Brad Meltzer Quotes

We are all ordinary. We are all boring. We are all spectacular. We are all shy. We are all bold. We are all heroes. We are all helpless. It just depends on the day.

Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.

there's nothing more intimate in life than simply being understood. And understanding someone else.

In this world, there was nothing scarier than trusting someone. But there was also nothing more rewarding.

No matter how far we come, our parents are always in us.

It's the worst part of seeing old friends: when your rose-colored memories become undone by reality.

The worst lies in life are the ones we tell ourselves.

She dumped me for the worst reason of all. For absolutely no reason at all...I mean, if she fell in love with someone else, or I did something wrong, or I let her down in some unforgivable way...That, I'd understand, right? But instead, she said...it wasn't anything. Not a single thing. It was just me. I was nice. I was kind. We just...she didn't see the connection anymore. I think she thought I was boring. And the cruelest part is, when someone says something mean about you, you know when they're right.

She wasn't tracking down her father to learn more about him. She was tracking him down to learn more about herself.

Stories aren’t the beauty of what did happen. They’re the beauty of what could happen.

Nico was wrong. The Book of Fate isn't already written. It's written every day. Some scars never heal. Then again, some do.

There's the life you live and the life you leave behind. but what you share with someone else - especially someone you love - that's not just how you bury your past. It's how you write you future.

...can I tell you something...? I don't think you're in love with the past. I think you're scared of the future.

You tell them - you tell them there's a cost.....Every decision we make in life, there's always a cost.

We all live best in our imaginations.

So much harm comes into this world when the wrong thing is said. But that's nothing compared to the pain from what goes unsaid.

The only thing worse than remembering the past is the fear of reliving it.

For me, Superman's greatest contribution has never been the superhero part: it's the Clark Kent part - the idea that any of us, in all our ordinariness, can change the world.

I understand pain. I've lived with pain my entire life. But pain is nothing compared to betrayal. And betrayal is nothing compared to knowing that the javelin in your back was rammed there by the one person in your life you actually trusted.

History doesn't choose individual people. History chooses everyone. Every day. The only question is: How long will you ignore the call?

The window on the right featured contemporary bestselling authors like Brad Meltzer, James Patterson, David Baldacci, Nelson DeMille, and others who make more money writing about what I do than I make doing what I do.

Life is filled with trapdoors.

All writers steal from their own lives.

We're all being tested...That's what life is.

Haven't you ever played Uno?... Sometimes you have to lose all your cards to win.

People are more twisted than people think.

Every life has forks in the road. And sometimes, the tines of that fork stab deep.

Tell your story. That's the secret of immortality. The one true way to live forever.

There are some people in your life who bring back old memories. And there are others - your first kiss, your first love, your first sex - who, the moment you see them, bring a spark...and something far more potent. They bring back your old life and with that, potential. And possibilities. And the feeling that if you were back in that time, life could be so very different from where you're stuck right now. That's the most tantalizing thing....I want my potential back.

There's the life you live and the life you leave behind. But what you share with someone else - especially someone you love - that's not just how you bury your past. It's how you write your future.

Life delivers far less disappointment when your expectations are low.

You need to understand something Cal-in this world, we're not humans having a divine experience. We're divine beings having a human experience.

Some dreams linger for years. And some last forever.

Don't go to eighth grade...don't talk about something old...don't bring up old memories that have nothing to do with who we are now. THIS is all that matters! TODAY.

...as your father, my instinct is to protect you ... Other people will want to protect you too. But remember that you are not a damsel in distress, waiting for some prince to rescue you. Forget the prince. With your brain and your resourcefulness, you can rescue yourself.

Y’know what they call the person who does all the work but gets none of the credit? An opportunity.

I spend every day showing people the power of history. But history only has the power you give it.

There's nothing wrong with wanting someone to save us - or admitting we can't do it all ourselves.

Our fathers never leave us. Ever.

It's so damn easy to judge. But as Paolo knows from his niece, no matter how much you want someone back in your life, sometimes it's the letting-them-back-in part that hurts the most

You see, it doesn't matter if they're wrong. From 9/11 to recent shootings here in the United States, there's nothing more dangerous than a true believer on his own crazy mission.

Sometimes a speech can make things better. This isn't one of those times.

It's rotten, okay? And once something's rotten, it can never be good again.

Today, I don't believe in destiny. But I do believe in history...There's nothing more powerful than history...

...there are certain traits that God puts in each of us. There's no escaping them.

In this life, y'ever notice that you face the same challenges again and again? We all do. They're challenges to your soul. We repeat them until we face them and master them. Yes we all have free will, but there're divine patterns out there, and the battle is to see them.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm. As you get older, remember you have another hand: the first is to help yourself, the second is to help others. —AUDREY HEPBURN

Since the moment I saw her yesterday, I've been looking through the sparkly prism of exhilaration that comes with any old flame. But now, for the first time, I'm not just seeing what I want. I'm seeing what my friend needs.

Haven’t you ever played Uno?” he asks calmly. “Sometimes you have to lose all your cards to win.

The past may not hurt you, but it won't challenge you, either.

You may never make peace with your father. But you can always make peace with yourself.

A little threat of evil is always the far better way to fill the seats. But sometimes the monsters aren't who we think they are.

The point is, as death gets closer - what's so wrong with wanting someone you love to live forever?

Don't you know me by now, Angel? I never do what I'm meant for.

...I'm not saying I needed my life to be a symphony - I just never thought it'd turn out to be a country song.

Do you not see that? That's what being family is - that's the best part - it's not tit for tat or who owes more, it's simply - when one hurts, so does the other; when one finds good, you share in that, too. That's family.

...history is a selection process - it chooses moments and events, and even people - it hands them a situation that they shouldn't be able to overcome, and it's in those moments, in that fight, that people find out who they are.

Dream big, work hard, stay humble.

Most archivists don't like surprises. That's why we work in the past.

Not every President is a great speaker. Not every President is a great thinker. But in the modern era, every single President is a master of one thing: eye contact.

Indeed, to this day, I think if you blame everything on the government, you're not just wrong, you're being reckless. It's as silly as blaming everything on the Freemasons, or the Illuminati, or insert-bad-guy-here. But I do believe that someone must ask the hard questions, especially of our elected officials as well as powerful men who become members of so-called secret societies. Remember: Governments don't lie. People lie. And if you want the real story, you need to find out more about those people.

In the end, one detail is unarguable: There will always be those searching for treasure. Never forget: We are a country founded on legends and myths. We love them, especially legends of treasure. Looking for treasure isn't just part of being an American, it is America.

Just because you’re not dead doesn’t mean you’re alive.

I need the kind of help that comes with a side order of help.

We may have heaven and hell in us, but we choose who we are. And who we fight.

Take it from the former pastor: The true believers are the ones who'll burn you the worst.

Life is a monster, Calvin. Especially when it doesn't turn out the way you hoped. But that doesn't mean you can hide from it.

That was the problem with being desperate. It always made you sloppy.

From ancient to modern times, the human animal knows how to find fighting.

...but ever since she returned to my life...life doesn't make complete sense. But it definitely makes more sense than it used to.

Pam described herself as the person in fifth grade who got left behind when her friends got popular.

life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.

When you lose a parent, you’re an orphan. When you lose a husband, you’re a widow. But as Zig had learned fourteen years ago, when you lose a child, they don’t have a name for that.

...this cryptic game of hide-and-seek is what makes it one of the greatest historical mysteries. So many of the symbols can be interpreted in so many different ways, there's always the possibility that all we're really looking at is a blank slate onto which anything can be read.

We all hate something from our past, Cal. That's why we run from it, or compensate for it, or even fill our van with homeless people. But when something like this happens-when your dad shows up-maybe there is a bigger purpose. 'What you intended for evil, God intended for good.' Genesis 50:20

History isn't written by the winners - it's written by everyone - it's a jigsaw of facts from contradictory sources. But every once in a while, you unearth that one original document that no one can argue with...

...if you think the worst you'll get the worst, but if you think the best..." "and then everything will blow up in your face anyway. Don't you get the punchline yet? Its the great cosmic practical joke: Knock knock, who's there? Big kick in the Ass.

Nothing in life lives up to the hype… except being a parent.

I chose this life. I know what I'm doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn't that day. And tomorrow won't be either.

would all go tell their friends and neighbors and cousins and strangers in the supermarket that we went up for our baptism and sneezed in the holy water.

they can also be as manipulative as a James Taylor song. Sure, they're calming and bring you to a good place-but at their core, the whole goal of the damn thing is to undo you.

the turkeys get you down.” He then slipped the note into

According to Benjamin Franklin, “He that can have patience, can have what he will.

None of us are who we are on our very worst days,” he adds. “I know you know that.

there’s nothing more intimate in life than simply being understood. And understanding someone else.

Be daring, be daring, always be daring. There is no big dream unless you dream big.

Today, there’s more computing power in a cell phone than there was on Apollo 11, and that brought us to the moon and back.

Remember, just because something hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Never forget, the greatest battle we’ll ever face is the battle within ourselves.

And more than that, the United States of America was a whole new type of nation. Nothing like America had ever been tried before in the history of the world.

No civilian has been allowed to see the gold in Fort Knox since 1974, nearly 40 years ago.

The experienced life is far more fulfilling than the blissful and innocent life. Y’know who said that?” “Jesus.” “No, not Jesus. William Blake.

Not the bravest. Or the most daring. In Dr. Moorcraft’s words, the greatest secret of the Plankholders was simply that, to the best of the army’s assessment, they were the ones who cared about no one but themselves.

I was ripe for the first escapist avenue that came my way. I will forever be grateful that it came in the form of books. When my world became too much to handle alone, I always had a way out. Even if only for a little while.

In every city the President visits, massive C-17 cargo planes arrive the day before—always at 1 p.m.—delivering ready-to-build octagonal saferooms to the hotel. In the President’s room, the Service shoves all the couches and chairs against one wall, builds the saferoom panel by panel, then rolls in wide pieces of ballistic glass to cover each window. If

But unlike the Freemasons or other secret societies, who were focused on longtime traditions, the KGC wanted something far more hateful: for the Union to end so they could run their own slave-based society. Their goal was to create a true, physical “golden circle”—with Mexico and the Caribbean—to build a private part of the country where slavery would continue. If that led to breaking up the Union, the KGC was all for it.

There are some people in your life who bring back old memories. And there are others - your first kiss, your first love, your first sex - who, the moment you see them, bring a spark… and something far more potent. They bring back your old life and with that, potential. And possibilities. And the feeling that if you were back in that time, life could be so very different from where you’re stuck right now. That’s the most tantalizing thing… I want my potential back.

At this moment, he happens to glance at a mirror affixed to a bureau across the room. In this mirror, he sees something that disturbs him. “Looking in that glass,” he’d later describe it, “I saw myself reflected nearly at full length; but my face, I noticed, had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about three inches from the tip of the other.” It’s a double image of his face, and “one of the faces was a little paler—say five shades—than the other.” When he stands up to look closer, “the illusion vanished,” but when he lies on the lounge again, the double image reappears: the “ghostly face in the mirror, mocking its healthy and hopeful fellow.

Do you know the real secret of how Presidents become Presidents?” Before I can answer, he explains, “It’s because they’re good at getting people to do things for them. In fact, they’re not just good at it. They’re maestros. Virtuosos. To get that title of President, you need thousands of people doing thousands of different things, all for your benefit. It’s a massive churning machine. And y’know what feeds that machine?” he asks. “People like you, Beecher. It’s fed with your life, and your family, and your reputation. Because when things go wrong…and they always go wrong…the President isn’t allowed to have that skunk smell around him. So when that happens, he doesn’t just replace you. He crumples you up, tosses you out back, and…chomp goes the woodchipper.

As long as Washington and his army were out there somewhere, the British could never really win the war. As a leader, George Washington’s personal identification with the army became so complete that he himself became almost synonymous with them. They all suffered extraordinary setbacks together, again and again. They never had enough funds, enough provisions, enough supplies, enough officers, enough men. Washington was with them in the snow, in the mud, in the rain, in the sleet, in the ice. He dealt with the endless politics, the staffing, the funding, the organizational challenges. He slogged through countless problems with logistics, recruiting, weapons, food, sickness, and transportation. It never got easy, and he never gave up. This is why, looking back at the strange events of America’s first conspiracy—all taking place in the first year of a long, drawn-out war—the most momentous question is: What if the conspirators had actually killed or captured George Washington?