Quotes from James Clavell

Horses are far worse than men for treachery...

Isn't it only laughter we can stay human?

Wars are fought by teenagers, you realize that. They really ought to be fought by the politicians and old people who start these wars. (Interview with Don Swaim of CBS Radio-1986)

Patience means holding back your inclination to the seven emotions: hate, adoration, joy, anxiety, anger, grief, fear. If you don't give way to the seven, you're patient, then you'll soon understand all manner of things and be in harmony with Eternity.' 

This sunset exists. Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity.

Gods are like people. They believe anything if you tell them right way.

I'm saying that some men are saints. Some are happy being meek and humble and unambitious. Some men are born content to be second-best.

If you smile when you lose, then you win in life.

I'll thank you to remember that not so many years ago men were burned at the stake just for saying the earth went round the sun!

Always remember, child,' her first teacher had impressed on her, 'that to think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort.

Love is a christian word. Love is a christian thought, a christian ideal. We have no word for 'love' as I understand you to mean it. Duty, loyalty, honor, respect, desire, those words and thoughts are what we have, all that we need.

Without trade the world will become what it was once—a hell where only the strongest arm and the heaviest lash was law. The meek will never inherit the earth. Aye, but at least they can be protected by law to live out their lives as they wish.

Sometimes it's wiser to give a quarry extra line -- that's how to catch a fish, neh?

love is like the sea, sometimes calm and sometimes stormy; it's dangerous, beautiful, death-dealing, life-giving. But never permanent, everchanging.

Listen, if you want peace you must learn to drink cha from an empty cup.

Karma es el principio del conocimiento. Después, está la paciencia. La paciencia es muy importante. Los pacientes son fuertes, Anjín-san. Paciencia significa dominar nuestra inclinación hacia las siete emociones: odio, adoración, gozo, ansiedad, irritación, dolor y miedo. Si las resistes, eres paciente, y pronto comprenderás todas las cosas y estarás en armonía con la Eternidad.»

Godrot opium, he thought. But he knew that his life was inexorably tied to opium—and that without it neither The Noble House nor the British Empire could exist.

I prefer the mist that surrounds me. Yes, I don't like a lot of what I see nowadays.

Damn what you like, Pieterzoon. But don't damn liquor. It's the stuff of life!

In war and in peace, a good enemy can be more valuable than a good ally.

Patience is important for a man, vital for a leader

You must learn to control the filth of your tongue, my son. It will send you to hell.

So easy now that Elder Sister has explained to her what all young girls in houses are taught—that with care and meticulous acting and tears of pretended pain and fear, and the final modest telltale stains cautiously placed, a girl can, if necessary, be virgin ten times for ten different men.

For the last time: 'The law may upset reason but reason may never upset the law, or our whole society will shred like an old tatami.