Patterson attributes this line to Winston Churchill — 'you cannot give any kind of decent speech without quoting Churchill at least once' — and uses it to frame his own story. His first novel, 'The Thomas Berryman Number,' was turned down by 31 publishers before winning an Edgar Award as the best first mystery of the year. He keeps a list of every editor who rejected it. The point isn't petty revenge (though he admits 'lots of luck with that' when they ask for blurbs). The point is that rejection is inevitable, and the only response is to keep moving forward, improving your story with each failure.