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 More Quotes by Tom Clancy More Quotes From Tom Clancy Fighting wars is not so much about killing people as it is about finding things out. The more you know, the more likely you are to win a battle. Tom Clancy fighting winning war I haven't got any fan mail from Osama bin Laden. I have no reason to believe he reads my stuff I'll never decide for commercial reasons to put something in that endangers our national security. You just can't do that. Tom Clancy mail fans believe I'd rather talk to people who do things than complain about other people who do things. I say they're idiots. Tom Clancy idiot complaining people 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 generations watches people Civilians listened to officers, which said a lot about the intelligence of civilians. Tom Clancy civilians officers said When I go to peoples' houses I like to sneak into their bedrooms and try on their underwear. Tom Clancy stupidity god house 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 lost-friendship vietnam loss I'm a spy. It's not really... I worked for the CIA 15 years. The cover was I worked for the insurance business. Tom Clancy cia spy years Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people. Tom Clancy information-knowledge knowledge-and-power people Keep at it! The one talent that's indispensable to a writer is persistence. You must write the book, else there is no book. It will not finish itself. Do not try to commit art. Just tell the damned story. Tom Clancy writing book art There is a long and honorable tradition of citizens in service to their nation that goes back at least as far as Cincinnatus, the Roman citizen who, more than once answered his country's call, then returned to his farm and his family and his work. Tom Clancy political long country Anti-Catholicism is the last respectable prejudice. You can't hate black people anymore, of course, and you can't hate homosexuals anymore, but you can hate all the Catholics you want. Tom Clancy catholic hate people Liberation and equal-rights issues notwithstanding, it was a man's job to make a woman feel cherished and respected. Tom Clancy rights jobs men "Literature" is written material that, 100 years after the death of the author, is forced upon high school students. Tom Clancy literature years school The tactics...no, amateurs discuss tactics,.... Professional soldiers study logistics. Tom Clancy tactics logistics soldier I don't discuss works in progress. Tom Clancy work-in-progress progress 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 nice war country Wars are begun by frightened men. They fear war, but more than that, they fear what will happen if they don't start one or take equivalent action, I suppose. Tom Clancy action men war People, I am actually fairly smart. Why has this not occurred to anyone? The information is all out there, if you go looking for it, and the classified stuff just comes from analyzing the unclassified stuff and connecting the dots. Tom Clancy smart information people 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 real lying art
