Quotes from Robert Harris

who had the advantage of seeming to be an American without the disadvantage of actually being one; and Adeyemi

History was a patchwork of voids. The great university libraries and public archives had mostly rotted away or been used as fuel in the Dark Age. An entire generation's correspondence and memories had vanished into this mysterious entity the antiquarians called 'The Cloud'.

The old days of an inner circle of like-minded souls communicating with parchment and quill pens are gone. Sooner or later most things will be revealed.

From the Latin, con clavis : 'with a key'.

If I were convinced that any nation had made up its mind to dominate the world by fear of its force, I should feel that it must be resisted. Under such a domination, life for people who believe in liberty would not be worth living. But war is a fearful thing, and we must be very clear, before we embark on it, that it is really the great issues that are at stake, and that the call to risk everything in their defence, when all the consequences are weighed, is irresistible.

I sense that I am dawdling in this narrative, having already reached my eighth roll of Hieratica, and need to speed it up a little, else either I shall die on the job, or you will be worn out reading.

My four golden principles are more important now than ever: take it one step at a time; approach the matter dispassionately; avoid a rush to judgement; confide in nobody until there is hard evidence.

BATHS WERE NOT a luxury. Baths were the foundation of civilisation. Baths were what raised even the meanest citizen of Rome above the level of the wealthiest hairy-arsed barbarian. Baths instilled the triple disciplines of cleanliness, healthfulness and strict routine.

How odd it is, thought March afterwards, to live your life in ignorance of the past, of your world, yourself. Yet how easy to do it! You went along from day to day, down paths other people had prepared for you, never raising your head - enfolded in their logic, from swaddling clothes to shroud. It was a kind of fear. Well, goodbye to that. And good to leave it behind - whatever happened now. - 214

It had been a futile gesture, of course, but then they were trapped in an era when futile gestures were all that were available.

Nature has granted man no better gift than the shortness of life. The senses grow dull, the limbs are numb, sight, bearing, gait, even the teeth and alimentary organs die before we do, and yet this period is reckoned a portion of life. - Pg. 82

It was only later that he recognised the folly he had fallen into, a human trait he had long observed: that merely because one wishes to believe in a thing, it does not follow that it is true.

This is the trouble with internet research, in my experience. The proportion of what's useful to what's dross dwindles very quickly, and suddenly it's like searching for something dropped down the back of a sofa and coming up with handfuls of old coins, buttons, fluff, and sucked sweets. What's important is to ask the right question, and

That so many people can derive so much pleasure from such a revolting spectacle," he said to me when he returned home that night, "almost makes one doubt the very premise on which democracy is based." But he was pleased nevertheless that the masses now thought of him as a good sport, as well as "the Scholar" and "the Greek.

And when did the catastrophe occur?' 'Three years later, in two thousand and twenty-five.' 'In what

church that he guessed must have stood square on this land for at least a thousand years; more likely fifteen hundred. Wrapped

he possessed for attractive form of courage: bravery of a nervous man. After all, any rash fool can be a hero if he sets no value on his life or hasn't the wit to appreciate the danger. But to understand the risks, perhaps even to flinch at first, but then summon the strength to face them down--that is my opinion is the most commendable for of value...

and selfishness. We torture her at all hours by iron and wood, fire and stone. We dig her up and dump her in the sea. We sink mineshafts into her and drag out her entrails—and all for a jewel to wear on a pretty finger. Who can blame her if she occasionally quivers with anger?

we must be careful not to do our enemies' work for them. 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?

vita umbratilis

Suddenly his face twisted into a sneer. 'Oh, I can see what you're thinking, Hartmann. "What a vulgar fellow! A car salesman! And now he fancies himself as a second Bismarck!" But we have done something your kind never managed. We have made Germany great again.' 'Actually,' said Hartmann mildly, 'I was thinking you have egg on your chin.

Politics is a country idiot capable of concentrating on only one thing at a time.

It was not quite seven and Berlin was alive with possibilities the day had yet to dull.

The line between accident and suicide isn't always clearly defined. You could kill yourself without really making up your mind.