to keep my brain's wandering hands still, because Clancy was more than capable of keeping me out of his head. — Alexandra Bracken

They were wheels-up in less than fifteen minutes. — Tom Clancy

Life is about learning; when you stop learning, you die. — Tom Clancy

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. — Tom Clancy

It's not right to say that our loss in Vietnam turned out to be a gain. But lessons were learned. And they were the right lessons. — Tom Clancy

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

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

Integrating the beauty of seasonal change into the residence was a concept that remains true even today even in the more cramped, inner city machiya. — Judith Clancy

What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It's not good at much else. — Tom Clancy

For over 220 years, Marines have served at the end of America's operational reach - on freedom's far frontiers. These Marines are the backbone of the ARG/MEU (SOC) team, our regional commanders' force of choice for both forward presence and crisis response. — Tom Clancy

Most things in here don't react well to bullets. — Tom Clancy

I read somewhere once that getting lost is the best way to find yourself. — Joanne Clancy

THERE IS NO such thing as magic. That was merely the word people used to explain something so cleverly done that there was no ready explanation for it, and the simplest technique employed by its practitioners was to distract the audience with one moving and obvious hand (usually in a white glove) while the other was doing something else. — Tom Clancy

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. — Tom Clancy

You respect a man who says what he believes, even if you disagree with it? — Tom Clancy

Things rarely happen for a single reason. Even the cleverest and most skilled manipulators recognize that their real art lies in making use of that which they cannot predict. — Tom Clancy

I've made up stuff that's turned out to be real, that's the spooky part. — Tom Clancy

Under the circumstances, washing without soap wasn't even as good as kissing your sister. — Tom Clancy

Collaboration on a book is the ultimate unnatural act. — Tom Clancy

Victory comes only to those prepared to make it, and take it. — Tom Clancy

A lawyer is just like an attack dog, only without a conscience. — Tom Clancy

Biryukov continued, "Roman Talanov, my counterpart in the FSB, is leading this charge. I suppose with complete control over Russian intelligence activity abroad, he can expand his influence and begin destabilizing nations beyond the near abroad. Russia will invade Ukraine, probably within the next few weeks. They will annex the Crimea. From there, if they meet no resistance from the West, they will take more of the country, all the way to the Dnieper River. — Tom Clancy

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. — Tom Clancy

Courage is being the only only one who knows how terrified you are. — Tom Clancy

"Literature" is written material that, 100 years after the death of the author, is forced upon high school students. — Tom Clancy

Robert, that's a little too far off the wall, I think, Greer analyzed. — Tom Clancy

The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people. — Tom Clancy

Hmm. Kelly finished off his Coke. That confirmed his suspicion about Oreza's little visit. So things were getting complicated now, but they'd been pretty complicated the week before, too. He headed off to the bedroom, almost there when there came a knock at the door. That startled him rather badly, but he had to answer it. He'd opened windows to air the apartment out, and it was plain that someone was here. He took a deep breath and opened the door. — Tom Clancy

Originally, I wanted a pop career and formed a girl-band 'Genie Queen' managed by Andy McClusky from 'Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark', but it didn't work out. My brother John is the talented singer and song-writer with 'The Razz,' while my other brother Sean is a footballer for Telford United. — Abbey Clancy

Foster poured some more bourbon for his guest. I don't know what it's — Tom Clancy

Never ask what sort of computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If not, why embarrass him? — Tom Clancy

I'm ready. No matter what's ahead for us. I'm ready to go down any road with you. Go through any door. I know that now, more than I ever did. — Jim Clancy

To a man, professional soldiers despised terrorists, and each would dream about getting them in an even-up-battle; the idea of the Field of Honor had never died for the real professionals. It was the place where the ultimate decision was made on the basis of courage and skill, on the basis of manhood itself, and it was this concept that marked the professional soldier as a romantic, a person who truly believed in the rules. — Tom Clancy

Throughout history, people have risked their lives for love, for patriotism, for principle, and for God far more often than fear has made them run away. Upon that fact depends progress. The — Tom Clancy

And this letter threatened change, didn't it? It was a threat, and he might have to do something about the threat. That meant doing something about the man behind it. It had happened before. It could happen again, he decided. Andropov would not live long enough to learn that in considering this action, he would set in motion the demise of his own country. — Tom Clancy

I will be up at 8 A.M. making spaghetti bolognese for Peter and Sophia's evening meal if I'm working that day. I may not get back for the evening, and I worry if I don't do that, then they won't eat anything. — Abbey Clancy

It is a principle of diplomacy that one must know something of the truth in order to lie convincingly. — Tom Clancy

Therefore, to you, and to the fifty governors, I have a request. Please, do not send me politicians. We do not have the time to do the things that must be done through that process. I need people who do real things in the real world. I need people who do not want to live in Washington. I need people who will not try to work the system. I need people who will come here at great personal sacrifice to do an important job, and then return home to their normal lives. I want engineers who know how things are built. I want physicians who know how to make sick people well. I want cops who know what it means when your civil rights are violated by a criminal. I want farmers who grow real food on real farms. I want people who know what it's like to have dirty hands, and pay a mortgage bill, and raise kids, and worry about the future. I want people who know they're working for you and not themselves. That's what I want. That's what I need. I think that's what a lot of you want, too. — Tom Clancy

Time was the ultimate commodity, and you were born with only so much to spend, and there was no passbook to tell you the exact amount. — Tom Clancy

How strange that he should feel trapped by plans he himself had set in motion. — Tom Clancy

Brian had been killed the year before on a Campus black op in Libya. Dom had been there, he'd held his brother in his arms as he died, and then Dominic returned to The Campus, hell-bent on doing the hard, dangerous work that he believed in. — Tom Clancy

I don't discuss works in progress ... — Tom Clancy

Fashion definitely has the power to change the world. — Abbey Clancy

The only way to do all the things you'd like to do is to read — Tom Clancy

There was nothing like an appeal to honor. It was a virtue that all craved, even those who lacked it. Fundamentally, honor was itself a debt, a code of behavior, a promise, something inside yourself that you owed to the others who saw it in you. — Tom Clancy

A Guards regiment, eh, Comrade Colonel? These tit-sucking children could not guard a Turkish whorehouse; much less do anything worthwhile inside of it!
While commenting on how unprepared his troops are. -Alekseyev — Tom Clancy

Rube, this is me you're talking to, Clancy Crew, remember? Your best buddy? And I hate to break it to you this way but your grandmother on your mother's side, she isn't sick - she's dead! — Lauren Child

Dominic took the bait: If the President breaks the law, then the House of Representatives impeaches him and the Senate convicts him, and he's out on the street, — Tom Clancy

Clancy. You really want to pretend we're on the same team?"
"Aren't I basically the mascot? — Alexandra Bracken

Can't take him up there for a short haircut." Hallston smiled coldly. "I doubt anyone — Tom Clancy

People in the intelligence community are not made to believe in coincidences. — Tom Clancy

Zane held his breath. "They're all clean?"
Owen winced. "I'm not going to say yes. The redhead gave Digger her number, so I'd fire her immediately for poor judgment."
"Hey!" Digger grunted.
"Clancy would eat you alive," Zane told Digger with a smirk. — Abigail Roux

What am I supposed to do about you? — Tom Clancy

I think it's going to be remembered as the last major war on planet Earth, if we're lucky, if we maintain our foreign policy properly ... It will be remembered as the last time major countries had to put people in the field and put them in harm's way. It may be the last of all human nature wars, which is a nice way to remember any kind of a war, as the last one. — Tom Clancy

Specifically, they'd used genetic material from colon cancer, one of the more robust strains, and the results had been striking. The — Tom Clancy

Tears released poisons from inside, poisons which if not released could be as deadly as the real kind. The — Tom Clancy

There is an old saying: In history nothing is true but the names and dates. In fiction everything is true but the names and dates. The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense. — Tom Clancy

IT WASN'T THAT Moore — Tom Clancy

The first music I was ever exposed to was Irish folk music, like the Clancy Brothers. My father plays that and Christmas songs. — Matt Dillon

Speak your dialogue out loud. If it sounds like the way people talk, then write it down. — Tom Clancy

From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, We will fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea. First to fight for right and freedom, and to keep our honor clean, We are proud to claim the title of United States Marines. - Marine Corps Hymn — Tom Clancy

My life is a very simple life thank you — Tom Clancy

Colleges typically did not tell you that ninety percent of your education came after you hung the parchment on the wall. People might ask for a rebate. — Tom Clancy

I'm constantly on the go and have found rushing round after a new born baby is the best form of exercise! I always remind myself that men appreciate a womanly shape and some curves! — Abbey Clancy

Privacy and loneliness were the traditional luxuries accorded to a skipper. — Tom Clancy

I'm used to doing my jobs like a couple of photo shoots a month and a bit of presenting here and there, but the majority of my days are with the baby. — Abbey Clancy

Life is about the people we meet, and the experiences we have along the way. — Joanne Clancy