I’ve fought for and against pretty much every cause there is. There will always be war of some kind. At first, it was over fertile soil and good water, then precious metal and then the most popular version of human disagreement, ‘My God is better than your God.’ Whether you draw your faith from Jeremiah and Jesus, Allah and Muhammad or Brahma and Buddha, it doesn’t matter. Someone will tell you’re wrong, and he’ll fight you over it. Me, I believe in aliens, and to hell with all earthly gods. In the grand scheme of a trillion planets in the universe we’re just not that damn important anyway. And humans are rotten to the core.

— David Baldacci

John was smart, but he was also a young male with a usually empty belly. Sometimes it was simple as that

— David Baldacci

Libraries are the mainstays of democracy. The first thing dictators do when taking over a country is close all the libraries, because libraries are full of ideas and differences of opinion, all the things we say we want in a free and open society. So keep ‘em, fund ‘em, embrace and cherish ‘em.

— David Baldacci

Politics is a dirty, ruthless business, Agent Robin. It makes the intelligence sector look relatively honorable by comparison.

— David Baldacci

She apparently didn't expect any trouble, but she also never expected everything to go perfectly either. That was a good rule to live by Robin knew. Because perfection was rarely the case in the field.

— David Baldacci

She glanced around at the tombstones. “You’re surrounded by death here. Way too depressing. You really might want to think about getting another job.”“You see death and sadness in these sunken patches of dirt, I see lives lived fully and the good deeds of past generations influencing the future ones.

— David Baldacci

So the criminals win, that's what you're saying? For now, they do. But it's a long game, Jamison. And I always play for the long game.

— David Baldacci

The military is a very cool world to write about. I went down to Ft. Benning, Ga., for military training, and I learned a lot about soldiers and officers and why they joined up and what their life has been like.

— David Baldacci

Why can't people just sit and read books and be nice to each other?

— David Baldacci

-“Why do men like you do the job you do? It can’t be for the medals. And it’s certainly not the money.” Stone said nothing.-“Why then? God and country?”-“Both simpler and more complex, Mr. President.”-“What then?”-“So I can look at myself in the mirror.

— David Baldacci