Quotes from Robert Harris

The integers of death.

Can a constitution devised centuries ago to replace a monarchy, and based upon a citizens' militia, possibly hope to run an empire whose scope is beyond anything ever dreamed of by its framers? Or must the existence of standing armies and the influx of inconceivable wealth inevitably destroy our democratic system?

A comrade who deserts a comrade is a cowardly dog, and all such dogs should die a dog's death, comrade -

Cuáles son las únicas armas que poseo, Tiro? -me preguntó, y él mismo respondió-: Estas -dijo, señalando sus libros-. Las palabras. César y Pompeyo tienen soldados; Craso, dinero; Clodio, los matones de la calle. Mis legiones son mis palabras. Gracias a ellas he llegado donde estoy, y gracias a ellas sobreviviré.

and then I shall face the politician's worst nightmare: the requirement to give a straight answer.

The most important thing in any endeavour is to get involved in the fight, and in that way learn what to do next.

the struggle [for existence] almost invariably will be most severe between the individuals of the same species, for they frequent the same districts, require the same food, and are exposed to the same dangers. CHARLES DARWIN, On the Origin of Species (1859)

a man of great ambition and boundless stupidity, two qualities which in politics often go together.

every time you fill an appointment, you make one man grateful and ten resentful.

She was my—? I never knew what to call her. To say she was my girlfriend was absurd; no one the wrong side of thirty has a girlfriend. Partner wasn't right either, as we didn't live under the same roof. Lover? How could one keep a straight face? Mistress? Do me a favor. Fiancée? Certainly not. I suppose I ought to have realized it was ominous that forty thousand years of human language had failed to produce a word for our relationship.

It's like interviewing a new cleaner. Do you want someone who can give you the history of cleaning and the theory of cleaning, or do you want someone who'll just get down and clean your fucking house? They chose you because they think you'll clean their fucking house.

I know the internet is the stuff a paranoiac's dreams are made of.

Often the most powerful men in a state can pass down a street unrecognized, while the most famous bask in feted impotence

One could never be sure with Oliver. Ambition and godliness, self-interest and the higher cause, the base metal entwined with the gold.

I guess you're familiar with Moore's Law? This states that the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit—which basically means memory size and processing speed—will double every eighteen months, and costs will halve. Moore's Law has held with amazing consistency since 1965, and it still holds.

it is human nature that what starts as gratitude quickly becomes dependency and ends as entitlement.

I make no claim to be a philosopher, but this much I have observed: that whenever a thing seems at its zenith, you may be sure its destruction has already started.

Com'è strano, pensò più tardi March, vivere la tua vita nell'ignoranza del passato, del tuo mondo, di te stesso. Eppure era così facile! Tiravi avanti giorno per giorno, seguendo il percorso che altri avevano tracciato per te, senza alzare mai la testa...sempre avvolto nella loro logica...dalla culla alla tomba. Era una sorta di paura. Bene, addio a tutto. Era una bella cosa lasciarselo alle spalle...qualunque cosa dovesse accadere adesso.

You can at least say this for the blackout, he thought, it has given us back the stars.

YOU CAN ALWAYS SPOT A FOOL, for he is the man who will tell you he knows who is going to win an election

To argue that to preserve our freedoms we must suspend our freedoms, that to safeguard elections we must cancel elections, that to defend ourselves from dictatorship we must appoint a dictator – what logic is this?

You may object that this was corny, but don't forget that (a) corn sells by the ton, (b) that I only had two weeks to rework an entire manuscript, and (c) that it sure a hell was a lot better than starting with the derivation of the name Lang.

As long as war has not begun, there is always hope that it may be prevented, and you know that I am going to work for peace to the last moment. Goodnight.

By this time it was after half past three. The winter light was fading. Beyond