Quotes from Ken Follett

Fear could paralyse. Action was the antidote.

Your integrity is like a sword, he would say: you shouldn't wave it until you're about to put it to the test.

What she needs,' Tom said aloud 'is a husband.' Agnes said crisply, 'Well, she can't have mine.

A white American can orbit the earth, but a black American can't enter a restroom.

All birds and men are sure to die but songs may live forever.

This is amazing," Volodya said. "He's the President, yet he has to make excuses all the time for what he does!" "Something like that," Woody said. "We call it democracy.

His aim was the glory of God, but the glory of Philip pleased him too.

How terrible, Jack thought, to be old and know that your life has been wasted.

He was looking forward eagerly to seeing her again. He had coped perfectly well on his own, of course, but it was very reassuring to have someone in your life who was always ready to fight for you, and he had missed that comforting feeling

Men were the only animals that slaughtered their own kind by the million, and turned the landscape into a waste of shell craters and barbed wire. Perhaps the human race would wipe itself out completely, and leave the world to the birds and trees, Walter thought apocalyptically. Perhaps that would be for the best.

When I'm brave and strong, and care for children and the sick and the poor, I become a better person. And when I'm cruel, cowardly, or tell lies, or get drunk, I turn into someone less worthy, and I can't respect myself. That's the divine retribution I believe in

She was wilful, maddening, quarrelsome and intolerant, but somehow these things were trifling: there was a passion inside her that burned like a candle in a lantern, and it lit up his life.

If it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive.

Trials rarely found men not guilty. The general view was that if a man were innocent he would not have got into trouble in the first place.

He forced himself to take a single step forward; and once he had done that the second was a little less difficult, and the third was almost easy.

All men make mistakes,' said the ancient Greek Sophocles. 'But a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only sin is pride.

There was also something false about the atmosphere here. It was solemn and dignified like a church or the court of a president or a museum. They were moneylenders, but they acted as if charging interest were a noble calling, like the priesthood.

She was dressed in white, and her tunic had amazing flared sleeves which trailed on the ground behind her as she glided down the stairs. Her hair was a mass of dark curls tumbling around her face, and she had dark, dark eyes. Jack realized that this was what the chansons meant when they referred to a beautiful princess in a castle. No wonder the knights all wept when the princess died.

He was seething inside with a new emotion. Nothing seemed very important anymore except the Princess. He was single-minded about her. He was enchanted. He was possessed. He was in love.

He did not really understand the game they were playing: in his world, the best way to get something was to deserve it, not to toady to the giver.

It was the study hour. Most of the monks were reading. A few were meditating, an activity that was suspiciously similar to dozing.

You're the one who doesn't understand, Lev said. In America, I have my own car. There's more food than you can eat, all the booze I want, all the cigarettes I can smoke. I have five suits! What's the point in having five suits? Grigori said in frustration. It's like having five beds. You can only use one at a time!

It was unladylike even to know the name of your lawyer, let alone to understand your rights under the law. No wonder women were mercilessly exploited.

It was said that pilgrims should not spend too much time planning their journey, for they might learn of so many hazards that they decide not to go