Quotes by Andrew Vachss

I want to disabuse people of the idea that knowledge is power. Knowing how to get to Detroit is not the same thing as having the bus fare.

Fear is an enemy that can be killed only at close range. The closest range of all is intimacy. The deeper the fear is embedded in one’s spirit, the more vulnerable it is.

If a train is coming at you, closing your eyes wont save you ... but if you look right at it, you at least have a chance to jump.

Camouflage doesnt help when the other guy is willing to defoliate the whole jungle.

Its the family you choose that counts.

Family is not just a biological word, its an an operative one.

A couple of buffoons were running for some state-senate seat just vacated by the incumbents prison term. One accused the other of being against the Internet - a knockout punch in a world where whole hordes of humans think better sex is a faster modem.

If love would die along with death, this life wouldnt be so hard.

From the very second that two people sat together around a fire in the forest, there was another human out there who felt better in the dark.

People who dont have much get ugly about giving up the little they have left.

Be he the first to stand or the last, a man must stand, the father had told his adoring son. And if there is only one man, then that man must stand alone. ~Thomas to Bruce Wayne

You want proof evolution is for real, don’t waste your time with fossils; just check out the New York City rat. They started out as immigrants, stowaways in some ship’s cargo hold. Only the survivors got to breed, and they’ve been improving with every new litter. Smarter, faster, stronger. Getting ready to rule. Manhattan wouldn’t be the first island they took over.

Stealing to eat ain’t criminal—stealing to be rich is.

Most investigators dont even know what the word means. You stop the cops from using informants and the only crimes theyd ever solve would be those by deranged postal workers who come to work once too often.

Cats are the lap-dancers of the animal world. Soon as you stop shelling out, they move on, find another lap. Theyre furry little sociopaths. Pretty and slick -- in love with themselves. Whens the last time you saw a seeing-eye cat?

A dog is like a person—he needs a job and a family to be what he’s meant to be.

A free press doesnt mean its not a tame press.

The worst place to be is in the middle. When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.

The more bullets flying, the less accurate each individual slug has to be.

That’s Manhattan today—all the money goes up top, while the infrastructure wastes away from neglect. The famous skyline is a cheap trick now, a sleight-of-hand to draw your eye from the truth, as illusory as a bodybuilder with osteoporosis.