"The difference between me and you is that I do good fiction."
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. was an American writer. He was best known for his techno-thrillers, which feature technical details in espionage and military science settings. Originally an insurance agent, Clancy published his first novel, The Hunt for Red October, in 1984. Eighteen novels followed between 1986 and 2013.
"I like writing. Its the most fun Ive ever had at anything. You can build your own little world and — like a kid with his toy trains, — except instead of trains I have tanks and ships and airplanes and things... I get to make them do all the things I want them to do, and if I dont like the way things work out, I start again."
"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."
"In case you havent noticed, we live in a world that is for the first time in all of recorded human history unlikely to have a major war. There used to be this country called the Soviet Union; its not there anymore. The reason is our technology was better than theirs. Probably what pushed the Russians over the edge was SDI. It was really a combination of SDI and CNN. They realized they couldnt beat us so they decided to change the ball game."
"Man is a creature of hope and invention, both of which belie the idea that things cannot be changed."
"People live longer today than they ever have. They live happier lives, they have more knowledge, they have more information. All this is the result of communications technology and the tools with which man has equipped himself. How is any of that bad?"
"The odds against becoming the next Frederick Forsythe are, of course, somewhere between merely exponential and astronomical-incredible. I’ll settle for a book-jacket with my name on it."