Quotes from Iain Pears

o zi f?r? îngheÈ›at? era o zi pierdut?.

Nu pot s? spun c? sunt mulÈ›umit. Dar asta este. Ce poÈ›i face? Oamenii ??tia insist? s? împart? faima cu mine.

O via?? petrecut? lucrând sub egida Ministerului Ap?r?rii îl înv??ase o sumedenie de tehnici de supravieÈ›uire într-o lume care f?cea ca lupta armat? s? par? civilizat? È™i plin? de stil.

Dar Bottando È™tia, datorit? unei înÈ›elepciuni ascuÈ›ite în ani întregi de activitate, c? nu exista nici un document care s? ateste c? responsabilitatea nu-i mai aparÈ›inea, iar asta era îngrijor?tor.

Tommaso nu voise decât un strat de protecÈ›ie între el È™i responsabilitate, în cazul în care se întâmpla ceva r?u.

There is now nothing which more brings home to me the passage of the years than to meet a grown man who does not recall, as his strongest memory, the horror that the news produced

Although I do not need to be surrounded by others in order to feel alive, I do need some conversation and distraction.

Atât timp cât un num?r suficient de oameni cred c? e autentic, chiar e.

But, however splendid a job may seem when one does not have it, it rarely stands up to close acquaintanceship.

I cannot remember a single painting, although I do remember trying hard to be deeply impressed by them at the time.

For the first time, she did want more. She did not know what she wanted, knew that it was dangerous and that she should rest content with what she had, but she knew an emptiness deep inside her, which began to ache.

Was not Hypatia the greatest philosopher of Alexandria, and a true martyr to the old values of learning? She was torn to pieces by a mob of incensed Christians not because she was a woman, but because her learning was so profound, her skills at dialectic so extensive that she reduced all who queried her to embarrassed silence. They could not argue with her, so they murdered her.

Do you know, the only people I can have a conversation with are the Jews? At least when they quote scripture at you they are not merely repeating something some priest has babbled in their ear. They have the great merit of disagreeing with nearly everything I say. In fact, they disagree with almost everything they say themselves. And most importantly, they don't think that shouting strengthens their argument.

When all this is over, people will try to blame the Germans alone, and the Germans will try to blame the Nazis alone, and the Nazis will try to blame Hitler alone. They will make him bear the sins of the world. But it's not true. You suspected what was happening, and so did I. It was already too late over a year ago. I caused a reporter to lose his job because you told me to. He was deported. The day I did that I made my little contribution to civilization, the only one that matters.

She was looking for something I could never give her." Again his dark eyes bored into Julia's mind. "You have something of the same about you, young woman. Take my advice: Don't think you will find it in another person. You won't. It's not there. You must find it in yourself.

In my small way, I preserved and catalogued, and dipped into the vast ocean of learning that awaited, knowing all the time that the life of one man was insufficient for even the smallest part of the wonders that lay within. It is cruel that we are granted the desire to know, but denied the time to do so properly. We all die frustrated; it is the greatest lesson we have to learn.

Virtue comes through contemplation of the divine, and the exercise of philosophy. But it also comes through public service. The one is incomplete without the other. Power without wisdom is tyranny; wisdom without power is pointless.

Action is the activity of the rational soul, which abhors irrationality and must combat it or be corrupted by it. When it sees the irrationality of others, it must seek to correct it, and can do this either by teaching or engaging in public affairs itself, correcting through its practice. And the purpose of action is to enable philosophy to continue, for if men are reduced to the material alone, they become no more than beasts.

The evil done by men of goodwill is the worst of all ... We have done terrible things, for the best of reasons, and that makes it worse.

The devil himself can become beauty, so we are told, to corrupt mankind." (Marco)

The point of civilization is to be civilized; the purpose of action is to perpetuate society, for only in society can philosophy truly take place.

Every cataclysm is welcomed by somebody; there is always someone to rejoice at disaster and see in it the prospect of a new beginning and a better world.

Politics bores you?" Bronsen said. Julien smiled. "It does. Apologies, sir, and it is not that I haven't tried to be fascinated. But careful and meticulous research has suggested the hypothesis that all politicians are liars, fools, and tricksters, and I have as yet come across no evidence to the contrary. They can do great damage, and rarely any good. It is the job of the sensible man to try and protect civilization from their depradations.

He who profits by villainy, has perpetrated it.