Top 32 Quotes & Sayings by Vince Flynn

There's a lot more to publishing a book than writing it and slapping a cover on it.

I think the more avenues that open up when people want to publish, the better. Some of the authors that want to jump ship from the traditional houses and go on their own, you know what? Good luck. It's going to be a lot tougher than you think.

I'm a bit of a Libertarian.

I have such bad memories, sitting in the back of a classroom, being told, you know, everybody is going to read a paragraph, and skipping ahead to my paragraph and being mortified and trying to read it enough times so that I wouldn't stutter and stammer, getting called on, even in high school.

A major theme in all my books is that the CIA is not only the first line of defense but they should also be the first line of offense.

And when I go around and talk to schools, what I tell the kids are, first of all, you have to accept each other's differences. Some of you are going to be a crappy football player, some of you are going to be a great mathematician. Whatever it is, accept each other's differences and help prop each other up.

It's what every writer needs: a daybed.

My doctors warned me repeatedly that if you don't stay positive, you don't do well.

It's this upside-down world that we live in where we afford political correctness to the most intolerant group of individuals on the planet.

I just look at what's going on in the world.

When I give a lot of speeches, they're always on the fly. I mean, I know what I'm going to say roughly, but I do not - will not read.

Anybody who knew me growing up calls me Vinny.

No matter how bad you think you have it, there's always - always somebody who's got it way, way worse.

One of the most talented writers out there is Brian Haig.

I'm a big believer in free enterprise. If people want to try it, then go for it.

I have been blessed to have the same editor and work for a great publishing house.

A good football team plays offense and defense. You have to be aggressive and disrupt.

No one writes better historical fiction than Steven Pressfield. The Afghan War that was waged by Alexander the Great 2000 years ago is eerily similar to the one that's being fought today. This book should be required reading for anyone who wants to better understand what American and Coalition forces are up against in one of history's most tribal and troubled regions.

When I was writing my first novel a friend told me I should apply for a grant from the government that was offered to support starving artists. I can't tell you how much this deeply offended me. I told her in very clear language that I thought it was ridiculous to think that other Americans ought to pay for me to chase my dream. Anybody who understands pride and self-determination gets this. So I bartended at night, I wrote during the day, and I paid for my own damn insurance. I didn't expect anybody else to pick it up for me.

Revenge is more wild, less calculated...deeply personal. Retribution is a punishment that is morally right and fully deserved. (Mitch Rapp)

just let Mitch be Mitch

People, especially successful people, are habitual creatures. They're organized. This makes them productive - Gus Mitchell

[He] saw communism for the sham that it was--a bunch of brutes who seized power in the name of the people, only to repress the very people they claimed to champion.

...any form of government that required the repression, imprisonment, and execution of those who disagreed with it was certainly not a government of the people.

Underestimating one's enemy was a classic tactical mistake --- one that was usually born out of stupidity or arrogance or both. (Harry Smith)

No offence Mitch, but you look like s*****." "I feel like s****

People who think God is on their side are capable of the most inhumane acts. (Petrov)

Have you ever heard the phrase, it is better to keep your mouth closed and have people wonder if you are stupid than open it and remove all doubt? (Hakim al Harbi)

I have a history of disregarding orders. - Mitch Rapp

I am a huge fan of Alan Furst. Furst is the best in the business--the most talented espionage novelist of our generation.

Killing Lincoln is a must-read historical thriller. Bill O'Reilly recounts the dramatic events of the spring of 1865 with such exhilarating immediacy that you will feel like you are walking the streets of Washington DC on the night that John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln. This is a hugely entertaining, heart-stopping read.

If you're not busy living, you're dying.