Andrew Vachss

“Hard" isn't the same as "mean".”

— Andrew Vachss

My stuff isn't for everyone.

— Andrew Vachss

My life is triage.

— Andrew Vachss

I don't take advances for my books.

— Andrew Vachss

I think people should be consumers of journalism.

— Andrew Vachss

Even if sheep could talk, they'd never ask questions.

— Andrew Vachss

I'm in pursuit of what cannot be achieved: perfection.

— Andrew Vachss

When you hunt predators, the best camouflage is weakness.

— Andrew Vachss

I don't sign contracts for my books.

— Andrew Vachss

“If you can't be counted on, you won't be counted in.”

— Andrew Vachss

Family' is not just a biological word, it's an an operative one.

— Andrew Vachss

It's the family you choose that counts.

— Andrew Vachss

While early childhood experiences may impel, they do not compel. In the end, evil is a matter of choice.

— Andrew Vachss

The Bowery station on the J line is what happens to a neighborhood once politicians realize the people who live there don't…

— Andrew Vachss

The Humane Society of America thinks Michael Vick should have a dog. I think whoever's in charge there should have a lobotomy.

— Andrew Vachss

Journalism is the protection between people and any sort of totalitarian rule. That's why my hero, admittedly a flawed one, is a…

— Andrew Vachss

The third person narrator, instead of being omniscient, is like a constantly running surveillance tape.

— Andrew Vachss

I hate bullies. I hate them. I'm not good enough with words to describe how much I hate them.

— Andrew Vachss

Fighting means you could lose. Bullying means you can't. A bully wants to beat somebody; he doesn't want to fight somebody.

— Andrew Vachss

No politician is threatened by the child protective constituency, because it does not exist.

— Andrew Vachss

Most investigators don't even know what the word means. You stop the cops from using informants and the only crimes they'd ever…

— Andrew Vachss

There is no Constitutional right to prey on others. The Internet is just a piece of technology, like the telephone. Society has…

— Andrew Vachss

Ask any experienced defense lawyer: the real risks are for an accused person who is innocent. A guilty defendant has many more…

— Andrew Vachss

“That’s Manhattan today—all the money goes up top, while the infrastructure wastes away from neglect. The famous skyline is a cheap trick…

— Andrew Vachss

“A couple of buffoons were running for some state-senate seat just vacated by the incumbent's prison term. One accused the other of…

— Andrew Vachss

Fear is an enemy that can be killed only at close range. The closest range of all is intimacy. The deeper the…

— Andrew Vachss

Cats are the lap-dancers of the animal world. Soon as you stop shelling out, they move on, find another lap. They're furry…

— Andrew Vachss

I don't understand people whose gratification is a BMW. You don't know what joy is until you see a kid who was…

— Andrew Vachss

“In my world, people are always plotting. You have no idea of all the crimes people in business commit every day. Like…

— Andrew Vachss

Chronic sexual predators [to Vachss, pedophiles] have crossed an osmotic membrane. They can’t step back to the other side - our side.…

— Andrew Vachss

The sweetest thing I could say about my mother and father is that if I had the choice, I would have picked…

— Andrew Vachss

“He had the radio turned to some Spanish-language station at a volume that reminded me of the holding tank at Riker's Island…

— Andrew Vachss

“Max can’t hear or speak, but he communicates okay. He wasn’t programmed for fear—whoever rolled the genetic dice left that out too.…

— Andrew Vachss

“You want proof evolution is for real, don’t waste your time with fossils; just check out the New York City rat. They…

— Andrew Vachss

People are pushing against the fabric of society all the time.

— Andrew Vachss

Without question, I've either got to be a writer, or I fail.

— Andrew Vachss

I didn't start out angry. I started out a young man wanting adventure.

— Andrew Vachss

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

— Andrew Vachss

Max Allan Collins blends fact and fiction like no other writer.

— Andrew Vachss

If I ever stopped being angry, I couldn't write anymore. How could I?

— Andrew Vachss