Quotes from James Hilton

The austere serenity of Shangri-La. Its forsaken courts and pale pavilions shimmered in repose from which all the fret of existence had ebbed away, leaving a hush as if moments hardly dared to pass.

Anno domini—that's the most fatal complaint of all in the end.

If net neutrality goes away, it will fundamentally change everything about the Internet.

Surely there comes a time when counting the cost and paying the price aren't things to think about any more. All that matters is value - the ultimate value of what one does.

People make mistakes in life through believing too much, but they have a damned dull time if they believe too little.

The right mixture of caring and not caring - I suppose that's what love is.

Have you ever been going somewhere with a crowd and you're certain it's the wrong road and you tell them, but they won't listen, so you just have to plod along in what you know is the wrong direction till somebody more important gets the same idea?

if we have not found the heaven within,we have not found the heaven without

There's only one thing more important... and that is, after you've done what you set out to do, to feel that it's been worth doing.

If I could put it into a very few words, dear sir, I should say that our prevalent belief is in moderation. We inculcate the virtue of avoiding excesses of all kinds—even including, if you will pardon the paradox, excess of virtue itself.

We believe that to govern perfectly it is necessary to avoid governing too much.

Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?

The first quarter-century of your life was doubtless lived under the cloud of being too young for things, while the last quarter-century would normally be shadowed by the still darker cloud of being too old for them; and between those two clouds, what small and narrow sunlight illumines a human lifetime!

But now I'm beginning to care again—a little—and it hurts—it's really more convenient not to have any hopes and fears.

What a host of little incidents, all deep-buried in the past -- problems that had once been urgent, arguments that had once been keen, anecdotes that were funny only because one remembered the fun. Did any emotion really matter when the last trace of it had vanished from human memory; and if that were so, what a crowd of emotions clung to him as to their last home before annihilation? He must be kind to them, must treasure them in his mind before their long sleep.

It is significant ..... that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?

Miss Brinklow, however, was not yet to be sidetracked. "What do the lamas do?" she continued. "They devote themselves, madam, to contemplation and to the pursuit of wisdom." "But that isn't doing anything." "Then, madam, they do nothing.

Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue Chang - Lost Horizon (1933)

The will of God or the lunacy of man - it seemed to him that you could take your choice, if you wanted a good enough reason for most things. Or, alternatively, the will of man and the lunacy of God.

If you forgive people enough, you belong to them, and they to you, whether either person likes it or not - squatter's rights of the heart

Where had they all gone to, he often pondered; those threads he had once held together, how far had they scattered, some to break, others to weave into unknown patterns? The strange randomness of the world beguiled him, that randomness which never would, so long as the world lasted, give meaning to those choruses again.

Brookfield will never forget his lovableness," said Cartwright, in a speech to the School. Which was absurd, because all things are forgotten in the end.

they didn't think there was anything very odd in anyone being a little odd.

It seemed to him that the little Manchu had never looked so radiant. She gave him a most charming smile, but her eyes were all for the boy.